High-end handbag, luggage and accessories seller Vera Bradley was looking for a way to enhance the customer experience by adding texting as a contact channel, after realizing shoppers might have already been trying to send texts to customer service numbers.
“We knew we had to be there when our customers needed help,” said Susan Campbell, Director of Customer Experience at Vera Bradley. “We also wanted to increase efficiency while enhancing the experience by offering another easy way to contact customer service without complicating things with yet another phone number.”
Vera Bradley selected an integrated solution combining two-way texting from Textel with CXone contact center software from NICE inContact to open up the new communication channel with customers. “We had a hunch that text would be a preferred channel of communication, and therefore didn’t necessarily know we were facing the issue,” Campbell said. “After the implementation, it became clear we were right. So many of our customers are taking advantage of the new channel because it is quick, easy and convenient.”
For Vera Bradley, simple customer requests and questions can be resolved through texts, such as getting an order status update or answering questions about shipping or return policies. If it’s an issue that can be resolved faster through another channel, texts guide customers to the next step in the process.
Campbell said it was important for Vera Bradley to leverage a single platform for managing all of its customer interactions, in order to keep both agents and customers happy. She said NICE inContact’s own research found eight in 10 customers will switch to another retailer if they experience bad service.
“This solution has helped us better communicate with our customers, and has worked seamlessly,” Campbell said. “Our agents continue to work within a single, easy-to-use desktop environment. As they’re able to view previous interactions in a single platform, they have better insight on each customer’s past issues, communication preferences and more across all channels, which enables them to determine the best path to resolution more quickly.”
With the addition of texting as a communication channel, Vera Bradley has been able to reduce its inbound calls by 7%. It is also able to handle more customer contacts faster and at a lower cost, as dedicated agents can manage up to three customers at once via text.
“We’ve been able to increase overall contact center efficiency and cost effectiveness,” Campbell said. “We’ve also experienced a zero percent abandon rate when interacting with customers over text.”