Customer Service

It's certainly no secret that the rise of social media and consumers increased use of mobile devices has steadily transformed the shopping experience. This shift may have come to a tipping point this holiday shopping season. There are certainly battles to be won in this new digital landscape, but what's the potential upside of retailers getting less face time with shoppers? Although preferences may shift to new and often multiple channels, so will the need for a new kind of customer service.

If we removed the noun "consumer" from the retail lexicon, what would we lose? The reason I ask is because the participatory nature of social media has rendered the term invalid (or at least not as valid as it once was). In an era where people are no longer merely consumers of information, but purveyors of it, the appellation seems out of place.

Amazon.com and Apple have topped the list of best mobile retailers in customer service for three years running, according to a new report from ForeSee Results. As mobile and brick-and-mortar retailers strive to find ways to better serve consumers, reports such as this are guideposts. Marketers are looking to Amazon and Apple as mobile's influence continues its upward rise. "The value of a satisfied consumer is huge," said Larry Freed, CEO of ForeSee Results. "Highly satisfied consumers are 76 percent more likely to purchase from that retailer online than dissatisfied consumers."

Zappos founder Tony Hsieh's famous obsession with customer service paid off this holiday season. The Amazon-owned online shoe emporium came out on top in a Christmas delivery stress test performed by StellaService, a Nielsen-like ratings firm for internet shopping. StellaService's team of mystery shoppers set out to see which of the top online retailers met their promise of getting gifts under Christmas trees as long as orders were placed by their cut-off date.

Among the many tools and tactics retailers can use to improve the customer experience, speed is the most overlooked. That's unfortunate because a major factor in creating a positive customer experience is speed. There are three major obstacles to improving the customer experience through speed:

In a move to improve its ability to deliver a more dynamic and engaging loyalty experience with its brand across all customer touchpoints, 1-800-Flowers.com launched a new loyalty marketing platform in September. The floral and gifts omnichannel retailer is using 500friends’ LoyaltyPlus platform to power its Fresh Rewards customer loyalty program.

The shoppers stream in, unrelenting. Store clerks bravely hold their positions and get hit with a barrage of questions. Why don't I see the Galaxy S4? Will you match this price on the iPad 2? Pandemonium, and it's not even Black Friday yet. But this pandemonium is planned. It's dress-rehearsal day at Best Buy. The shoppers actually are store employees, doing their best to rattle colleagues. After all, if you can't deal with 130 co-workers creating faux havoc, how are you going to survive the real masses swarming in to kick off the holiday-season buying spree at 6 p.m. Thanksgiving?

Last week while traveling I found myself in line at a Starbucks. The woman behind the counter knew just about every customer's name and, amazingly, what they wanted. For example, she would say, "Hi Stacy! An extra-hot caramel macchiato with soy?" I made that up, but you get the idea; she knew her customers and their preferences. People like that barista are worth their weight in gold in the retail world.

Ralph Lauren is making a bold statement on its homepage, but it's backing it up. In golden letters, the site reads "Legendary Customer Service." And, given its performance in Stella Monthly Benchmarks, that may be the case. The retailer topped the rankings for the first time, unseating J.Crew, which led all retailers for the past three months. J.Crew was still strong, ranking third, while L.L.Bean ranked second overall. Ralph Lauren was particularly strong in phone support, with an average total time to live agent under 30 seconds and 100 percent issue resolution. 

Promotional cards offer the same benefits of other redeemable cards, yet with no stored value and the flexibility to set expiration dates and usage limitations. With the right strategies, it's possible to capitalize on complimentary cards to increase sales. Here are four top promotional card campaigns to incorporate into your redeemable card program: