Retail Week Article, April 2010
Vertex Consulting Director Philip Michell recently gave his views in an article that appeared in the April 1st edition of the retail trade publication, Retail Week. The article looked at how giving your store and call centre staff the responsibility and means to solve customer problems can not only turn a negative into a positive but also pay off for the wider business.
Philip gave his comments by explaining Vertex’s own experiences of the costs of dealing with complaints falling when staff are given more autonomy. “A mail order client removed the predetermined limit on customer refunds and the number of refunds actually went down in about three months. The staff treated the money as their own,”
Philip then went on to explain how cost savings are a key benefit for retails as a result of giving the staff responsibility to solve complaints first time and that companies will see a 10% to 25% saving in their operational costs as repeat contacts and the average time to handle a complaint will be reduced. “The average handling time will increase at first by about 10%, but after a couple of months this will reduce depending on the support system in place.”
However Philip also pointed out that websites need improvements as retailers have to realise that contact with customer service staff is not always the first point of contact. “They don’t take into account customers have looked at the website first.” Additionally email is now being used more and more with Philip going on to highlight how it is increasingly being used over the more traditional customer service channels. “Customer expectation now is that email enquiries will be solved in no more than four hours.”
Shop Direct is an example that Philip then went on to illustrate a retailer that does empower customers to help themselves. “There has been an increase in the number of customers self-serving by reappointing a delivery through the website or ringing an automated service. This has the benefits of being available 24/7 and it is cost effective,”
To read the full article then please visit the Retail Week website.
Please note this is a subscriber only site but if you would like to discuss Philip’s thoughts with him then please email him.