Avoiding the pitfalls of WISMO by taking a proactive approach in retail

Asking, ‘Where is my order’ is an increasingly common customer complaint. In fact, so much so – that this statement has now yielded the industry acronym ‘WISMO’. And when customers start asking that question, it’s not the delivery company they opt to get in touch with, but the brand. This means brands need to be prepared to equip customers with the right information, to ensure they are both happy, and informed. 

Zendesk's Customer Experience Trends research found that when customers are considering which company to do business with, the top quality they look for is good customer service, followed by convenience and reputation.  That means it’s not just the when and where of a delivery, but how you communicate and help the customer be informed that matters. But over the past five years, customer satisfaction has dropped from 94.6 percent in 2013 to 92.5 percent in 2018. Meanwhile, nearly half of customers we surveyed (46 percent) said their expectations are higher than they were a year ago.

The rise of WISMO has the potential to increase demands on your customer service centres and turn waiting customers into frustrated ones that take their grievances to social media. That doesn’t have to be the case though - here are three top tips businesses should consider to get ahead of WISMO and improve on the delivery experience.

·         Make the most of self-service

Zendesk’s research findings show that 40 percent of customers prefer to use search or help centres before contacting support, yet only 20 percent of support teams provide self-service. 

Companies can implement self-service tools that allow the customer to get quick and up-to-date information on how the delivery process works, with tools in place to push real-time alerts on delivery status and tracking to the customer. That way, they can plan to be available at the time of delivery, rather than waiting around an entire day. It provides a boost in both convenience and customer satisfaction. 

Setting up self-service isn’t a solution that you will implement overnight but the Zendesk customers I speak to tell me it’s worth it. Preparing self-service content enables a business to deeply understand its customers and the way they interact with the business about their questions and concerns. Done correctly, self-service can speed up the time customers spend looking for answers and, at the same time, free up agent time to add value in areas where they are most needed. 

·         Take a more intelligent approach 

It’s a mistake to put artificial intelligence (AI) on your ‘future’ list for a solution to implement when you’re flush with cash. The figures speak for themselves. High performing businesses are twice as likely to use AI. It’s helping companies resolve tickets 21 percent faster, while handling six times the volume of requests. Yet 85 percent of enterprise companies still aren’t using AI. 

AI can serve various purposes but if you want to give a better experience for customers waiting for deliveries, one function of AI is to recognise tickets that need urgent attention. Time sensitive questions or messages about an imminent or even late delivery can receive a macro response to both the customer and an agent. This ensures that customers’ needs are being prioritised while the agent is aware of the urgency of the case. 

Whatever the channel that the customer uses to get in touch with the company, AI can be incorporated into an omnichannel solution that makes sure customers are dealt with quickly. When they receive the right response in a timeframe that reflects their level of query, it’s more likely to avoid escalated complaints – even if a delivery has been missed or is late. 

·         Tech isn’t the only answer

No, this isn’t a direct contradiction to my previous point. No matter how sophisticated AI systems become, there will always be a need for human agents. To ensure that customers are updated on their deliveries, with the necessary customer support, it’s key to make sure human agents are in the best position to pick up more complex cases and be the most helpful.  

Customers quickly become frustrated when self-service articles or a chatbot can’t answer their specific questions. If agents aren’t quickly and transparently brought in when needed, it becomes difficult to join the dots that lead to timely deliveries. 

The secret to a successful hand-off between bots and agents, is ensuring that the right information is communicated during this process, to save the customer the effort and frustration of having to repeat the conversation that they’ve already just had. When the agent does step in, customers expect them to be equipped with all the details including conversational history, the product ordered, delivery details and the customer query. By ensuring all of this information is shared via one platform, customers will see their queries answered in a more timely and efficient manner.

Brands need to remember the old, yet familiar saying that ‘the customer is always right’. This means being empathetic to their frustrations with waiting for orders to arrive. So, to minimise the level of customer frustrations, brands need to take a proactive approach to minimise the WISMO anxiety and keep customers informed. By adopting AI technologies and sharing up to date, real-time information with a customer, you’ll find you have loyal, happy customers, willing to make another purchase in the future.