Customer Service

Retailers today face relentless pressure to meet rising customer expectations while managing shrinking margins. In this environment, the contact center is a strategic engine for brand differentiation and loyalty where every interaction is compared with the customer’s last best conversation. And the key to unlocking its full potential lies in how retailers harness contact center…

Most retail leaders don't expect their customer service scripts to carry legal consequences. After all, they're meant to be helpful, friendly and on-brand. However, beneath that friendly tone there may be risks hiding in plain sight — risks that could cost your company more than just a bad review. From minor misstatements to problematic phrasing,…

After years of rapid developments in artificial intelligence technology and customer experience, we’re entering an era when companies can finally redesign their digital interactions to be truly intuitive and transparent. Based on a recent report with observational data from design teams around the world, the most innovative brands will use natural language and zero user…

If you're in retail, here’s a wake-up call you can’t afford to ignore: customer satisfaction peaks at 8 a.m. However, by 7 p.m., it’s in steep decline. Sundays, in particular, see the lowest sentiment across the board. These insights are grounded in over 57 million real-time customer feedback responses gathered globally, featured in HappyOrNot’s new…

A call center is vital to an organization’s relationship with its customers. For many businesses, it serves as the primary touchpoint for customer interactions. As such, optimizing your call center’s efficiency, accessibility and reliability is critical to delivering exceptional customer experiences. However, modern customer service extends far beyond traditional phone calls. While the term “call…

Retail is experiencing a spending surge as consumers shop ahead of the looming tariff enactment dates. While this provides a welcome sales boost, retailers need to prepare for potential spending slowdowns that will occur should prices simply get too high, particularly for specialty items consumers can do without. Here are five customer-focused strategies to navigate…

Imagine a customer support agent who never sleeps, learns faster than any employee, and can juggle dozens of complex tasks at once. Sounds like science fiction, right? It’s not. Welcome to the world of agentic artificial intelligence — a new frontier in retail innovation. AI was a major theme at the NRF Big Show this…

Just when retailers thought they knew what consumers wanted in their interactions with customer service, artificial intelligence (AI) has moved the goalposts. A survey by Vonage found that 75 percent of consumers are comfortable with AI-powered customer support in retail — among the highest acceptance rates across industries, second only to gaming (80 percent). This…

Verizon customers make up more than a third of the U.S. population. They come from nearly every age group and they reach out to us in many ways. They visit our stores, find us online, call us on the phone — or use a combination of those touchpoints. As they pick their own path on…

The burnout crisis in retail is creating a ripple effect across the industry. As employees struggle under mounting job expectations and opt to leave, retailers are facing $19 billion in annual turnover costs. Business leaders and managers are now asking: How can organizations break this cycle? This question is particularly urgent in contact centers, where…