New, digital technologies open up a wide range of possibilities. With these innovations, customer requirements are also changing, especially with regard to customer relationship management.
Corporate Commitment for more Customer Engagement
A constantly increasing number of customer inquiries that need to be processed in less time is a challenge many companies have to deal with nowadays. For this to succeed, requests must be managed as centrally as possible. In addition, customer advisors at all touchpoints should know about the customer and his or her concerns. Only in this way the individual customer journey can be managed in a target-oriented and profitable way.
In omnichannel communication and interaction with the customer, there’s a new concept shaping customer service: customer engagement. This term describes all activities of a company that aim to establish a connection with the customer.
The quality of support and customer needs are the focus of attention. After all, a shop, a product or a website can always lead to questions from customers. By using the Customer Engagement Center (CEC), customer service representatives can easily enter into dialogue with customers, clarify questions and solve problems.
Customer Needs in the Focus of Corporate Activities
Usually, the customer gets in touch with customer support because he or she has a problem. It is therefore crucial for companies to make this experience as pleasant as possible for their customers. To generate true customer engagement at the same time, it is essential to guide the customer through their shopping experience in a collaborative and personalized way.
Especially in the B2B sector, there is an increased need for assistance as the products often require intensive consultation. Products usually have to meet very precise requirements, compatibility must be ensured or the order status must be monitored. This often requires customer service representatives to solve difficult problems, instruct and guide the customer, and provide the best customer experience.
Customer Loyalty Thanks to Cooperation
According to a study by Salesforce, today’s customers are particularly interested in personalization and connected journeys, i.e. intelligent customer interactions based on previous contacts. In order to meet these customer expectations and to be able to support all channels and processes simultaneously, a structured software is needed: Intershop’s CEC. This service provides the customer service representative with a holistic view of the customers and enables them to understand the customer experience in the buying process.
The Importance of the Customer Experience
The customer experience has become a critical competitive factor for companies and is a differentiating factor for customers between two companies. Negative experiences in customer service lead to the loss of customers, because alternative products are usually just a search query away.
Companies that have recognized the importance of customer experience and are oriented towards customer needs are already one step ahead of their competitors. To this end, customer service can be further optimized with a customer engagement center.
Especially in connection with a digital customer portal, the CEC enriches the entire customer experience in terms of customer retention and loyalty. It supports the service offering and service quality of manufacturers, wholesalers or retailers. Particularly important for efficiency are faster checkouts and shopping cart changes, as well as the management of address data, preferences, shipping and payment details.
The Right Solution for Customers and Companies
Intershop's CEC enables your company to meet customer expectations. A single tool allows customer service representatives to facilitate their work and to have a 360° view of the individual customer. With this detailed knowledge of customers, customer service representatives can enter into a lively and personalized dialogue with them. Specific customer needs can thus be met at every stage of the customer journey.
At the same time, the average handling time (AHT) for customer inquiries can be reduced. The resulting cost savings are also accompanied by an increase in the number of customer inquiries processed. Cross-selling and up-selling can be managed in a targeted manner in the CEC as well, for example by means of supplementary product proposals, thus increasing the sales rate.
From Co-Browsing to Usability - the Advantages
With Intershop's CEC, your customer service representatives have the opportunity to support the customer in the purchasing process via Co-Browsing or Quick Order. Thanks to simple usability, customer service becomes an experience for your customers and a pleasant activity for your customer service staff. The improvements in processing speed, user-friendliness, and precision in customer service make Intershop's CEC an ideal addition to the webstore. Furthermore, the possibilities of the CEC can be expanded to ensure smooth customer contact.
Expansion Possibilities and a Look into the Future
The CEC can be enhanced with complementary tools that allow you to keep an eye on your social media channels and react immediately if necessary. For example, product reviews on Facebook or Instagram are registered and customer service receives a notification. Thus, companies can support the dissemination of positive feedback and refer to negative reactions at an early stage.
In the future, further exciting developments will be made in the CEC using new technologies. Up to now, the customer service department has acted reactively at the request of a customer. In the future, however, the CEC could also work proactively to further optimize customer experience and journey.
For example, based on all information and artificial intelligence (AI), the behavior of the user could be evaluated. The AI learns from previous customer inquiries and can apply this experience to new interactions and assist the customer service representative.
Qualitative Customer Service as a Win-Win Situation
Take the decisive step towards improving your competitiveness with Intershop's CEC. Generate real commitment by providing fast, qualitative, user-friendly and customer-oriented support. Benefit from a centralized and dynamic agent desktop that allows for a quick response to changing customer requests. Empower your employees to easily work with new and existing customers by providing them the tool they need.
Do you want to dig deeper into the capabilities of Intershop's Customer Engagement Center?
