E-commerce businesses are booming, and it doesn’t look like the industry is going to slow down either. But can you keep up with the increasing demand? One way to ease the burden is to use a communication solution that makes life easier for both customers and staff.
E-commerce is growing ever stronger
E-commerce, that is, all commercial transactions companies or consumers make over the internet, is constantly increasing every year. In recent years, internet speeds have become faster, making it easier to keep customers happy thanks to a better online user experience. At the same time, e-commerce businesses have become more sophisticated and to be competitive you need to meet the increasingly high demands of online shoppers.
And consumers really love shopping online! When the Riksbank surveyed Swedes’ payment habits in 2020, 66% said they had bought goods and services online in the past month. In 2021, global e-commerce sales reached around $4.9 trillion. This figure is expected to grow by 50% over the next four years, to around $7.4 trillion by 2025.
Successful e-commerce requires good communication
To succeed in the world of e-commerce, the different parts of the business must be intertwined. Your online store and presence must be tightly integrated with your warehouse, distribution, logistics and customer service. To make this work, you need a communication solution that combines the components into one system and makes them work smoothly together. Let’s go into it in more detail!
TIP: If you’re looking for the best communication solutions for retail, you’ll love this blog post!
Smart and easy communication with VoIP and UCaaS
A dedicated telephony solution can help e-commerce businesses of all sizes master their communications. As more businesses have switched to cloud services, they have also discovered the benefits of VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol). VoIP gives you more features than a standard PBX and allows you to easily make inbound and outbound calls over the internet.
But most modern businesses need more than VoIP today and a way to create more seamless communication across all touchpoints. An evolution of VoIP is UCaaS (Unified Communications as a Service) which takes your communication to the next level. It provides even more options and the ability to unify multiple communication channels in one platform, such as telephony, SMS, email, chat and more. As we will explore later in this article, a good telephony solution is essential for e-commerce businesses for smooth internal and external communication.
Improved external communication and customer support
Even if your customers only shop online and you don’t have a physical store, they will expect full customer support. According to HubSpot, 33% of consumers would rather contact a company’s customer service via social media rather than by phone. However, this means that most customers still prefer to call, so the option to contact you by phone should remain.
With UCaaS, your customers can reach out to you on the platform they prefer. Since all your communication channels are interconnected, a customer can contact you via the live chat on the website and later continue the conversation in an email.
You can also take orders around the clock and set up self-service options, such as chatbots that can help answer questions outside of working hours. Customers can then get help even if your customer support team has left for the day.
7 reasons why your team will love UCaaS
UCaaS enables quick and easy communication both internally and externally by bringing telephony, video conferencing, messaging and collaboration tools together in one platform. But going into more detail, here are 7 reasons why your team will love UCaaS.
1. Interdepartmental contacts
As it is a cloud-based solution, your employees can work from the office or remotely, but still have access to all internal data. Employees can participate in video meetings, training or conference calls, chat with their colleagues, etc. and get the same experience as well as great video quality.
2. call routing
Call routing between departments just got easier. Want a customer calling the office to be connected directly to the warehouse? No problem. If the line is busy, you can have the customer transferred to another line or department. Not only will it save your employees time, but your customers will appreciate being connected to the right person directly.
3. scalability
Because everything is managed in the cloud, it’s easy to scale up and down. E-commerce businesses typically experience seasonality, and many see peaks during holidays like Christmas and Black Friday. UCaaS will be a great help as it is easy to add or remove agents to accommodate your seasonal workflows.
With reputable UCaaS solutions like Telavox, you also only pay for what you actually use – and there’s no maintenance required.
4. Automation
One of the most useful features is automation. By automating repetitive tasks, your employees can spend more time on complex tasks instead. You will see positive effects such as higher productivity and happier employees. For e-commerce businesses, you may find the use of automation particularly useful to do the following:
- Using contact search to see who you are talking to
- Tagging conversations and contacts
- Report status
- Using finishing time and getting time for admin between calls
- Update customer information
- Keeping track of statistics
- Using programmability to get information from your e-commerce platform
5. The maximized efficiency
Customer service managers will love how easy it is to keep track of their customer service team’s performance and how queue management allows them to easily add more staff to a queue if needed.
6. Mobile adaptation
Another advantage is its mobile-friendliness. All staff can log in to the system and collaborate with their colleagues, whether they use a desktop, laptop, tablet or smartphone. As long as you have an internet connection, you can manage customer interactions, even on your phone.
7. Integrations with other systems
Do you use CRM systems such as Salesforce, MS Dynamics 365 or HubSpot? Integrating telephony with your CRM will do wonders for your internal processes, and your team will always be provided with up-to-date analytical insights.
Executive summary
E-commerce has exploded in recent years. Your communication solution needs to live up to expectations to keep up and deliver what your customers want. With UCaaS, you’re setting yourself up for the future and getting that hassle-free, seamless way to talk to your customers.
One of the most prominent problems customer service managers face is staffing. Lack of statistics makes it harder to optimize the number of agents with calls, but if you connect your call center to UCaaS, the problem is easily solved. By integrating your contact center with UCaaS, you get an end-to-end solution with benefits for you and your agents, and your customers get an improved customer experience.
Are you interested in learning more about UCaaS and communication solutions? Take a closer look at Telavox’s solution, where PBX, chat, meetings and contact center are all in one platform. Are you active in the retail sector? Read on to find out how Telavox can benefit your business in a number of ways!
