As we are well into the holiday season, we wanted to take a look at our recent survey, done in collaboration with Harris Poll, and consider the findings as they pertain to the contact center during this busy time of the year. When it comes to holiday shopping, brands are focused on two things: driving strong sales, and delivering strong customer service that will result in a return customers well into the New Year.
So what does this mean for how businesses use consumers’ data?
When surveyed, 67% of American consumers expressed a willingness to share some aspect of their personal information in exchange for a better customer experience – so for businesses, its not a matter of if you should be tapping customer data, but how.
This is where customer sentiment starts to vary.
Given that businesses now have an array of capabilities in terms of using data to better market to customers, we wanted to dig into what tactics are proving most effective. While 25% of those surveyed claimed that they have seen a clear improvement in their customer service that they can directly link to an increase in personal information they have shared with commonly shopped companies and brands, there was an even greater impact with specific marketing tactics.
For example. the findings indicate that 44% of consumers feel as though they have received more relevant discounts, offers and special deals in the past 12 months as a direct result their personal data being used by the businesses that they frequently visit. However, only one quarter of the 2,000+ individuals surveyed felt that customer service and support improved with increased use of personal information.
So how do we fill this customer service gap, and make a stronger impression with customers?
At the end of the day, customer service is driven by human interaction – and it is these interactions that shape our brand-associations. Although analytics are able to equip agents with relevant information to drive the best experience possible, it is the delivery of this information that truly makes the impression.
Again, customer service analytics needs to be both effective and responsible.
