Beyond Resolving the ‘Help Wanted’ Issue, Omni-Channel
Retailing Success Depends on Connecting Customer Data Across All
Channels and Putting Customer Feedback into Practice
As retailers head into the ever-critical holiday shopping
season, new research from Verint® (NASDAQ: VRNT), The Customer
Engagement Company™ highlights key customer engagement challenges
and opportunities amidst a backdrop of labor shortages.
More than half of retailers surveyed said that effectively
staffing stores will be the greatest challenge this year with 86
percent facing at least one challenge related to hiring and
staffing customer-facing roles for the upcoming holiday season.
Fifty percent report issues finding qualified people to work in
their stores, while 30 percent are struggling to fill positions in
the contact center and back office.
Labor issues persist beyond the struggle for customer-facing
candidates, with 34 percent of retailers reporting not having
enough Human Resources (HR) staff to handle the number of vacancies
needing to be filled.
In the age of labor scarcity, automation to support modern
digital customer engagement can be of tremendous value for the
retail sector, where customer experience is paramount. In fact, 55
percent of individuals with roles of director or higher consider
chatbots to be a key part of their customer engagement strategy, an
increase of 10 points compared to last year’s survey.
According to Verint’s Jenni Palocsik, vice president, marketing
insights, experience and enablement, “Retailers need strategies
that provide rich customer engagement and fill the gaps that exist
due to labor shortages. By providing in-channel automation through
bots, private messaging, and self-service options through knowledge
and community forums, it can lessen the demands and the workloads
of human agents. Leveraging customer experience automation also
lowers the cost to serve and creates a more seamless experience for
customers.”
Retailers are Collecting Data, but Need to Action Customer
Feedback
The survey shows retailers recognize the value in collecting
customer feedback to understand buyer behavior and how to best
serve customers, but there is room for improvement in applying
learnings.
Retailers plan to focus on their in-store and/or mobile app
channels to improve customer service and engagement during the next
12 months.
Only 56 percent of all retailers who collect feedback from
customers after they interact with them on digital channels feel
they are “very effectively” using these insights to improve
customers’ experiences on digital channels.
Just 54 percent of retailers that sell products in brick &
mortar stores collect feedback from customers after their store
visits feel they are “very effectively” using insights to improve
customers’ in-store experiences.
Connecting Customer Data Across Channels is Key to
Omni-Channel Retailing
While shoppers engage with retailers in an omni-channel fashion,
many retailers struggle to share customer data across channels to
help support omni-channel engagement. Of the retailers that connect
customer data across some of their
digital channels, only 22 percent are very effective in using
insights to improve digital channel experiences as well as in-store
experiences.
However, the retailers that connect the customer data across
all engagement channels are more than
three times as likely to use insights very effectively to improve
their experiences on digital channels. In fact, the study found
that those retailers are very effectively leveraging insights to
improve experiences in-store (73%) and on digital channels
(75%).
Verint experts say customer experience automation can help
activate customer insights, closing feedback loops, to help
retailers with continuous improvement.
To learn more about how retailers can optimize customer
engagement strategies, relieve hiring pressures, and achieve
exceptional return on investment though intelligent automation,
download the Verint 2023 Holiday Survival Guide.
About the Survey Methodology
A survey was conducted by a third-party research firm from
August 30 through September 7, 2023. Survey participants were
selected from business-to-business research panels and asked
screening questions to ensure they are involved with customer
service or customer experience at retailers with at least 1,000
employees that sell products and services to consumers in physical
stores and/or online. They were required to have a role of manager,
director, vice president, senior vice president, executive vice
president or C-level executive; the survey had 400
participants.
About Verint
Verint® (NASDAQ: VRNT) helps the world’s most iconic brands
continuously elevate the customer experience (CX) and reduce
operating costs. More than 10,000 organizations in 175 countries –
including over 85 of the Fortune 100 companies – rely on Verint’s
open customer engagement platform to harness the power of data and
AI to maximize CX automation.
Verint, The Customer Engagement Company®, is proud to be
Certified™ by Great Place To Work®. Learn more at Verint.com.
This press release contains “forward-looking statements,”
including statements regarding expectations, predictions, views,
opportunities, plans, strategies, beliefs, and statements of
similar effect relating to Verint Systems Inc. These
forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance
and they are based on management's expectations that involve a
number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions, any of which could
cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in
or implied by the forward-looking statements. For a detailed
discussion of these risk factors, see our Annual Report on Form
10-K for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2023, and other filings
we make with the SEC. The forward-looking statements contained in
this press release are made as of the date of this press release
and, except as required by law, Verint assumes no obligation to
update or revise them or to provide reasons why actual results may
differ.
VERINT, VERINT DA VINCI, VERINT OPEN CCAAS, THE CUSTOMER
ENGAGEMENT COMPANY, BOUNDLESS CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT, AND THE
ENGAGEMENT CAPACITY GAP are trademarks of Verint Systems Inc. or
its subsidiaries. Verint and other parties may also have trademark
rights in other terms used herein.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20231101203352/en/
Media Relations Sue Huss sue.huss@verint.com
Investor Relations Matthew Frankel
matthew.frankel@verint.com
Verint Systems (NASDAQ:VRNT)
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