TechStyle Fashion also uses emerging tools to help customers more quickly. It offers automated support through artificial intelligence (AI)-powered traditional messaging and FacebookMessenger-based features designed to address customer issues.
Automation won’t fully replace live agents, however, Shay noted. Some issues are too complex, and many customers appreciate connecting with a live person.
But because automation can bolster agents’ efforts, the company uses AI, machine learning (ML) and a customized customer relationship management (CRM) system. These allow TechStyle to anticipate a customer’s needs, provide automated support and provide insight to agents so they can be prepared to help if automated support proves tobe insufficient.
“When a customer contacts us, we want to have insight about the reasons why they may be contacting us before we even start engaging with them,” Shay explained.“Depending on where they are in their customer journey, we can fairly accurately determine why they’re calling us.”
Outfitting With Omnichannel
The company also offers digital assistance to provide a seamless customer experience at its brick-and-mortar locations. Clerks in stores have handheld devices that let them access customer information, including data about online experiences, style preferences, purchasing histories or items currently in the customers’ online shopping carts. Retailers can also use this information to decide what to stock at its brick-and-mortar locations, Shay previously noted.
Additionally, digital tools in fitting rooms can connect with customers as they try on clothes. Customers can scan items at a kiosk in the dressing room or use it to ask associates to bring different sizes, colors or items.Customers who must leave the store before making purchases can place items they’re trying on into an online shopping cart instead.
Additionally, staying relevant to customers who shop at home means providing the right customer support channels.
“We want to be able to provide our members options and for them to be able to contact us with their channel of choice,” Shay said. “There are all these new exciting channels. A lot of these are emerging and we’re identifying a lot as [services that aren’t going anywhere] —things like Facebook Messenger will be around for a longtime.”
Shay explained that he expects channels such as FacebookMessenger and iMessenger to remain important over the next several years. He thinks voice assistants have limited customer-support practicality right now, but that they could become a more significant channel within two to three years.
Prepping For Protection And Perspective
While some companies use voice biometrics to identify customers, TechStyle Fashion doesn’t require that level of technology yet, Shay said.
Currently, identifying a caller’s phone number tells the company who the customer is 75 percent of the time, since most callers already have established memberships. And following that up with a request for the caller’s member ID or email address provides 95 percent accuracy, Shay claimed.
Low-tech approaches help the company support customers in other ways. In particular, some low-tech practices help agents give customers product insights and better understand consumers’ shopping experiences.
To bolster the human side of its customer support equation, TechStyle Fashion offers its agents monthly training about the company’s upcoming items, and agents are often physically shown the items. In addition, they can order three products for themselves each year, to get a better understanding of what customers are buying. This allows them to evaluate the customer’s experience, Shay said, by showing them every step, from delivery to trying an item on.
Whether through chatbots that can help customers order better-fitting boots or with live agents who can vouch for the quality of a cable-knit sweater, fashion retailers large and small are increasingly bolstering the support services needed to keep consumers coming back.
Consumers want to look their best for all kinds of occasions — whether that entails taking holiday photos, the first day at a new job or going to a yoga class. Getting the right style often means turning to trusted brands to help them look and feel good.
