Customers have a better customer experience if they get customer service where they are, whether it's in-store, by message, on social media, by phone or by email. According to the Zendesk CX report for 2023, 64% will buy more if questions and problems in the buying process are resolved in the channel they already use. For B2C, social media availability, chatbots and instant assistance are especially important.
Phygital or physical and digital retail is a fast, interactive and hyper-personalized shopping experience that combines the best of online and in-store shopping. Many digital stores are now choosing to open physical stores and many physical stores are choosing to go digital as well.
To achieve hyper-personalized customer experiences, you need to collect enough data about your customers to know what they prefer. If you collect the information you have on the customer from previous purchases, wish lists, preferences and support requests (regardless of channel), you have enough data to provide hyper-personalized customer experiences. Combine this with AI technology and the information is used automatically:
In Zendesk, agents can request AI-based smart assistance to get suggestions on how to handle an inquiry.
Here are some e-commerce integrations for Zendesk.
If the customer group exists in online communities (metaverse), you should also create customer experiences here. An example is Tommy Hilfiger, who organized a fashion show during New York Fashion Week, which was shown live to Roblox users. If the customer group does not exist in an online community, you can try to create one.
Personalized return processes with incentives that offer customized offers are a key retail strategy to retain existing customers and increase the likelihood of their return. Sophisticated return incentives can be:
Here are some return apps for Zendesk.
Knowledge is power, so all customer service agents need to be equipped with access to the same up-to-date information, whether they work in sales or support. One way is to give them access to an internal FAQ. An internal FAQ can contain information that is not for everyone's eyes, but that customer service representatives must have access to in order to have up-to-date information. This could be information that allows them to answer questions about production, country of production, ethical production, sustainability, internal routines, etc. If you combine an internal FAQ with an internal forum, customer service representatives will also have the opportunity to exchange experiences, discuss issues and provide input on deficiencies in the FAQ.
Modern consumers acquire a lot of information and want full transparency in the supply chains of the companies they buy from. It is important that customer service representatives have access to the same up-to-date information as consumers, to avoid consumers having more knowledge than customer service representatives. This is necessary to provide high quality customer service and ensure customer trust and loyalty.