Customer Service

With the onset of COVID-19, the world changed. As a result, businesses had to efficiently (and swiftly) pivot their planning to adapt to the new lifestyle everyone was now experiencing. During this period, retailers that could quickly and effectively shift strategies rose to the top. Additionally, those that enhanced their customer experience stepped into the…

Traditional chatbots have become commonplace on e-commerce sites, yet too many are becoming unreliable and are alienating consumers due to their limitations. This is because many retailers rely on what's called "rule-based" chatbots when instead they should be implementing conversational artificial intelligence (AI), two terms often used interchangeably, but which are actually very different. Conversational…

Did you know that the average brand community — the people that make up your social media following, your online account holders, and your email subscribers — has the potential to deliver a return on investment of over 4,000 percent? And this can even grow each year your community is active. Many aren't aware of…

The massive shift to e-commerce in the last year significantly raised the bar for consumers’ expectations of customer service. Consumers today expect to get what they want, when they want it, and anticipate quality help and support along the way. As a result, retailers must adapt how they engage with their customers and their employees.…

Retailers today know online reputation management is vital. After all, nearly 95 percent of consumers read online reviews before they make a purchase. Understanding the importance of online reputation is one thing for businesses, but knowing how to manage it is usually another. Negative customer reviews are particularly worrisome for retailers as they can linger…

The pandemic upended the retail industry, accelerating the evolution of online shopping. In fact, online sales boomed during the pandemic. However, delivery times also ballooned. Our internal data showed delivery times for domestic U.S. shipments increased one to two days from April 2020 through the holidays compared to the same period in 2019. This means…

The pandemic changed everything … how we worked, lived, and interacted with our friends and family. And it really affected what we purchased, how we purchased, and which companies we purchased from. How many of those changes are permanent and what will it look like after the dark cloud of COVID subsides? This is a…

In this episode of Retail Right Now, Total Retail's Joe Keenan and Kristina Stidham discuss an article recently published in Total Retail Report titled, “5 ‘Tiny, Noticeable Things’ Guaranteed to Build Customer Loyalty,” by author and speaker Adrian Webster. He shares that there's no simpler nor effective way to build customer loyalty than by fully…

As more luxury brands sell direct to consumers online, they're constantly seeking ways to differentiate the experience and protect their most valuable asset: their brand. While a luxury brand may intuitively seem valuable, companies have long known there's real, measurable value in that brand. In fact, in the increasingly “digital first” world of commerce, the…

Nearly every industry has been impacted by the pandemic. However, with one year under our belts, we have an opportunity to reflect on what changes might have been for the best. It’s no surprise that with state-mandated shutdowns, social distancing and general consumer caution, e-commerce boomed during the pandemic. Online sales increased 32 percent in…