Retailers are finding that customer expectations for customer service are growing more challenging. Increasingly, customers expect online tools that are easy and useful, live agents who are efficient and effective, and loyalty programs that enable agents to deliver personalized and customized service.

Radial and CFI Group surveyed 500 retail shoppers to better understand their expectations when engaging customer service. The resulting feedback demonstrates the need for a retailer to provide its agents the tools and systems needed in order to deliver the experience customers expect to receive when contacting customer service.

Before contacting customer service, many retail shoppers are willing to try self-serve tools online.

• 45% expect to be able to check their order status online.
• 38% expect to be able to be able to receive general product or service support online.
• 64% actually try to resolve their issue before contacting customer service.
• 69% of those who try to self serve do so by visiting the retailer’s primary company website.

When customers do reach out to customer service, they have high expectations that a live agent will resolve the issue.

• 67% expect the agent to have access to their order history.
• 55% expect the agent to see the history of prior contact with the retailer.
• 40% expect the agent to provide additional customized product offers.
• Customers who speak directly with a live agent are 20% more satisfied and 27% more likely to recommend the retailer than those who interact partially or completely with IVR.

Offering a loyalty program is clearly one way to deliver such customized offerings and effective customer service that customers expect.

• 39% are members in the retailer’s loyalty program.
• Loyalty program members are 15% more satisfied and 13% more likely to recommend the retailer compared to non-loyalty customers.
• 67% of loyalty members are recognized as a loyalty program member by the contact center agent.
• But non-loyalty members are 3% more satisfied and 5% more likely to recommend the retailer than are loyalty members who are not recognized as loyalty members.

Download the complete report to find out how retailers can adjust to these high customer expectations.