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According to Talkdesk’s latest customer engagement research, retailers and brands are moving from cost-cutting to investing in more “unified engagement” with consumers. What’s more, while growth is a priority for the report’s authors, “the way companies want to achieve it has changed.” Organizations in the industry are increasingly focusing on their investments in customer service to better retain their customers. Customer acquisition remains important, but loyalty has become the new North Star.
The survey of businesses found that 41 percent of respondents plan to invest in video chat, and 39 percent said they plan to invest in voice-based artificial intelligence virtual agents. “Nearly one-third (31 percent) said they would invest in live streaming video channels such as YouTube, TikTok and Twitch for customer support,” the report said.
Meanwhile, 24 percent of those surveyed plan to “deliver consistent interactive engagement across next-generation channels and support augmented or virtual reality communications within two years, while 12 percent say they are doing so today.”
When asked about their high demand for customer service software, 54 percent hoped it would increase customer retention. 48 percent new customer acquisition and 40 percent growth in contact center revenue.
Shannon Flanagan, vice president of retail and consumer goods at TalkDesk, said, “For too long, many brands have lacked service differentiation. What is promising to see is a higher valuation for CX investments, which is key to cost reduction. Instead, brands now understand the strategic importance of engaging service experiences as a way to drive growth and retention.
Flanagan also noted that while companies are “committed to pushing beyond marketing and responsive customer service, their efforts are being hampered by talent and technology challenges. The latest Talkdesk research highlights the changing priorities and ways brands can achieve their CX goals today.”
Some of these changes in priorities are due to macroeconomic forces, such as shortages of customer-facing staff, and the authors of the report say, “There is a need to rethink customer service enablement.”
The report’s authors note that survey participants “cite this as the biggest barrier to meeting their customer service needs. So it’s imperative that retailers equip and empower employees to provide high-quality, engaging customer support and connect that to meaningful career development.
Additionally, for these reasons, Talkdesk has found that more and more retailers are turning to non-traditional customer support channels. “In fact, they count brand ambassadors (35 percent) and influencers (29 percent) among the resources available to handle customer inquiries and service requests,” the report noted.
The report’s authors say consumers are buying into this trend, and more than a third (38 percent) of retailers in the study said their customers prefer to use brand ambassadors and influencers for their service and support resources.
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