Note to Retailers: Consumer spending is up, and that means consumers will be buying more of your products in the fourth quarter. So do your bit for the economy and provide your customers with great customer service that will keep them engaged, loyal – and buying.
The brightest aspect of our mixed economic picture is consumer spending, which rose 0.3 percent in August, an improvement over July’s 0.2 percent jump, all of which is contributing to the country’s GDP rising at an encouraging 2.0 – 2.5 percent annual clip. Another positive sign is the source of this increase: improved wages, which went up 0.4 percent in August, two times July’s growth. Supporting the rise in wages is an increase in employment, with 200,000 new jobs expected to have been created in September.
This means consumers will likely be in a giving – and spending – mood this holiday season. If that’s the case, it follows then that more consumers will also be on the phone, emailing and having live chat sessions asking if a particular product is available, when they can expect their shipments to arrive, how to return a product, whether gift wrapping is available, and so on.
Leading retailers make sure that these phone calls, emails and chats are handled well: promptly, intelligently and effectively. For many retailers, it means engaging with an outsourced call center services provider that can augment its in-house call center, absorbing overflow activity and extending customer service further into the evening and over the weekend.
Now is the time to put in place the customer service bandwidth retailers need to make their customers feel valued as the holiday season approaches. Great customer service translates into great customer loyalty.