Consumers’ expectations of brands and retailers have changed, and the buying journey has been forever altered—and from those shifts have come new expectations around customer service. New research from Incisiv reveals that while the retail industry has made significant advancements in providing better visibility into promotions and order tracking, it still significantly lags in expert assistance, order modifications post purchase and making shoppers’ order history available to customer service agents.
According to the firm’s new report, in partnership with Genesys, 1 in 2 brick and mortar retailers are Laggards or Followers in terms of omnichannel customer service. The Incisiv 2022 Omnichannel Service Index benchmarks top retailers’ ability to provide a seamless customer service experience across channels. Additional key findings of the report include:
- 90 percent of shoppers begin their buying journey online, yet only 30 percent of shoppers are satisfied with the service offered during the discovery phase of the experience.
- The department store segment leads the industry in enabling agents to provide assistance with product information.
- The grocery segment ranks last in providing visibility into search history (only 13 percent) but leads all retail segments with buy online, pick up in store (83 percent).
- The consumer electronics segment leads all of retail in offering the option to register and manage loyalty accounts (91 percent), as well as allowing agents to help shoppers with returns (100 percent).
This year, Incisiv recognizes 20 retailers and brands as Omnichannel Customer Service Leaders, including Ace Hardware, Bed Bath & Beyond, Best Buy, Macy’s, REI, Target and Walmart.
Retailers rated as leaders in omnichannel customer service:
“The past two years have impacted humanity in deep and transformative ways, including what we, as shoppers, value. Retailers will have to build and refine capabilities to serve these new expectations,” said Amarjot Mokha, chief operating officer at Incisiv, in a news release. “Our goal with the Omnichannel Customer Service Index is to help retailers identify high-impact improvement opportunities based on a nuanced view of what drives superior customer service. Adopting foundational and advanced capabilities can help retailers improve their digital performance KPIs and competitive strategy by promptly adapting to consumers’ omnichannel service needs.”
The assessment methodology spans over 110 measurable attributes across three areas of retailers’ service experience, including discovery, purchase, and 360-degree service. Attributes are categorized as table stakes or differentiating, based on their impact on key digital performance metrics such as average order value (AOV) and conversion. The index assesses a total of 102 retailers across eight retail segments.
Download the full report and list of leading retailers here.
The Incisiv 2022 Omnichannel Customer Service Index is based on insights from its proprietary digital maturity benchmarking methodology. The insights span 102 retailers, 110 digital capabilities and eight industry segments.
