Plenty of vendors featured sales-focused software and services at Retail Systems 2001; fewer have carved out post-sale CRM as a specialty. Yet a significant number of product returns could be avoided by filling in the information gap post-sale, when customers either can’t get their questions about a product answered or customer feedback doesn’t reach the right target and perpetuates problems a product may have, says Andy Clements, new business manager, NEW Customer Service Cos. Clements was exhibiting Product Assist, a suite of post-sale software and services offered jointly by NEW and GENCO Distribution Systems, at Retail Systems 2001. “In one case, we found that 75% of a national home improvement product retailer’s returns were because customers couldn’t get their questions answered," says Clements. Using Quick Assist, one offering under the Product Assist suite, the retailer saw a 70% reduction in the number of returns over a single quarter, he said. Quick Assist guides customers online through prompts designed to identify the product’s problem and then directs them to text that provides resolutions.
In other cases, feedback from customers isn’t effectively communicated back to the merchant, which perpetuates rather than resolves problems that cause returns. In one case, SKU numbers were mixed up at a discount retailer, with the result that customers who ordered hats with the team logo of one professional sports team consistently received another. Until the merchant recognized the error, shoppers who returned the hats continued to receive a second, identical hat in response. Other features of the Product Assist suite capture that information and communicate it to shippers and vendors, in addition to managing warranty records online; providing live chat, e-mail and telephone customer support; finding local service centers; and providing help with returns logistics. Retailers that make post-sale CRM a critical part of their strategy boost profitability in two ways, says Lucy Rooth, vice president of marketing at GENCO; by putting product information online to reduce contact center labor costs and by lowering the number of returns.
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