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Business Dec 15, 2021
| Photo courtesy of Marco Verch Professional Photographer/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
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Intercom, a customer communications platform that focuses on business relationships, unveiled the results of a new study that explores the impact that the global supply chain crisis is having on holiday shoppers and customer service teams.
Intercom’s Holiday Shopping Experience Report, based on a survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers and 500 customer service workers, found 77% of consumers worry they will have issues buying gifts online this year.
This is causing an uptick in customer inquiries about delivery delays, product availability and straining customer service teams — leading more than half (52%) of service reps to consider leaving their job due to the stress of meeting customer expectations. Despite a push from retailers to shop early, only 14% of consumers report they are mostly done with their holiday shopping.
“Companies want to do right by their customers, but support teams are always stretched during this time of year and the global supply chain issues are causing an even greater strain for both the support teams and the consumers they’re supporting,” said Des Traynor, co-founder and chief strategy officer, Intercom. “This is a make-or-break time for businesses to avoid disappointing their customers, to not only proactively communicate with customers about any challenges in fulfillment but also to earn their trust and equip support teams with the tools necessary to lessen their burden.”
The biggest concerns among consumers include gifts not arriving on time — which 45% of consumers admitted to — or gifts not being available at all. Additionally, 42% of shoppers also worry that items will be more expensive this year than expected.
Concerns about delays are also well-founded by Intercom. On-time deliveries have been an issue for most shoppers throughout the supply chain crisis, with almost two-thirds reporting they have had items arrive later than promised in the past six months.
Consumer concerns are resulting in more support inquiries for companies — and more frustrated customers. Almost a third of consumers say they have contacted customer support more often this year than in the past, and nearly half report recent customer service interactions have been frustrating.
Customer service reps feel the same. 49% of those employees have received more inquiries in the past few months compared to the same period last year — and 62% report customer expectations and demands have increased as well.
The report finds that stress of customer expectation is weighing on customer service reps. Half say they have considered leaving their job, which could spell disaster for already shorthanded customer service departments.
Even with 94% of consumers saying they expect companies to let them know of delays without having to ask about them, 38% of customer service reps say their company is not doing enough to set customer expectations on item availability and delivery times.
In addition to knowing about issues in advance, shoppers also want customer service that is fast (60%), friendly (57%) and available when they need it (53%).
“Our retail customers tell us they’re building trust with customers even during this disrupted shopping season by using our products to deliver fast support, personal, and proactive support through our messaging tools and by using our powerful AI to deliver instant resolutions,” said Traynor. “Retailers like Rugs.com, Living Spaces, Giant Eagle, and more than 25,000 other forward-thinking companies depend on Intercom to grow their businesses through better customer relationships and meet seasonal demand spikes.”
In order to address these consistent concerns during the holiday shopping season, support teams need to deliver excellent customer support and ongoing engagement. In order to meet high consumer expectations, they must invest in proactive support by getting ahead of customers’ questions — especially around shipping and delivery times — through targeted messages before they must ask.
With this, support leaders should make every customer touchpoint personalized, flexible, intentional, conversational and frictionless, no matter the channel. By investing in these areas, organizations will build strong customer relationships even in the face of supply chain disruptions and concerns.
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