Summer sales are right around the corner - Is your customer service ready for the spike?

Black Friday and Cyber Monday aren’t the only big retail events each year. We are now approaching the time of year when many consumers need to prepare for back-to-school, and brands need to prepare to provide an excellent customer experience to stay competitive.

Did you know 58% of customers will pay more for better customer service? This means offering the best deal doesn’t necessarily equate with customer retention.

If we pair this with the fact that a whopping 71% of consumers prefer learning about products from internet influencers and brand ambassadors - who they trust more than brands - it’s no wonder some of the world’s leading companies are finding success crowdsourcing their customer experience operations with a pool of GigCX Experts.

Photo and video sharing applications are filled with content from everyday people recommending products and brands they love. Some of this content garners thousands, if not millions, of views. This coincides with the way consumers prefer to shop nowadays. Nielsen reports that “42% of Americans seek the advice of others for purchase decisions, and they want that advice to come from relatable sources.” 

Brands that are using a GigCX model for service and sales have seen customer satisfaction (CSAT) scores rise and cost to serve drop. For example, the largest consumer goods company in the world, Unilever, reduced its cost per case by up to 40% with a flexible pay-as-you-go, per-case pricing model. This means, a brand only pays for resolved cases, not per active headcount, resulting in major cost-savings, particularly at peak times of the year like Black Friday and back-to-school season. 

GigCX Experts are invited based on their product expertise and genuine love for the brand, and can provide excellent year-round customer retention. They have native brand knowledge and vast product experience, which means they can draw upon their own experiences to provide more personalized responses to customer questions.

Because most shoppers seek out product and brand reviews before purchasing, any e-commerce or retail consumer goods company can benefit from incorporating Gig Experts into customer service and sales operations. The knowledge and passion of GigCX Experts can be leveraged to make an impact on many areas of the customer lifecycle, including acquisition and retention. 

For example, automotive manufacturers (like Nissan) boost pre-sales efforts by empowering GigCX Experts to convince prospective car buyers to sign up for a test drive because they themselves are owners of the vehicle.

Whether a consumer is inquiring about which laptop is best for their child’s first year at university, or what kind of sunscreen works best under makeup, GigCX Experts provide a more personal and unique experience due to their real-world knowledge of the product. 

GigCX is also the perfect solution for online marketplaces that are largely community based. The world’s largest online marketplace, eBay, has partnered with Limitless to enable its power Sellers to become Experts, who help retain and coach new eBay Sellers. 

By working with Limitless, eBay reduced its cost-per-case and lowered its re-contact rate, compared to in-house and outsourced operations. It also achieved consistently high CSAT scores, along with winning the award for 'Best Customer Engagement Initiative' at the ECCCSAs.

“I’m incredibly excited about what this partnership means for the sellers on our platform,” said Rob Hattrell, VP, eBay UK. “Our Sellers want to speak to like-minded individuals that can advise them in real-time, based on their own nuanced and experienced understanding of our platform, and it’s great that we’re now facilitating those conversations.”

And when it comes to support, Limitless clients offer ample proof that a gig crowd can improve operations across the board. 

With summer just around the corner, shoppers are starting to compare SUVs for trips, easy to wash bathing suits, best protective sunscreens, new electronics to keep their kids entertained, and so much more. Are you ready?

Your customers are your biggest asset. Through the power of the Limitless GigCX platform, you can bring your customers and advocates into the very heart of the business and reward them for providing exceptional on-demand service.

Implementing a customer service model that easily scales at the click of a button is paramount. By having brand advocates available at any time across the globe — with the flexibility to respond to customers whenever they wish — you ensure your customers have the support they need when they need it.

Learn more about GigCX by downloading the Gig Customer Experience Report, or contact us today to receive a free GigCX assessment.