4 best practices to unwrap customer delight this holiday season

For retailers looking to level up their customer experience (CX) game, speed is the new currency. 90% of consumers rate getting an ‘immediate’ response as ‘very important’ to them when they have a query, with 33% citing ‘waiting on hold’ as their pet peeve. This is even more evident in the holiday season when busier than usual customers expect brands to respect their time. 77% of buyers expect immediate resolution to their queries during the holidays. What’s more, today’s consumers don’t mince words. 50% publicly complain on social media.

Social media is fast becoming the preferred full-service channel for customers. From product discovery to buying, getting help, servicing, warranty claims, feedback – you name it. The trend is both advantageous and risky for brands. Advantageous because, done right, effective social media engagement can translate to tangible gains. Customers spend 20 to 40% more with companies that promptly respond to customer service requests on social media.

At the same time, the risks in terms of bad CX going viral, leading to loss of reputation, or inviting regulatory attention are far too enormous for brands to ignore.

How can retailers tread this thin line and ace social experience management during peak sales season?

While most brands today have a social media presence, only a few can claim to have integrated their social experience into their overall CX strategy. Proliferating social media sites, resource constraints, and evolving customer demand for faster and more seamless experiences across channels, are some of the key challenges brands grapple with. Customers on the other hand, increasingly prefer talking to brands on social media – more so during the holidays. A recent study reveals that 74% of consumers say they’re likely to reach out to a brand on social over the holidays.

As a result, each social media platform offers a treasure trove of data. But how can brands successfully aggregate the data, isolate relevant data points, and respond when and where needed – in real time?

Here are four best practices we have implemented that have delivered significant results for our retail clients.

#1 Embrace omni-channel monitoring:  Tap into game-changing AI-driven omnichannel monitoring capabilities.

• Triage requests and ensure priority-based routing to the right response teams.
• Efficiently allocate resources, ensuring that critical issues are addressed promptly. For example, prioritize a customer complaining about a delayed delivery over a general inquiry.

#2 Dial up your social listening: Social listening involves monitoring and analyzing conversations on social media to understand not only what customers are saying but also the sentiment behind their comments.

• Quickly identify how customer needs and sentiments vary across regions, allowing for localized marketing and customer service efforts.
• Use real time feedback from customers to rapidly address issues and improve overall engagement.
• Analyze previous holiday campaigns, sentiments, top-performing posts, keywords, and engagement metrics to fine-tune future campaigns.
• Leverage holiday campaign reporting to track effectiveness of marketing efforts, course correct, and optimize budgets.

#3 Activate analytics-driven social media campaigns: Social media is playing a larger than ever role in shaping the shopper’s journey, from discovery to purchase and after sales. It is the #1 product discovery channel for Gen Z (soon to make up 40% of global customers. Experts predict that in 2023, social media advertising will drive 10X more online holiday shopping visits than traditional marketing.

• Deploy targeted analytics-powered social media campaigns based on where your audience spend most of their time.
• Engage with them on their preferred mode of contact on social media (DM/ads/live stream).

#4 Funnel chat triggers to your social team to improve conversions: Conversations are key to driving conversions, but the trick lies in making them contextual and non-intrusive.

• Research shows that proactive chats can offer business-to-consumer (B2C) organizations up to 105% ROI and millions of dollars in positive business benefits when compared to just 15% ROI with reactive chat.
• Redirect chat triggers to your social team for effective re-marketing, cross-sell, and upsell.