IRCE 2008 Session Descriptions

As consumers adopt online self-service to answer their questions about products, orders and policies, the role of customer service agents changes. They must become much more sophisticated then they were before, possessing intimate familiarity with all aspects of a retailer's business: products, policies, technology and more. The reason: customers are getting their answers online and the ones who call in are those who have complex questions about products, are having trouble navigating the web site or are looking for corporate policies, such as returns information. In addition, consumers are increasingly getting product information in online forums that are unrelated to the retailer whose products may be under discussion at the forum. Agents then get calls from consumers to resolve conflicts between what they learn at a retailer's web site and what they learn in a forum. Today's 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. This session will examine how the customer service rep's role will continue to evolve and the skill sets that will be crucial to agents' success.