The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the online retail sales landscape in less than a year. With the economic breakdown due to the pandemic outbreak, the industry started upgrading its marketing practices and leveraging the online space to grow its sales. As a result, online retail sales have almost doubled in the past year or two. According to Forbes, online retail sales have increased from 19.1% to 36.3%. This rate continues to increase to this day, and a call center for retail stores has a lot to contribute to this growth.
Marketing Overview
Experts say that the c
all center industry has witnessed a sharp spike in its market value since the pandemic. This is because of its demand in various sectors, including the retail market.
The major factors that are expected to drive the growth of the call center market are highlighted in the Markets and Markets survey report. They include –
- The growing need for omnichannel solutions to deliver better customer experiences
- The demand for personalized services
- Minimization of efforts in streamlining customer interactions
- High customer satisfaction
Additionally, the global call center market size was valued at USD 339.4 billion in 2020 by Statista. The industry is expected to grow steadily and hit USD 496 billion by 2027.
How call center outsourcing agencies are helping retailers to improve their online sales
Several reports have already proven why retailers are outsourcing their customer support services. But the question still remains as to how these agencies are supporting retail stores in bringing high sales. Let’s discuss them here!
-
Providing omnichannel solutions:
Modern customers appreciate brands that offer personalized services. According to a recent report by Epsilon, 80% of consumers are more likely to shop from brands that deliver personalized experiences. They look for retail stores that value their choices by providing multiple communication channels for raising queries or issues. Considering this kind of customer behavior, call center agencies have come up with omnichannel and self-service solutions.
Call center agencies provide omnichannel solutions that enable customers to communicate with brand representatives across several mediums. The communication mediums include – phone calls, social media, webchat, email, live chat, and text messages. Additionally, they even empower customers to access self-service support options so that the customers can find answers quickly and easily.
Therefore, omnichannel solutions make customers feel happy about the retail store that they are connected with. They repeat their purchases from the same brand, thereby increasing online retail sales of the business.
-
Monitoring customer interactions:
Customer communications matter a lot when you want to deliver better customer experiences. An ideal call center for retail stores utilizes various advanced tools and technologies to monitor customer interactions, gain valuable insights, and optimize customer support services accordingly. The call center agents analyze consumer interactions to understand customer behaviors and experiences and ultimately determine customer services.
An insight into customer interactions helps retail call centers gain a better understanding of customer demands and priorities. With a clear perception, call centers upgrade their customer support strategies and bring in new customer-friendly solutions to attract prospects. They also use automation tools to deliver instant and accurate responses to keep customers engaged. With high customer engagement and better customer services, call centers help retail businesses build brand loyalty and improve their sales.
-
Offering proactive customer service:
Customers always appreciate proactive services, where agents anticipate customer issues and reach out with a solution in advance. However, such services are only possible when you are able to analyze customer interactions and gain insights into customer experiences.
A certified retail call center never compromises in delivering quality customer services. Customers, getting solutions to their issues in advance, are more likely to stay engaged with the brand, make multiple purchases, and recommend it to friends. Therefore, it is not wrong to say that proactive customer service offered by call centers can generate high sales and bring in high revenue for businesses.
-
Improving agents’ performance:
Businesses often wonder how agents’ performances can impact online retail sales. But the reality is that they do have a major role in boosting sales and revenue of businesses.
Call center agents are responsible for handling multiple customer issues at a time. Hence, they offer different communication mediums to give importance to customers’ choices and deliver prompt responses without fail. Therefore, customer support representatives have a major role in acquiring prospects and retaining customers.
Experts say that with the agents’ performing well, positive customer experiences are more likely to be achieved. As a result, top contact centers focus more on monitoring and measuring agents’ performances on a regular basis. They generate reports and gather analytical data to measure the efficiency of every call center agent. Some important metrics based on which assessments are done include – first-call-resolution rates, average handling time, call on-hold time, call abandonment rates, and many others. These metrics help retail call centers optimize their overall performances so that they can deliver quality services to customers.
-
Creating brand awareness:
Retail call center outsourcing providers are efficient enough in creating brand awareness and achieving brand loyalty. Ensuring high-quality customer services, call centers can acquire new customers, retain them, and simultaneously increase brand recognition.
With increased brand awareness, call centers assist retail businesses in reaching out to more new clients. This automatically leads to high business sales and a strong ROI for the business. Therefore, there is no specific reason to avoid retail call center outsourcing if you desperately want your business to achieve greater heights.
Boost your online retail sales with retail call centers
The global pandemic has shifted the focus of retailers to online sales in order to accelerate revenue growth and improve the bottom line. Multiple studies have proven how these call center or BPO agencies are assisting retail businesses in accelerating their online sales. Therefore, investing in a call center for eCommerce companies or retail stores is not a bad idea at all. Instead, contact centers have the potential to grow sales and boost business ROI.
You simply need to identify the ideal retail call center that suits your business requirements and maximize the benefits
