Web 2.0 - What is the new role of your customer service agents in support of e-commerce?

An Article Courtesy of Rush Order, Inc.

In recent years, the underlying premise having the greatest affect on the customer service agent's role is the paradigm shift to the "self service" model. Regardless of which marketplace you look at, merchants have implemented self service initiatives across the board.

Everyday, we see this trend in progress. Examples include ATMs on every corner, self checkout at the grocery store, drive through restaurants, and the shrinking number of full-service gas stations. This trend started decades ago and will continue into the future as product and service offerings expand on the web.

Each time a new self service technology is born, merchants of all types implement a new round of self service initiatives in order to save costs. Simultaneously, customers demand and use such tools as a matter of convenience.

This match in priorities infers that the volume of self service tools available in the marketplace has and will continue to steadily increase in future years. In fact, one could make a blanket statement that if a merchant's technologies are enabling customers to service themselves, they are likely on the path to success.

As the self service trend continues into the future, the primary role of the customer service agent will be to support those customers who are not able or willing to operate the self service tools available online. For example, customers now typically initiate contact because they cannot find relevant product specifications online, navigate the shopping cart system, track a package, operate the self service return authorization webpage, etc.

Agents must be experts in every aspect of the business, including corporate background and mission, product information, billing status, shipping status, technical support, and sales skills. This broad skill set was nearly non-existent prior to the e-commerce explosion. As e-commerce and web support technology took hold, the self service model for online merchants finally took hold as well.

This means that all customer service agents must be able to use and understand the inner workings of the self service tools themselves.

To meet this requirement, many organizations have chosen to create closer ties between its customer service and IT personnel. In fact, a monthly meeting between these two groups is a great method to help educate agents on new tools, reinforce the use of existing tools, and conversely, inform IT personnel when a tool does work as intended.

For further reference, please visit our article regarding automated customer service and self service initiatives.

In the future, the self service model will continue as the predominant backdrop for the evolving role of customer service agents.

With the onset of Web 2.0, customer service agents will continue along the learning curve in adapting to new technology. Web 2.0 is also changing the way merchants manage the customer experience and related market perception.

The "web as a community" is an example of the continuance of the self service trend. Customers no longer solely rely on calling or emailing with questions. In fact, they are even becoming less reliant on the merchant's website for authoritative information. Or, at the very least, customers are testing the merchant's promises against the opinions expressed in the community.

For example, in managing call center operations on behalf of many clients, Rush Order has found that customers are frequently calling to verify product information found on the merchant's website and to ask why an existing customer's description of a particular feature in a forum is different.

The merchant will be forced to back its claims in light of the community's reviews. Customer service agents will hover between the merchant's claims and the gestalt of the community's impressions. We have already seen forums used as an agent tool for managing customer service. Expect much more of this type of correspondence in the coming years.

The agent may become the first filter by proactively managing customer inquiries within the community on an on-demand basis in addition to their role as the agents for those customers that choose not to self service via membership in the community. As a result, we foresee online forums and their derivatives as the most important change agent in the next decade.

In addition, merchants will be forced to systematically review the data streaming in from the community in order gauge customer feedback and expectations. They also must find methods of summarizing and communicating this data to their agents in a timely and effective manner. On the flip side, agents will be forced to find methods to internalize this data and use it to their advantage when speaking, emailing, posting, and chatting online with customers.

In the end, we may find ourselves looking to online communities to gauge what customers expect the role of customer service agents to be.

Please feel free to contact us anytime regarding Rush Order's methods for managing customer service. We provide consultations at no charge. Our only hope is that you will keep Rush Order in mind as a resource and potential order processing and fulfillment solution for future needs.