We’ve all had a bad customer service experience that is seared in our memory. In some cases, shoppers will even leave the brand doing business with that company if the service is subpar — in fact, 57% of customers have stopped buying from a company because a competitor provided a better experience. This is a frightening statistic when you think about the number of consumer interactions any business faces each day.
Across the board, we’re finding that shoppers’ expectations are rising for connected experiences. 67% of customers say their standard for good experiences are higher than ever, and 76% of customers expect companies to understand their needs and expectations according to the State of the Connected Customer.
It’s a challenging position for service agents. On the front lines, service departments are faced with many competing priorities: trying to meet those increasing customer expectations for better, more personalized service, while reducing case resolution time and overall costs of service, all while dealing with siloed data in different systems. 84% of agents said that it’s important for them to have all the necessary customer data at their disposal to provide personalized customer experiences. However, only a little more than a quarter of them (27%) said they currently have all the information they need to provide one, quickly and accurately, every time.
How can you move the needle?
Connecting the dots between Salesforce Commerce Cloud and Service Cloud helps you adapt to changing customer expectations by providing the level of service that customers now demand.
Drive conversations with shoppers in the channel they prefer
Whether shoppers are calling on the phone, or communicating through text, live chat, or social media, your agents can communicate with them from the ease of their agent console. With connected commerce and service data, agents can easily and confidently engage with customers on any channel knowing that the customer’s user information, order history, and other necessary information is at their fingertips.
Automate the easiest cases
One of the most frequent requests to agents is checking order status or tracking shipping. These are straightforward cases that can be resolved with a simple interaction driven by a chatbot, or a clear, and easy self-service portal. This can reduce the workload for agents, and let them focus on more detailed or high-touch service inquiries. Automating simple cases are becoming more prevalent – 75% of service organizations with AI use it to automate the handling of routine customer issues.
Streamlining the workflow for agents
Up to 56% of agents say they must toggle between multiple screens to find all the information they need to do their job. By reducing the number of screens they access, we can help agents minimize the “swivel chair effect,” by including up-to-date order, profile, shopping data, and even product recommendations in the agent console, so they can quickly assist customers.
Empower proactive service
Giving complete customer service shouldn’t just focus on helping resolve issues — agents can also help shoppers add items to their cart or even place an order on their behalf. In the State of Service Report, service leaders said one of their top 5 priorities is “pivoting from a cost center to a profit center.” Imagine scenarios where agents gently cross-sell and up-sell during the service experience, or assist confused shoppers in finding the correct products for highly technical or high-touch purchases.
Why It Matters
These are the experiences that reduce friction and frustration for shoppers, as they seek help in placing orders, tracking shipping, or returning items. And when companies understand who they are and provide proactive and personalized service, shoppers respond with higher CSAT scores and loyalty — 59% of customers say that tailored engagement is very important to winning and keeping their business.
Unifying Commerce and Service gives companies the customer insights necessary for agents to truly deliver on the personalized experiences that customers demand. Agents now deliver better experiences by having conversations with shoppers in their preferred channels, personalizing every service interaction, and responding quickly and proactively with the most complete information possible. At Salesforce, the most common joint use cases between Commerce and Service are giving agents the ability to order on behalf of customers and giving them the ability to view order history and take action on it.
We’ll dive deeper into these use cases between in upcoming blogs with best practices and how-to’s to make setting them up more streamlined than ever.
