Despite consumers demanding an ever-more personal service, a new report from marketing platform, iAdvize, in partnership with InternetRetailing, has revealed that just half (50%) of retailers believe that they offer the same level of customer experience online as they do in store.

With customer expectations constantly on the rise, this highlights a pressing need for retailers to increase their customer experience offering and focus on a multi-layered omni-channel approach to customer experience throughout the entire shopping journey.  

The report, titled ‘The Human Touch: Unlocking the power of conversational marketing’,explores how to find the best blend of process, algorithm and human to suit individual customer enquiries. The report looks at how closely conversational marketing ties in with customer acquisition, engagement and retention. It also explores the current level of deployment, how retailers are addressing pain points and provides an insight into the results the technology is delivering.

The report revealed that just over one fifth (22%) of retailers believe that their customer service levels are distinctive and valued, with half (50%) believing that their customer service is better than that of their competitors. 

Julien Hervouet, CEO & Co-Founder of iAdvize said, “there’s a huge disparity between the personalised, human touch that can be offered in-store and the level of customer experience that is available online. Today it is all about the power of emotion, conversation and relationship building. As customers’ expectations continue to grow at rapid speed, retailers are quickly realising the need for a multi-layered approach including the use of third party independent experts, offering authentic advice.

“The research findings show that information and advice is in fact the main driver of customer service, highlighting the misplaced assumption that the customer’s online purchasing journey is finished once you get them to your website - which couldn’t be further from the truth. The importance of personalised relationships with customers has been heavily over-looked and in order to gain and retain customer loyalty, brands need to assist their customers as much as possible in their decisions across their entire shopping journey.”

Download the full report here: https://landing.iadvize.com/en/conversational-marketing-research-2018