Speaker Name Julie FosseliusSolutions Consultant, Zendesk

Follow me @juliefosselius

The sale doesn’t end at checkoutHow Omnichannel Customer Service Increases Your Sales

Chubbies

That’s Chubbies. They do shorts. Fun ones. And sell them online.

Technology has changed the way people shop

CloudAverage weekly

spending online in the UK so far in 2016 is

£870.8 million; this is a 12.3% increase

compared with 2015.

Mobile

In 2015, one third of the purchases were made on a mobile

device.

Social

In 2014, the top 500 retailers earned $3.3

billion from social shopping, up 26% from

2013 which far exceeded ecommerce

growth.

Shopping journeys are more complex than they have ever been

Consumers rarely start and finish their journey on the same channel.

Retailers need to be prepared to meet customers’ need at any point of

their journey regardless of what channel they are on.

Support on every channel is crucial

Of smartphone users say they consult their phones on purchases they’re about to make in a store. 81%Of consumers said they use their phones while shopping in-store, performing such tasks as price comparisons, looking up product information, and checking reviews.

90%

Why do you need omnichannel customer service?

Why you need omnichannel customer service

Customer expectations have changed.

It’s more important than ever for your brand to have a presence and to be available to shoppers in multiple channels, especially to bridge the in-store, web and mobile experience.

The Holiday season can be particularly difficult for retailers

Meeting expectations is harder during the Holiday season. Make sure you can adapt fast enough.

Why you need omnichannel customer service

Customer service agents must be ready to answer questions whether they come via phone, live chat, tweet, Facebook messenger, email or in-person.

To be successful and win the loyalty of the omnichannel customer, each experience must be smooth and easy, from product discovery to post-purchase support.

Support on every channel

Quick responses anywhere, anytime

Expert agents

The boiling point

Knowing this type of support is required by customers and delivering on it are two entirely different things.

Most brands haven’t integrated their communication across support channels, which leads to a disjointed,

fragmented experience for the customer.

As a result, customers become frustrated with the level of service they’re receiving from retailers.

The boiling point

Of customers expect to receive real-time assistance regardless of the customer service channel they use. 64%

Of customers think brands need to put more effort into providing a seamless customer experience. 87%Of customers get frustrated when they have to repeat information to multiple service representatives.89%

Why you need omnichannel customer service

What’s needed to ensure that your customers are satisfied with the service they receive?

The process starts by assessing the people, processes, and systems you currently have in place for customer service.

Understand your connected customers

You need to understand your connected customers.

It requires putting your customers at the center of your business, and thinking of them before any decision is made.

Your success relies on more than just offering great service—it relies on offering a great experience throughout the purchase journey, and thinking about the customer

from discovery through purchase and post-purchase.

Hire great people for a great customer service

Hire for attitude

To effectively serve your customers, a person needs to have a service mindset. This means always being ready to serve others, and a willingness to go the extra mile to create truly memorable customer experiences.

Seek out excellent communicators

Customer service is a people-focused job. It’s all about creating personal, positive connections in daily interactions with customers. Effective communication creates better relationships and builds trust.

Look for listeners

Being a great listener is key to understanding customers’ needs, wants, and concerns. A good listener is better able to ask the right questions and figure out the real issue behind a customer’s frustration, thus helping to find the best solution.

Follow the leader

Leadership skills are critical for customer support staff, who are often asked to deal with complicated situations and to provide quick and efficient solutions.

Develop a set of processes for your customer service team

Customer service policies to implement within your organization

• Never ask a customer for the same information twice.

• Service the customer in the channel they choose.

• Make a single person responsible for each customer service inquiry. Don’t bounce customers from one department to another.

• Empower your support staff to make their own decisions based on what they feel is in the best interest of the customer.

Help shoppers help themselves

Online community

Cultivate customer conversations to

crowdsource support and generate feedback.

Knowledge base

Create a resource of helpful articles that answer

customer’ (and agent’s) most popular questions

Customer service portal

Did you know customers actually prefer self-service? Give your

customers a single destination for everything they need.

— Joel Ivey, Head of Customer Experience at Chubbies

“With Zendesk we were able to create an amazing help center that provides powerful answers to our customers without the need of support agent assistance. We’ve seen a decrease in the overall number of tickets alongside a massive increase in revenue. We’re able to help customers help themselves and that alone boosts customer satisfaction.”

Prepare for a boost in your activity

Identify your busiest times and staff

accordingly.

Train agents in advance.

Get the whole company involved.

Set up tools to automate any repetitive task.

— Joel Ivey, Head of Customer Experience at Chubbies

“At peak times, our product and design teams work on tickets. This allows them to hear customer feedback directly and think about changes to improve the overall Chubbies experience. The Zendesk reporting gives the team great insights as well.”

Track, measure and adjust

Gain visibility into your customers interaction

Gather data with the customer experience with your company. Know their needs and how to better

serve them.

Measure your team’s performance

Drill into your support team’s performance.

Identify opportunities to improve your support

operations.

See the business impacts of great service

Share your analyses with the whole organization.

Work together to improve the entire customer journey.

Why omnichannel customer support matters

• Customers that purchase in multiple channels have a 30% higher lifetime value than those who purchase in only one channel.

• Companies with extremely strong omnichannel customer engagement retain, on average, 89% of their customers, compared to 33% for companies with weak omnichannel customer engagement.

• Companies with extremely strong omnichannel customer engagement see a 9.5% year-over-year increase in annual revenue, compared to 3.4% for weak omnichannel companies.

Conclusion

With gains in technology and the growing adoption of smartphones, today’s digitally-savvy, 24/7-connected consumers are outpacing businesses.

Align your businesses for this new reality—including customer service—or be left behind.

Questions

— Chris Wilson, director of technical support at Shopify

“Zendesk’s product is great, the company is fantastic, but it’s really the relationship between Shopify and Zendesk, and between Shopify and other Zendesk users, that has been tremendously valuable.”

Thanks!

About the Zendesk integration with Shopify...

“Our support agents love this integration because it majorly decreases the time needed to solve a customer’s issue or answer a customer’s question. For example, if someone complains about an issue with their most recent order, we don’t have to go to Shopify to search their information anymore; the integration has already pulled up their orders details. We can see which orders are most recent, and exactly what the customer is talking about, all within the Zendesk dashboard. Gone are the days of having 20+ tabs open while trying to solve one problem.”

— Joel Ivey, Head of Customer Experience at Chubbies

DEMO