Customer Experience ‘To Don’t’ List for 2019

Part one of ‘three little pigs’

After all the Christmas and New Year’s deliciously over indulgent celebratory feasts, in contrary, the political, economic and environmental headlines of 2018 have left many of us with a bad taste in the mouth.

Each New Year we love to look back at the events from the previous year, to learn from it and to predict and prepare for what we hope will be a better year, or not? The pessimists among us might think 2019 is already off to a rocky start because, as of yet, there is no Brexit deal in place, although apparently (like every year) some scientist predicts Armageddon, this time on 1 February – by means of a giant asteroid heading towards earth – which could wipe out humanity, so in the great scheme of things, does it really matter?

While most of us will not heed the silly and weird predictions for 2019, some past year observations, turned into current strategic predictions. Gartner got this one right: In a study from four years ago, Gartner predicted that by 2019 more than 50% of organisations will invest more money into the customer experience. Today’s numbers indicate that even more organisations are making CX a priority. In fact, today 89% of companies believe they compete primarily based on customer experience, but while 80% of companies trust they deliver “super experiences,” only 8% of customers agree.

Go out and seek fortune

2019 sees the 12th and last position in the Chinese Zodiac, the pig, symbolising a compassionate, generous and sympathetic character. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said about the loyalty of retail customers in 2018. Year on year, to reap short-term gains, giants in the retail sector engage in price wars. A risk, as once some of the big names had bled margins dry, they had no resources left to improve on vital CX efforts. The number of retailer foreclosure headlines in 2018 echo why price cuts can’t compete with the long-term gains of offering a more sophisticated customer experience to create loyalty and repeat custom.

And while most industries understand that customer experience can deliver big gains, with advances in technology driving consumer expectations, many businesses will throw in the towel trying to differentiate based on CX, believing it to be too complex to achieve. Not having a clear strategy will render them unsure about integrating technology with human support, the cost implications or savings it might incur, and the impact it might have on job descriptions and staff numbers. These companies are not truly convinced that a competitor, that really focused on the customer experience, could be the blow that brings their house down.

Strong solid bricks, straw or sticks

CX is not just about firing messages at people, it’s about the story of how they interact, in every way, on and off-line, through every touch-point with a brand. Old tale morals, that hard work and ingenuity are the key to succeed, are still relevant today. CX initiative is no longer optional in today’s competitive business landscape, it’s vital to cement customer loyalty.

Consumers expect exceptional, frictionless experiences and support when they need it throughout the customer journey. They don’t just accept being able to self-serve answers, they expect to be able to contact a business at a time convenient to them, through a channel of their choice, accessible from any device, anywhere on the planet.

Therefore, there is no place for silos within business, legacy systems and legacy attitudes which hurt the customer experience and prevents growth. Businesses must re-assemble their CX house, realising that the potential of taking the time to invest in strong ‘materials’ such as customer support software to address the challenge of delivering truly exceptional CX whilst empowering their employees to contribute to customer lifetime value.

2019 to don’t list

Most of us will make New Year’s resolutions this year, and according to science, most of us won’t see it through. Change is hard. It’s like wanting to do something especially when you are told NOT to.
A little reverse psychology might trick the brain, #brainwave, a ‘to don’t’ list to help businesses looking to adapt to change and embrace customer experience which we will reveal next week. (Apparently that’s when most resolutions fail.)

Should Christmas be cancelled? Retail revolution or CX nightmare?

It would be wrong to think that it’s just the serial bargain hunters, ‘retail therapy’ enthusiasts, or Wizzard fans who “wish it could be Christmas every day”. With UK consumers set to spend more this Christmas than any other country within the EU, the competition among retailers, has us listening to songs that everyone knows, but that should never be heard repeatedly in public places, as early as October!

But it’s a long drag from October to Christmas Day so it’s difficult to maintain a consumer buying fever in the twelve days weeks of Christmas. Enter Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Although many headlines state that Black Friday and Cyber Monday have become unpopular, spending figures during this period, proves it a myth. Bah humbugs will have to accept that the concept of the season of discounted shopping isn’t going away soon.

Apart from an increase in consumer spending, not a lot is reported on the effect this trend has on both customer experience and ultimately the retail industry’s bottom line. Naturally, gratuitous spending delights retailers, however as margins become wafer thin, some retailers won’t survive, especially when conversion rates slow down, with customers only browsing particularly online, in readiness for the Black Friday bonanza.

Joanna Causon, Chief Executive at the UK Institute for Customer Service says, “Retailers are grappling with uncertain consumer demand and a fundamental shift in customer behaviour which has forced a rethink in the economics of serving large numbers of customers across multiple channels.”

Naughty or nice

Britain is now the biggest online shopping nation in the developed world, with almost two thirds of adults using the internet to buy goods or services, according to IMRG, a body which represents the UK’s online retailers. The first half of 2018 alone, saw online retail accounting for more than 20% of retail sales, growing at ten times the rate of store sales.

But with everyone flocking to purchase online, not all retailers are able to cope with the number of visitors to their websites, which will leave some customers – looking for an online bargain – frustrated. Customers are still expecting instant, 24/7 customer service across multiple channels, and pressures on contact centres will increase in the lead up to Christmas. While online sales figures might seem like a dream, LCP logistics consultancy reports that e-tailers are expected to be lumbered with £2.5bn worth of unwanted presents being returned after the Christmas period, which could be a customer support nightmare!

Making a list

Happy customers put businesses on the ‘nice’ list, equal repeat custom, and have them sharing their experience with friends, colleagues and family. Emulating great customer experience is however a long road for those who have neglected their customers for years.

Although the numbers of consumer engagement with digital technology are growing daily – and some retailers are adopting a multichannel model – overall customer satisfaction in the UK is 0.3 points lower than July 2017. The UKCSI says, “Although this downward movement is relatively slight, it is the first time since January 2015 that two consecutive UKCSI surveys show a decline in overall satisfaction. We are seeing a trend of divergence between the highest performing organisations and the rest, coupled with a growing body of evidence indicating that achieving consistently superior levels of customer satisfaction is a crucial enabler of sustainable financial results.” This should be of concern not just retailers but all businesses, no matter their industry.

Checking it twice

As the online world of retail expands into our physical shopping habits – driven by our desire to access information on products and services and to compare prices – retailers will need to adapt to keep customers engaged with instant access to the information through search, FAQs and across social platforms too.

Whether a business operates online, offline, or both, the most important thing should be the customer, and the experience delivered to them to ensure the financial results associated with customer satisfaction.

Even brands that are boycotting the Christmas shopping phenomenon, promising to deliver year-round value to customers, must still adhere to the oldest brand values: Good, informative customer service and a multi-channel strategy that supports this. If not, ending up on the ‘naughty’ list will surely impact the future of the business.

Businesses developing their customer service strategy might want to visit the resources section on our website where we can offer insight into:

1. Increasing customer satisfaction & loyalty levels
2. Reducing customer contact – improving first contact resolution
3. Offering a consistent multi-channel customer service
4. Improving operational and service cost efficiency

The gift of enhanced online customer service

Synthetix UK: Avinity, well-known and respected for their customer loyalty, employee engagement and supply chain management programs chose Synthetix to enhance their online customer support for their latest gift card service, GiftChoice.

The GiftChoice service will be launched online and in Argos and Sainsburys stores throughout the UK offering customers the choice to purchase giftcards in denominations of £25 or £50 to redeem at over 30 brands. Hoping to eliminate the days of unwanted gifts that get left in a drawer, customers unsure of what to buy will be able to redeem gift codes from a wide range of their favourite retailers.

Avinity chose Synthetix FAQ self-service to enable customers to find answers and information simply and quickly, especially with the festive period predicted to increase visitor spikes to their website.

Neil Spalding, Head of Channel Sales at Synthetix said, “It’s an honour to partner with a company who are so passionate about creating strong commitment and trust levels for businesses and their customers. We look forward to working closely with Avinity to enhance the ongoing dialogue they have with their customers.”

The AI-powered channels dictating the future of the contact centre

Keeping up with the AI Joneses

Online, always on, your door is always open, regardless of business hours. You understand that today’s customers ask questions at any time of the day or night and you have invested in self-service customer contact channels to address to this need.

But are you trying to impress customers with archaic self-service tools on your website?

Recently, after a well-known retail brand presented me with biblical proportions of static FAQs on their website, I was perplexed to discover the plethora of enterprises still offering dusty old customer support tools. Left on the website shelf for years, site search, static FAQs and info@ email options were eagerly on-boarded years ago, as new digital service channels to keep up with, or intimidate the competition, without a thought to how these channels would have to adapt to the future.

It is fair to say that legacy systems are not just dust bunnies to be swept away and be replaced by shiny new AI-powered channels. A symptom of dated business models means that many customer touchpoints are independently run across enterprise and even conflict or compete within the customer journey. And many CFOs find it difficult to invest in new technology with lengthy budget cycles, clearly reportable ROI and the risk of disruption to the business standing in the way of agility.

But customers are already digital; brands need to catch up. Businesses must be ‘present’ on their customers’ preferred support channels and respond swiftly, no matter the means customers use to get in touch.

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the past year or so, you would have noticed how the hype around AI and bots, especially headlines predicting ‘the death of the contact centre’ and how bots will take over our jobs. It has created uncertainty, fear and a frenzy – much like the goldrush – to make organisations experiment with customer engagement through this new channel.

Some believe the overall impact of deploying AI-powered channels in customer support and e-commerce will replace jobs, however real-world cases show how the sensible deployment of conversational AI translates into cost savings, time savings and improved customer experience with minimal demands on IT resources.

As consumers grow more and more comfortable with messaging, AI applications offer the contact centre some dramatic benefits that stretches way beyond chatbots. But for AI to introduce new value and break fresh ground, strategists must take an innovative approach to CX and consider its impact beyond its novelty. Moreover, AI cannot be hampered by legacy views and processes around today’s customer experiences.

Whether you’re a CFO, CMO, CC Manager, CIO, CTO, Customer Experience Officer, Chief of Marketing or Head of Digital, AI represents a golden opportunity to improve and modernise customer experience. And with the right strategy, intelligent CX can thrust businesses on an accelerated maturity path to help digitally transform the organisation with purpose and customer centricity.

Why not view a recording of othis webinar that dives right into the chatbot phenomenon. Leave with actionable ideas on implementing AI-powered customer support with US Practice Managers explaining AI / Virtual Agent strategies for improving top-line growth along with increasing deflection rates and dramatically improving first contact resolution.

Black Friday: Optimal sales phenomenon or collective retail suicide?

It’s time to put aside that leftover Halloween candy and pumpkin spice lattes to instead focus on the familiar ritual – worrying over whether this shopping season will deliver good tidings and cheery returns or show retail sales figures to be second-rate, coal filled stockings.

With Black Friday and Cyber Monday less than three weeks away, many retailers will be excused for feeling more frantic than festive when this retail revolution – accounting for as much as 30 percent of annual sales – hopefully makes up for what has been one of the toughest years for retail. As bargain-hunters wait in anticipation of discounts ready to be unleashed on the high street, British shoppers and retailers however are shunning the often-chaotic scenes witnessed across America during this event, by increasingly focussing their efforts online.

In fact, Britain is now the biggest online shopping nation in the developed world, with almost two thirds of adults using the internet to buy goods or services, according to IMRG, a body which represents the UK’s online retailers. The first half of 2018 alone, saw online retail accounting for more than 20% of retail sales, growing at ten times the rate of store sales.

**Trading trolleys for home delivery**

Black Friday Weekend 2017 didn’t disappoint when Brits showed their appreciation of the benefits of online shopping – not having to brave the weather, crowds or queues – by spending nearly £6.3 billion from the comfort of their own sofas.

It’s clear that the consumer is in control, enabled through technology to remain constantly connected and more empowered than ever before to drive changes in shopping behaviour in both the ‘bricks and mortar’ and online retail landscape. And while 2018 is turning out to be an eventful year in UK retail with headlines describing the sector to be in turmoil, is retail really in trouble, or is it transforming?

**What was once the ‘Golden Quarter’ has become a bargain hunter’s dream.**

More voices this year has been raised saying the Black Friday is collective suicide for the industry. In the past few years shoppers have seen no need to go shopping if they might get things cheaper the following week. In turn, to remain competitive and attract footfall, retailers promoted and prolonged the discount holiday shopping season driving down prices. By the time that Boxing Day dawned, there was so much discounting that shoppers showed ‘discount fatigue’ with results showing the main growth of sales had been online. In fact, a new report by GBH Insights shows Amazon dominating Black Friday sales in 2017 with the company claiming between 45% and 50% of all online Black Friday sales.

However, it’s certainly not all rosy for online retailers. According to a study by LCP Consulting the price retailers pay for online growth is significant. Black Friday is magnifying challenges across the retail sector such as consumers wanting to browse in-store, order online, have it delivered and picking up their order from a convenient collection point. They might return the item to the store, and when they do, pick up an alternative ordered via a mobile app. At each step they expect retailers to know who they are and what their recent interactions with the brand have been. Online sales figures might seem like a dream but LCP logistics consultancy reports that e-tailers are expected to be lumbered with £2.5bn worth of unwanted presents over the Christmas period, which could be a customer support nightmare.

**Christmas hangover for the high street?**

Despite sales in physical stores falling by 2.5%, the high street is far from dead, it is evolving. Not all consumers are ditching the trip to the shops. And emptier aisles don’t translate to less tension placed on the customer service department, customer contact channels or contact centre agents dealing with the busiest shopping weekend of the year. Some of the nation’s biggest shopping websites struggled to cope with the volume of online interactions, with John Lewis, Argos, Boots, Tesco and Game all crashing or suffering slow loading pages last year, so starting sales early this year should help prevent the same thing happening.

These retailers have proved the importance of adjusting your ‘brick and clicks’ strategy to allow consumers to browse, buy or self-serve using the most convenient channel for them, right up to the last-minute dash. They understand that customer experience can change the attitude of customers towards their favourite brands, so it’s of utmost importance to deliver the same levels of customer service during peak shopping season to that of quieter periods.

It’s unbelievable however, that some retailers are still caught off-guard, unprepared for the escalation of customer interactions during this busy period and last-minute shoppers still expecting exceptional service.

Many businesses will employ more staff in the lead up to Christmas as part of their customer service strategy. However, as many newbies will not have the same knowledge about products, refund or exchange procedures, like permanent staff, a clear multi-channel strategy is required to maintain high levels of customer experience. Deploying AI-powered online customer service software to ensure right, consistent answers are delivered to customers regardless of channel, and to assist temporary and permanent contact centre staff, could be the competitive advantage to provide the high levels of customer support needed.

**The future of the UK retail industry**

There is no way of knowing precisely how 2018 will play out for the UK’s retail sector as we face the uncertain consequences of the decision to leave the European Union.
However, the key takeaway for brands and retailers reading the consumer tea leaves this year is the need to embrace change. Physical retail is not dead. Boring retail is. Consumers are confident, and they are planning to spend. To exploit return, brands and retailers must be prepared to think differently and pro-actively support new consumer standards around when, where and how their key audiences plan to shop this holiday season.

**How will you transform your business with customers, competition and culture always changing?**

Christmas might just have come early.

Could we be in your 2019 budget? Why not [**trial our digital customer engagement tools free for up to 60 days?**](https://synthetix.com/do-you-qualify)

**Further reading:**

The gift that keeps on giving, the page turner that is ‘Multi-Channel Online Customer Service For Dummies’

* Understand the challenges delivering effective online service creates
* Get an overview of the tools available to meet those challenges
* Discover the must-haves you need for effective implementation

Using AI-powered solutions can optimise engagement with early-stage buyers

Let’s not beat around the bush: the traditional sales funnel model is no longer relevant.

B2B businesses have their work cut out as the AIDA model to guide a single prospect to purchase just doesn’t work anymore. Instead B2B marketers have to connect and convince entire teams involved throughout the buying cycle.

Forrester’s Steven Casey shared some very powerful insights in his recent report about how AI-powered solutions can optimise engagement with early-stage buyers and in particular how properly oriented bots and VAs can help B2B marketers remove friction from the earliest stages of the buying process, automate administrative tasks, and enable sellers to be more consultative.

Synthetix are delighted to have been included in this research and could not agree more with the insights. Synthetix CEO, Peter McKean’s thoughts is iterated in Forrester’s conclusions.

Interest in chatbots for customer service, or “Virtual Agents” is growing exponentially as AI-powered automation gains user acceptance thanks to bot technologies like Siri and Alexa normalising conversational interaction. The current generation of Virtual Agents are able to unlock functionality that previous bots could not, now that cloud-based SaaS CRM and marketing platforms have become widely adopted. Cloud services tend to feature comprehensive API interfaces, which enable bots to personalise the dialogue with their customers and to solve account-related issues. This means that modern bot platforms finally have the technological potential to meet customer expectations – something that bots of the past rarely did.
But Virtual Agents are as much about methodology and psychology as they are about technology. When we reduce them down to their technological barebones, you’re left with merely an IVR and this is where so many new bot deployments go wrong, even in 2018. The proliferation of simple, commoditised bot platforms has delivered powerful tools into the hands of developers, but this is analogous to the early days of Desktop Publishing, where software packages such as PageMaker and even Microsoft Publisher were made available to almost anyone, resulting in a slew of terrible amateur publications with terrible typography and horrible clip art in the wrong aspect ratio!

That’s where we are with bots – poor design, bad dialogue and confusing interfaces.

Synthetix offers many digital engagement tools with off-the-shelf configuration, but not chatbots. Those, we build to order, taking the time to capture the primary business objectives and goals for the technology and leveraging the skills of the most experienced chatbots designers in the world – Synthetix has been building chatbot Virtual Agents for customer service since 2001. We’ve developed a framework for chatbot development that enables customers to think about it less like software configuration and more like on-boarding a new employee. We guide customers through making the right choices to ensure that their bot deployment is successful from day-one and only gets better over time.

The small step towards AI that can deliver quick-win business results

Whitepaper

With imagination and ingenuity, AI can improve every aspect of a business.
Small steps are key to preparing for the ever changing CX landscape. This
whitepaper looks at how ‘modest’ AI-powered solutions could be the ideal first
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customer experience.

Waiting staff ‘lovin’ their new AI-powered chatbot.

Chatbot offers step by step guidance

One of the UK’s largest, most profitable, and globally recognised employers in the fast food industry has invested in a new and innovative way to assist their staff anytime they need it. A new intelligent Virtual Agent assists staff to troubleshoot should they experience technical difficulties with items such as a drinks dispenser or order taking equipment.

The intelligent Virtual Agent/chatbot designed by Synthetix, offers step by step guidance displaying technical manuals, to get simple issues fixed as soon as possible, without having to call and wait for an engineer. If the system detects that a problem requires expert intervention, the bot automatically logs and schedules a call for further assistance through an integrated call-back system.

Neil Spalding, Head of Channel Sales at Synthetix says, “It’s a great honour to work alongside such a global brand who are embracing technology to not only assist their staff but help serve their customers better. The Virtual Agent’s integration with the call-back system is extremely efficient to get operational levels back to optimum capacity.”

Automotive giant, Toyota switches their customer experience to top gear

The world’s fifth-largest company joins the prestige Synthetix client list

Synthetix are proud to add Toyota, the Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer, well-known for its management philosophy and the world’s first mass-market hybrids, the fifth-largest company in the world by revenue, to our prestige client list.

Toyota chose Synthetix to assist in enhancing their online customer experience by deploying integrated FAQ Search across their brand websites to enable customers to find instant, accurate answers to their questions 24/7 using natural language search. Synthetix also deployed an Agent Knowledge-base within their contact centre to assist contact centre agents with the means to answer customer queries quickly, consistently and accurately.

Toyota’s motto is to apply their know-how in ways that benefit people, the community and the planet, embracing innovation that can deliver on this promise. Which is why they also invested in Visual IVR, one of the most successful and compelling web self-services tools currently available, proven to greatly enhance customers experience and encourage self-service.

Neil Spalding, Head of Channel Sales at Synthetix says, “We feel really privileged to work alongside such an innovative conglomerate who are embracing technology to assist their staff and to meet the needs of their customers’ expectations. We look forward to working closely with Toyota to enhance the ongoing dialogue they have with their customers.”