Economic uncertainty is causing ripple effects across various industries, but perhaps none more acutely than retail. New challenges like tariff concerns, inflation, supply chain issues, and ebbs in consumer spending are making it harder to meet rising customer demands while keeping costs in check.
The economy is impacting spending habits; according to recent research from McKinsey:
- More than 60% of consumers have changed or expect to change their spending habits due to recent tariff announcements
- More than 50% of those who plan to change their habits expect cut back on non-essential spending
- 43% of U.S. consumers are concerned about rising costs/inflation
- 29% of consumers are worried about tariff policies
When headwinds like these arise, retailers may rush to rein in spending – and the contact center likely is a prime target. But customer experience (CX) suffers when handle times grow and resolution rates drop, so scaling back in the contact center could end up costing retailers more in the long run.
To navigate this challenging economy, brands need to adapt quickly, improve efficiency, reduce costs, and maintain strong CX. The right tools and people can help.
Eliminate guesswork with AI-powered insights
Few things are more costly – when it comes to time and resources – than uncertainty. Eliminate guesswork by knowing exactly how your customers are feeling and how your associates are performing, with AI-powered insights.
TTEC Insights uses conversational intelligence to listen to and analyze 100% of interactions. This award-winning solution gives a comprehensive, data-backed picture of customer sentiment and identifies trends and patterns. With these insights, brands can identify in real-time what’s working and what’s not during interactions.
Traditional quality assurance tools capture less than 3% of customer interactions, so if you’re still relying on those, chances are you’re missing out on valuable insights. The better you understand your customers, the better you’re able to meet their needs quickly and improve satisfaction and loyalty. The contact center is a treasure trove of data; make the most of it.
When a high-end retailer wanted a clearer picture of customer sentiment than its traditional QA tools could provide, TTEC leveraged our partnership with LevelAI. The brand implemented LevelAI’s next-gen digital quality insights tool to listen to and analyze 100% of customer interactions across all customer support channels: calls, chats, emails, and messaging. Then TTEC’s quality experts dug into the data, determining the root causes of problems, pulling insights about how to resolve them, and suggesting recommendations to alleviate them.
This insight-driven, expert-led approach led to $489,000 in potential annualized savings and a 60% decrease in time spent finding coaching opportunities.
AI-powered insights don’t just benefit customers; they improve experiences for your associates, too. TTEC Perform gives associates and team leads access to real-time performance data, so they can instantly see how and where they can improve. The result? More efficient associate coaching that’s guided by insights, not trial and error.
Take a fresh look at offshoring
If you’ve got an outdated view of offshoring, it’s time to reconsider. Today’s outsourced CX markets are very different than the traditional call center of the past.
Offshore centers in the Philippines and India – along with emerging regions like South Africa, Rwanda, and Egypt – let companies tap into a highly skilled workforce while uncovering cost savings of up to 60% or more. With an educated labor pool and AI-powered tools, these sites offer the same quality CX as onshore centers, at a substantially lower cost.
TTEC Clarity, for instance, provides real-time accent softening and noise cancellation so customers and associates can communicate easily, regardless of where in the world they are located. The language barrier can also be broken with real-time voice translation from award-winning TTEC ADDI.
And TTEC Let Me Know, an AI-powered knowledgebase solution, ensures associates anywhere across the globe have quick and easy access to the information they need when they need it.
AI tools are breaking down communication and efficiency barriers, expanding the CX world in the process.
Empower customers through self-service
Depending how this economy is impacting your industry, you may be seeing an influx of inquiries to your contact center. Deflect the more simple, straightforward ones to chatbots, virtual IVRs, and other self-service tools.
Customers are increasingly comfortable interacting with AI agents and bots (as long as they can easily resolve issues) and self-service lets them find the answers they need on their own time. Delegating simple tasks to automation frees up associates to focus on the more nuanced interactions that require a human touch.
The right automation lets companies drive costs down while improving CX. At TTEC, we’ve helped companies cut cost-per-contact by 50% and reach near-perfect CSAT.
Turn change into a CX advantage
Navigating an uncertain economy can be daunting, especially when customer satisfaction and loyalty are on the line and financial pressures are mounting.
Tap into expert guidance to make the most of the unpredictability. Working with a proven CX partner is an easy and cost-effective way to quickly gain access to the global workforce, cutting-edge AI tools, and proven best practices you need to thrive – in any economy.
