CX Lessons You Can Learn From DTC Brands During COVID-19

Summary

In today’s session, the focus is on DTC (Direct-to-Consumer) brands and the lessons CX (Customer Experience) can learn from them during the COVID-19 pandemic. Andrea, the director of research at Customer Angel, discusses how the current environment is changing customer expectations and how businesses are adapting to become more like DTC brands. With storefronts closed, many traditional retailers are experiencing a surge in online orders, necessitating a shift in mindset toward DTC strategies. Companies are also adjusting policies to be more flexible to accommodate customers’ needs during these uncertain times. The webcast explores the benefits of the DTC experience and offers practical DTC strategies that any brand can implement immediately.

Key Takeaways

1. Shift to DTC Mindset: The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many businesses to close their storefronts, leading to a surge in online orders. To effectively navigate this changing landscape, companies need to adopt a direct-to-consumer (DTC) mindset. Embracing DTC strategies can help them better serve their customers and ensure continuity during challenging times.
2. Adapt to Changing Customer Expectations: The current environment is rapidly changing customer expectations. Brands must be agile and responsive, adjusting their approaches to communication and customer service. Providing remote support and ensuring a seamless online experience become essential to meet customer demands.
3. Flexibility in Policies: Brands should consider reevaluating and adjusting their policies to accommodate customers’ needs during the crisis. Companies that were previously rigid in their return or cancellation policies may need to become more flexible to maintain customer loyalty and protect their brand reputation.
4. Prioritize Customer Service: With many individuals feeling overwhelmed and anxious due to the pandemic, customer service becomes a crucial aspect of brand differentiation. By prioritizing exceptional customer service, brands can build trust and loyalty with their customer base.
5. Continuous Learning: Brands should constantly learn and adapt to the changing landscape. By staying informed about industry trends and observing successful DTC brands, businesses can identify valuable strategies and practices to incorporate into their operations. Continuous learning and improvement are key to thriving in the current business climate.

Transcript

Hello, and welcome to today’s session. We’re all DTC now. CX lessons you can learn from DTC brands during this COVID nineteen, set presentation.
Such a hot topic right now, and I can’t wait to see what Andrea has to share with us today, but Just a few housekeeping items before I turn it over to her, we’d love to hear from you. If you have questions throughout the presentation, you can submit them by selecting the questions button on your screen. And if for any reason we aren’t able to get to your questions, then fairly certain there’ll be a lot of them out there. Don’t be alarmed. We’ll follow-up with y’all, after the session. And as we look into the webcast, do us a huge favor and take a moment to rate and provide your feedback. We’d love to hear what you thought.
I think at this point, Andrea, I’d love to introduce you to the audience. Andrea Paul is our director of research here customer.
Angel, let’s kick this off. Where there are brands doing what are brands doing? And this is COVID pandemic at the moment.
Yeah. Thank you so much, Kim, for the introduction. I’m really glad that you guys are all joining us today.
One thing I wanted to quickly flag was I’m sure, like, like, many of you, I’m now working entirely remotely. So if you hear any strange noises. My apologies.
Please let me know if there’s any connectivity issues or, anything like that and try to resolve them quickly. But as Kim said today, you know, we’re discussing a really timely topic for those of you that signed up, you know, maybe a month or so ago.
We were originally just doing, you know, a sort of basic what you can learn from D2C brands topic, and we decided to ship that a little bit given everything that is happening in the world right now. You know, obviously most businesses are being forced to close their storefronts and sort act like a D2C brand now, and we really wanted to discuss how that’s impacting customer service organizations, and then additionally what lessons you can learn from, legacy DTC brands.
So let’s quickly walk through the agenda now.
Give you an overarching idea of what to expect. First, we’ll talk about how customer expectations are really changing given the current environment.
We’ll explore how brands are responding to this new environment. So we’ll look at some D to C brands and some, more larger brands, how they’re, shifting their business models accordingly.
We’ll then discuss sort of the overarching direct-to-consumer experience, why customers prefer that. And then we’ll wrap up with key D to C strategies that really any brand can begin implementing right now.
As Ken said, obviously, if you guys have any throughout the presentation. Please feel free to throw them into the chat. We’ll be really happy to answer those at the end, given time. And if not, we can obviously follow-up with you later about it.
So let’s kick things off by discussing how this sort of landscape of customer service and as retail as a whole is changing due to COVID nineteen. So, obviously, it goes without saying, you know, This is really impacting everyone right now. It’s impacting how we’re communicating with our customers, how we’re approaching our customers, we’re essentially all being forced to work remotely right now, and many of us, you know, both as consumers and as service providers were probably very overwhelmed, maybe a little bit anxious and quite frankly we’re living in a new reality right now. So we really do have to adjust our strategies and the way we work accordingly because, you know, it’s not something that, you know, will go away instantaneously. The will probably linger for a long time to come.
But how can retailers really ensure that they’re serving their customers and they’re providing their customer service agents with the right tools to navigate this sort of rapidly changing landscape.
So, obviously, things are transforming quickly. And I’m sure this landscape will look different in just a week from now, but I wanted to sort of give you guys, an idea of what I’m currently seeing. I would and what sort of the current landscape is looking like for businesses right now. So obvious obviously, with storefronts closed, really around the world, many traditional big box and brick and mortar stores are seeing this huge, huge uptick in online orders, but they really need to fulfill all of these orders online and for delivery. There are still a few stores that are doing, pickup, but primarily it’s gonna be online and delivery only for the foreseeable future. And, this really requires, a shift in focus, a whole new mindset for a lot of retailers. Right?
One that might continue long after this is done, more of this direct to consumer mindset.
And secondly, you know, many companies have had to shift their policies in light of what’s going on globally. So the obvious example, of course, are travel companies, who might not have as much business. There might be people canceling or wanting to change and then retailers that have really strict return policies are also shifting these, to be a little bit more flexible. And what may have seemed, you know, completely normal and completely fair a month ago might not be as feasible, in order to protect your brand reputation right now, especially when so many customers are overwhelmed and upset. Right? So I know that it’s been, you know, a pretty anxious time for me worrying about loved ones, worrying about my own health, And there are a lot of individuals, unfortunately, that are being financially impacted, by this crisis and really doing everything in their power to stay afloat during this time.
And they’re really looking at businesses specifically customer service representatives that are now sort of the new face of the business to reassure them and approach situations with, a bit of humility and empathy.
So this is just a quick, stat from one of our research studies that we did at the end of last year. We researched or we surveyed, two thousand consumers about their, customer service, sort of, expectations and preferences, and seventy eight percent of consumers said that they expect online and in store retailers to treat them exactly the same. So That means that they really still expect to have this resource to answer their questions and recommend products to them.
And be treated really as a human being, and not an order number when they’re shopping online. So I think that’s just a really, really important data point to keep in mind that businesses have to shift more to an online and direct to consumer mindset.
So now let’s look at the flip side of things. I talked about how companies are sort of in the shifting landscape, but what are consumers feeling? I’m sure that, you know, All of you are also consumers. So you probably feel all of these things, and it’s a little bit self explanatory, but customers like, especially expect you to treat them with that human touch right now.
We’re all sort of in this together, and now more than ever, customers are really demanding empathy, in all of their interactions, especially with, you know, emotions at an all time high. And I would say this goes really hand in hand with flexibility. Right? So, like, the when an act of god occurs, so to speak, that that flips the world on its head, customers really expect businesses to loosen their restrictions, be more flexible with their policies, make exceptions when necessary But, obviously, you know, problems do and will occur as businesses continue to struggle from both, you know, workforce perspective and fulfillment perspective.
Customers will expect you to proactively reach out to them when that’s the case. Right? So I know when all of this started occurring, I’m sure you got that barrage of emails, that all of us did assuring customers that businesses were taking, you know, the correct precautionary steps to be safe and protect them, or if you’re sending an email when shipping times may take longer or there are problems with fulfillment. It’s just very, very important to get ahead of the problem right now, versus being reactive because what happens when you’re reactive is you will see that influx in customer service inquiries from confusing upset customers. And especially right now, that could hurt, in the long run.
So this is sort of something that I like to tout always, but I think it it rings especially true, in this current environment, you know, as customers sort of purse strings continue to tighten in this new reality that we’re living in, it’s really important to shift the mindset of your customer service team.
A lot of direct to consumer brands have really successfully done this in recent years, but your team doesn’t wanna be, you know, like, a removed and reactive part of the business. Right? You don’t wanna just be ticket resolvers. Now customer service teams are really the face of the remote workforce really, and you should be focused on building those customer relationships and building those long term you know, the long term brand equity that you want with your customer base.
And this is just another quick sort of stat from the study that I mentioned earlier, sixty second sixty seven percent of customers expect businesses to know them and personalize how they interact. And, you know, I think with customers in a really vulnerable place right now, that’s even more important to implement, as much as possible.
So now we’ll move into how businesses are responding to the current environment.
It obviously, you know, goes without saying that as the economy sort of comes to a standstill right now, not every com company has the opportunity or the means to make some sort of grand gesture at this time. But if you can show your customers that you care, and that you’re reacting, it can really go a long way to build that brand’s equity and maintain a healthy re reputation through all of this. So we’ll look at some D2C brands, some larger brands, and hopefully I’ll sort of spark some inspiration for you guys and potentially how you can be acting to this.
So first of all, we’re we’ll talk about sort of the food and beverage landscape A lot of food and beverage delivery companies are implementing what is called contact free delivery, and building that functionality into their apps and into their site.
I’m sure, you know, some of you may have used this functionality already. What it means is, essentially, when goods are being delivered to your home, you can have them leave those goods at your door without having to, you know, interact directly with any individual. It’s really furthering the health and safety of both the delivery worker and your customers So companies like Gopuff and Globo and Place, they reacted really, really quickly to that social distancing recommendation and implemented this into their business model and proactively communicated it to their customer base. So, obviously, this makes sense for these types of businesses where delivery is still, very much in demand.
Another similar stuff that we’re seeing from a lot of companies especially companies that are, delivering sort of quote unquote essential goods.
Our business is doing free same day delivery again to minimize the number of individuals that are sort of out and about potentially spreading the virus.
So companies like pharmacy companies, I think this is, you know, hugely beneficial to the client base who really need their essentials to stay healthy and stay happy.
And they don’t necessarily want to expose themselves unnecessarily. So These health companies are doing their part to provide this reliable uninterrupted service under pretty extraordinary circumstances.
Other companies are doing their part to sort of give back to the community in a in a way that makes sense for their business specifically. So for instance, companies like Sweetgreen and Rappy, they’re delivering free meals to medical professionals while U Hall is offering free storage to college students who’s been kicked out of their dorms.
We’ve also seen an uptick in individuals donating to hospitals or pharmaceutical research. There are tons and tons of stories or studies and stories, I’m sure.
Of why this is beneficial for businesses, to do sort of giving back initiative. There was one study from Cohen Porter, Novelli, from last year that said that eighty five percent of Jen’s ears said that they would proactively share their positive opinion about brands that we’re doing good.
So I think this is a really great way to show that you’re carrying.
Especially if it’s something that is directly tied to your business, and is not necessarily a huge monetary strain for you.
This one is, I would say, probably the easiest and, you know, the relatively cheapest way for companies to help out during this time, is to become a resource for your customers. Right? So one great example that I saw was the dog food brand, the farmer’s dog, they created content to educate their consumers on the facts and the fiction when it comes to dogs getting COVID nineteen.
So, you know, the more you can do to arm your customers with the information and the resources they need where it’s relevant to your business, the better. Many other companies are hosting, you know, free Q and A’s or digital events.
Companies with the means to do so like LinkedIn are offering free learning courses online. So, you know, anything that you think you can be an expert in and be a resource for your customers.
If you have the sort of means to create content, I think that’s a super, super easy way to be helpful during this extraordinary time.
And then lastly, we sort of already discussed this and and it may not be possible for everyone, but companies really across all industries are adjusting their policies given this new reality.
You know, tons and tons of airlines obviously are waving their change these hotels are allowing individuals to cancel for free. Some companies are giving discounts to prompt buying of non essential goods right now. While others are really vowing to keep us connected, whether the consumers can afford to or not. So those are, you know, companies like Verizon who provide connectivity to provide internet services.
And many retailers are also extending their return window. As individuals, like, you know, no longer want to leave the house and travel to the post office or maybe just physically cannot. So Obviously, many of these policies can be expensive, somewhat selfless acts, but, they could really, really pay off in the long run as customers choose who to shop within the long term.
So now we’ll dive into sort of our original topic that we had for this webinar, which was the D2C customer experience.
I think, you know, in the retail industry and in a lot of industries with more employees working from home, and less shoppers visiting physical stores, the time is right now, honestly, for brands to strengthen their direct to summer mindset.
And then the weeks that come, you know, retailers should really expect all of their orders to come from online channels, and they really need to be fully prepared to to minimize customer service disruptions and maximize sort of the agent’s ability to seamlessly customer concerns, especially when, you know, a lot of our agents are having to work remotely right now as well.
So, certainly, the companies that have already positioned themselves for digital first interactions already are sort of agile from a technical perspective, from a remote work perspective, might be at an advantage, but I think that, you know, this doesn’t mean that other companies can’t catch up and by rethinking the way that brands use customer service and use technology, you can really gain a better control over sort of your customer focused practices right now.
So this is just a very simple quote from our recent direct to consumer guide, but there are really three main things that a modern consumer expect from the band brands that they’re doing business with right now. And those three things are convenience, personalized service, and memorable experiences.
Many direct to consumer brands have really mastered this new experience and that’s what we can all sort of try to aim for and start to do right now.
So over the past decade, I would say, there’s been really a fundamental shift in the way that we as consumers shop the way that we seek service, the way that we ask for help, you know, consume in general, I would say. And with this comes a really fundamental shift in the way that companies, approach the customer experience. Right? So, you know, ten years ago, we would go to a neighborhood store. We would ask for a specific pro product or have one recommended for our needs. We buy it. We drive home, walk home, depending on where you live.
Today, we never really have to leave the couch. And especially today, we can’t really leave the couch. There’s one click buying options. There’s competitive pricing.
There’s a million reviews, to be confident in your purchases without having to go into a store. And I think that the challenges of shopping have really shifted because of that. You know, the challenges come from information overload. They come from lack of personalization.
And Brandstein to figure out how to engage their customers and really own that relationship without that in store presence without that sales associate.
And the traditional supply chain and wholesale retail model, the past, you know, now customers aren’t very engaged with it either. So we have to just figure out a way to to reconnect the dots, whether it’s in person or online.
So this was, a study that was conducted last year, by diffusion research, I believe.
And I think honestly with the coronavirus ordeal that’s happening right now, and everyone working for from home and being forced to shop more online with, more delivery options.
I think that probably you know, many consumers will only get more comfortable with a direct to consumer models, after all of this is done. So I would product to see this number grow significantly. But what they found last year was that, forty percent of individuals thought that at least forty percent of their purchases would be from direct to consumer brands within the next five years.
So, you know, that’s a good chunk of the population who is really planning on focusing on, direct to consumer for, like, almost half of what they’re shopping for. And DTC companies obviously can communicate directly to their audience. They can communicate before a purchase during a purchase after a purchase, and that’s really why the popularity of of D2C brands is growing so rapidly.
So when you’re thinking of a direct to consumer mindset, you’re really thinking of sort of a brand new way of looking at acquisition, looking at service, looking at loyalty, and it requires more of a holistic view.
Of how every customer journey in your connects. Right? So for retail and direct to consumer companies, this means that every customer has to be really clearly identified no matter which channel or which part of the journey they’re in. So whether they’re engaging with you via chat, to ask about a new offer. If they’re searching for a new item online, if they’re facing delayed service, if they’re being proactively engaged with you, with with by your support team.
You need to know who they are. You need to know how they’ve interacted with you in the past.
And that’s sort of where these new modern online companies are really, really succeeding. They have that complete understanding of the experience that customers now expect from a brand, and they have the ability to use that experience to set themselves apart from the competition.
It’s sort of this constant feedback loop of what customers are demanding, what they’re liking, what they’re disliking, and then enacting acting on that information to please them even more.
So now that we sort of set up the land escape of why DTC historically has been so popular. How can you actually start putting some of these strategies into action today?
Know, obviously, there are a lot of brands that are overwhelmed and underwater right now understandably so, but I’m hoping that you know, potentially you can take one or two of these to heart and try to implement them, or try to, you know, put the pieces in place to start moving in that direction, because honestly, there’s really not gonna be a difference between these legacy brands and direct to consumer brands in the near future as more people become trouble with the idea of buying just about everything online.
So let’s dive in.
The first one, which might seem kind of obvious is owning the customer relationship. So, obviously, now with more companies being forced to move online. This isn’t a huge challenge. You’ll be interacting with your customer base directly. You’ll have that data and that information on them. But the one thing I would flag here is, you know, the days of sort of that transactional relationship with consumers is over, I would say. So today, customers really want to feel, like, a valued part of the brand.
A lot of younger consumers often choose where to shop because they identify with the brand, and they believe in their mission or their values And direct to consumer brands can sort of own this customer relationship without having to necessarily rely on a third party to promote their goods or fear that a third party might tarnish their brand identity.
And with a DTC model, you know, a relationship can begin far before a transaction, and it can continue as a sort of constant dialogue far past checkout. So I would say now is the, really, the perfect time to start trying to build that dialogue to keep customers happy and loyal in this whole new environment, especially for companies you know, maybe aren’t providing essential goods, but they really wanna stay top of mind, with their customers and continue that dialogue, sort of in between sales.
So once you own that customer relationship, you can really and truly know your customer as I was saying, you know, when your customers are interacting with you exclusively online, you’re able to get to know them better and and track that data. And have that as a history. So I always like to use this example. It’s essentially, you know, imagine you’re having a conversation with a friend, but you’re not able to remember anything about that friend or any interaction you’ve ever had with him previously.
You just have amnesia, It would be so, so difficult to have, you know, a truly personal or meaningful conversation with them. And that sort of how traditional retailers have historically interacted with consumers. Right? They just have this huge blind spot about customers, preferences, and behaviors.
And a lot of digital first brands, a lot of D2C brands don’t have to deal with this problem as much if they have the right tools in place. So every aspect of that online journey could be adjusted to meet your customer’s need.
And with the right technology, all of that information can be available to staff in a, in a single view. So you’ll be able to know a customer’s preferences, their buying history, their sentiment, their previous interaction, the status of the reward or, you know, even their, you know, potentially their preferred channels of communication. So it’ll no longer be interacting with just like an anonymous customer, customer number, four five seven, like, you’ll be interacting with a valued human being who feels really heard and feels appreciated.
And a lot of direct to consumer brands are able to use customer data not only to personalize the interactions that they have with them, but also informed business decisions. So let’s say you document why customers are reaching out to you every time a conversation has started. You can use this information to optimize maybe your user experience on your website, or make product and fulfillment tweaks depending on why people are often reaching out to you. So, you know, customer service teams, especially for D2C brands, have this wealth of information and are that frontline talking to customers.
They shouldn’t be living, you know, in a silo.
Having all of that information just to themselves. They should be able to really impact the business holistically with the wealth of knowledge that they have.
So now that you know your customers inside out, you can really build out those personalized interactions. Right?
Would say that, you know, the psychology of personalization is a really real thing. There was a study, that found that customers per personalization because it really increases their sense of control, and it decreases their feelings of being overwhelmed from this information overload.
Both of those things I would say are extremely important right now, when customers are sort of in their greatest time of need.
And providing this consistent experience for customers that at really every touch point makes it significantly easier for agents to deliver personalized service, which is really being demanded by customers today. So if you’re arming your customer service agents with the tools, that allow them to access all that relevant information in one central place. It’ll be much, much easier for them.
The easier it is to access this data, the better the agents’ chances are of creating personalized connections, making your customers feel really heard and responded to. And and when you become sort of an extension of this consumer identity and you treat them like a friend and not like a not a missed entity.
Customers don’t don’t just stay as, you know, simple buyers. They can really become advocates for your brand.
So this is another thing that, I think D2C brands have found a lot success with, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be mission driven. But, you know, creating these deep connections with consumers whether that’s over shared values or a sort of lifestyle.
If you think of companies like Bamba, the thought company or Tom’s or Cotopaxi. They have really, like, this giving back mentality at the core of their strategy, which has really naturally led to a community of advocates that really feel as though their values are reflected in the brands that they do business with.
And, you know, as a DTC brand, you really do have this complete control over the customer relationship, and you’re able to build trust build deep connections, with this sort of community of customers. So, you know, as I said, it doesn’t necessarily have to be giving back, but some brands, you know, add benefits for loyal customers or subscribers.
So, you know, a lot of box subscription companies, so send free gifts with each box or they’ll also send, a magazine or a newsletter, to their loyal subscribers And in that same study that I referenced earlier, the Cohen Porter New Valley study from last year, they found that actually seventy three percent of consumers so that they would be more likely to defend a brand, that led with sort of a purpose and created this community. So when things do go wrong, customers, are much more likely to forgive and defend you when you built this sort of loyal following.
I would say, you know, this is something that we always have to be thinking about. Right? I don’t know how super important it is specifically for this moment, but being available on all channels is great, but if you’re going to be available on all channels, you wanna make sure that what you’re delivering to the consumer is a seamless experience. So if they have to switch from one channel to another, you want to be able to treat them the same you know, if you’re talking on chat versus talking on email and have a seamless experience be able to switch channels seamlessly without having them repeat the information that they’ve already told you and getting their their issue resolved quickly.
So this is something that I think a lot of newer, more digital focus brands have prioritized in the past and and shifting from multi channel to an omnichannel mindset, is always something that you should be striving for.
And then lastly, you know, this goes without saying, but especially in times, like, like, now, minimizing disruptions and being sort of agile, like a tech forward direct to consumer brand, it’s gonna be super important.
So it’s a somewhat volatile market right now. It’s even more imperative that customer service operations run smoothly because of that.
Things like disruptions and outages can really erode customer confidence and sort of damage brand reputation very, very quickly.
I know that, you know, during, like, the Black Friday’s hybrid Monday season of last year, there were a lot of big box stores, like, at Costco and Target and Best Buy, that all experienced a lot of issues, during these critical shopping times and lost massive amounts of revenue because of that.
Not to mention the high levels of customer frustration. So you just really have to think about having that right technology in place. It can mean the difference between, you know, a very, very, very unhappy customer that never shops with you again and one that that’s satisfied and willing to recommend you to friends.
So investing in the right tools obviously can provide critical support to your customer service agents who might be fielding more inquiries or more difficult inquiries right now, and they’ll also probably be acclimating to working from home. So finding, a solution that enables that will be really, really important.
And then as we said before, you know, this final note here is it’s always important to proactively reach out and make things right when things do go wrong. It’s almost inevitable that things are gonna go wrong when the environment is shifting so rapidly.
So admitting where you need to improve is another way to really connect with consumers, build loyalty and, obviously, making things right quickly will help with that as well.
So that’s it for me. Thank you guys so much for joining. As Kim said earlier, my name is Andrea Paul. I am the director of research here at Kustomer.
We have a few attachments and links, with, I believe, our direct to consumer guide in there.
We’re obviously doing new research, creating new content on a very regular basis. So if you want to keep an eye out for new content, you can go to customer dot com slash resources, we’re gonna be creating a lot of content in the next, month or two specifically around this new environment that we’re living in. So, we’d love to get your guys feedback on all that stuff. So I guess it’s time for questions now.
Yeah. Again, thanks. If you’d like to like to ask a question, please select that questions button and submit it in there. And while we’re compiling, we do have a couple actually. Thanks, Andrea. I think that that information was great. And like you said, there are a few assets that are in the attachment section of the webinar.
The one I thought that would be really useful that I will add after we we close out this session is is the, the retail guide that, what, that was created that, I think, houses some of that, some of those staff and data, folks wanted more information on that. But that CDC guide is definitely in there as well if y’all are interested.
So, yeah, so I think, let’s take a look at some questions, Andrea, if you don’t mind.
Oh, this is there’s a So I think you changed a little you touched on this a little bit, but, maybe you could maybe talk to this again as a reminder. How do you think remote working is changing customer service? Do you have any tips for teams that haven’t done it yet or at all? Yeah.
I mean, yes. I think it’ll definitely be challenging, obviously, for any team that has never done it before or really For anyone that doesn’t necessarily have the space or the alone time to work in peace and quiet, which I’m sure many of you are already feeling, but, You know, I think for CS teams as a whole, I wouldn’t say you can send your team home and really expect them to figure out how to work remotely perfectly right off the bat. You need to be organizing virtual meetings, helping them sort of optimize their, workspace providing flexibility. I think is gonna be really huge, especially if people need to handle personal matters, but I think that one thing that’ll be super, super helpful is technology. It’ll be hugely important in order to make sure that your team is successful.
So having sort of a customer service environment that allows collaboration, right, very easy, but easier said than done. So if you can have, you know, individuals across roles across teams to be able to collaborate on one place and one view, instead of sending, you know, emails back and forth and transferring people over and over again, that’s gonna be super huge.
I think also the ability technology that will allow managers oversee work, and jump into conversations as needed is gonna be really beneficial.
So those are sort of obviously more customer service specific technology specific ideas.
But we’re also doing sort of like a tip of the day for working remotely on our our LinkedIn and Twitter right now. So if you want the very basic tip, I would recommend you you follow those. One, I think, that we’re gonna be doing, within the next couple of weeks, that’s my favorite, personally.
You know, is to pack up your workspace the end of the day. I know that I’ve sort of struggled to turn off in the evening, because your work is now at home. So, what I’ve started doing is, like, I’m, unfortunately, I’m not lucky enough to have an office in my Brooklyn apartment, but I have my workstation set up, and then I pack it all up when I’m done for the day. So it’s not scaring me in the face and, you know, luring me back. But, yeah, be sure to follow us if you want some of those more practical tips.
Yeah. that’s interesting. I do the same thing. I mean, I could do it better. I could literally take that laptop and put it in my backpack.
Yeah. So it’s, like, tomorrow is another day. Right? Yep. This this is interesting. Like, I don’t know if this person is looking for advice or just really curious. Like, what do you think the number one thing is that will help companies revise in this crazy time?
That’s a great question.
I obviously, you know, think that companies that are providing these essential goods and services at this time are doing well.
They’re probably overwhelmed with the amount of fulfillment, but for those that are not providing those essential goods and services, which I’m sure is the vast majority.
I really truly think that providing sort of an effortless customer experience and making your customers feel like they’re part of the community.
Is gonna be really, really hugely important right now.
So that’s, you know, whether it’s keeping them engaged keeping them reassured, making it as easy as possible for them to get their questions answered. I don’t think right now companies need to be going above and beyond and wowing their customers with these grand gestures, but you just need to really make it easy for customers and be part of their lives still.
And companies who have, you know, low effort scores during this time will probably win, against their competitors that don’t.
Hopefully, that is interesting.
Yeah. Yeah. For sure. This one actually I think you probably touched on this already, but wondering if, like, if you had anything to add. So, this person has, like, heard his or her, team needs to be more efficient.
Any recommendations there.
Yeah.
Obviously, working at a technology company and sort of swaying in the technology direction, but I definitely think technology technology technology, when it comes to efficiency, the more you can arm your team with the information and the tools that they need, the better. So if you are too scared to sort of jump on that automation train previously. Now might be that time to do so. You know, as we speak There are chatbots powering powered by AI that are probably conducting millions of conversations right now.
And it can be a really good tool to tap into to maintain high levels of service while keeping costs low. I think there’s always gonna be, like, a huge, huge need for, obviously, real life interaction, but just taking away that, that low level tier one support, or gathering information before sending, sending that individual to an actual customer service representative can save a lot of time.
Beyond that, I think there are a lot of other forms of automation that can help teams be more efficient. So things like intelligent routing. Right? So automatically routing conversations to the most important or most appropriate agent for that particular topic, automatically tagging conversations, providing shortcuts, so that agents have, you know, sort of messages to send for particular topics surfacing that right information at the right time.
You know, AI can really sort of acts like a personal assistant for a lot of agents. So, that’s a huge, huge help. And I think all of sort of stuff can really cut down on the time your agents are dedicating dedicated to busy work. As I said, you know, some companies are probably gonna see an uptick in inquiries right now while others might not be seeing an uptick, but the questions they’re getting might be a little bit more difficult to handle.
So the more you can cut back on busy work, the better.
Awesome. Yeah. And I think, that’s actually it for the question. So Yeah, Andrea. Thanks again for your time. And thank you everyone for joining.
I know sometimes even working remotely, it’s much time do it take, dedicate on work, and hopefully you’re making some time to re educate yourself on things out there.
I think that covers it for the day. So folks stay safe and well, and we look forward to seeing you all in our next session.
Thanks, guys.