Customer Service Satisfaction Reaches Near-Decade Low, Report Says: How Can Retailers Improve?

Customer service appears to be a dying art — at least according to a recent report from Retail TouchPoints. Citing data from Forrester's 2024 U.S. CX Index, the outlet indicated that customer service had reached its lowest point since 2016.

According to Forrester, a mere 3% of businesses are "truly customer-focused in their approach," and the report indicated that it is now, more than ever, time to drill down to the fundamentals of the retail business: to "[show] customers you know them, understand them and are
equipped to serve them."

The report quoted Melissa Minkow — global director of retail strategy for CI&T and RetailWire BrainTrust member — to reinforce this point.

“The motto I live by now is that ‘with greater customer experiences comes greater responsibility,’” Minkow told Retail TouchPoints. “Customers have had a taste of some incredible experiences by now, and they now expect them from every retailer.”

The report then proceeded to outline three distinct pain points common to the contemporary retail consumer.

'I Can't Find What I'm Looking For'

Filed under this headline, the study pointed toward CI&T data suggesting that 19% of consumers would return to a store, e-commerce site, or app based on how quickly they can locate and purchase a desired item. Perhaps contrary to a common belief, customers prioritize efficiency over experience.

“Consumers don’t want to spend a lot of time on sites or apps — they want to be in and out,” Minkow said. “That’s what would raise NPS [net promoter scores] and, in my opinion, get consumers to keep coming back.”

The report underscored statistics stating that nearly three-quarters (70%) of shoppers found it difficult to find an associate to help them locate an item — a finding backed up by another statistic stating that 83% of store associates found it difficult to prioritize tasks when working in increasingly complex roles.

One solution discussed by the report was the introduction of technology to assist, with "store modes" in apps for retailers such as Tractor Supply and Dick's Sporting Goods allowing shoppers to view real-time inventory counts and product locations.

'I Feel Like This Brand Doesn't Understand Who I Am or What I Need'

In this instance, the report sketched out the necessity of providing a personalized — but not overly personalized — customer experience.

“The experience customers today are looking for is seamless and personalized enough to be of value to them,” Brandon Rael, director and consult partner at Kyndryl and another BrainTrust member, said. "It’s a way to build a community where all channels drive the discovery process, and then customers can either engage with an employee or engage in that self-service experience."

However, “Highly personalized experiences are not good for the user experience,” James A. Weiss, managing director of Big Drop Inc., argued. “That’s not good for brand recognition.”

The sweet spot could be in leveraging generative AI agents to provide a relatively inexpensive and highly efficient experience, according to the study. Gesturing toward success stories in this vein as evidenced by Best Buy and The Home Depot, the report further indicated that 58% of customer service managers saw GenAI as a "game-changer" in the industry — and 84% plan to use generative AI assistants in a customer-facing role in 2025 (up from just 42% in 2023).

'Why Do I Have To Keep Repeating Myself?'

Finally, Retail TouchPoints' report highlighted the irritation many customers face when they have to engage with several different channels to have questions answered or reach a specific goal.

Be it via telephone, email, visiting a store, engaging in text chat, or a variety of other points of contact, shoppers quickly become frustrated when having to restate the ask.

"Retailers are perpetually playing catch-up with their data strategies,” Rael noted. “We're talking about GenAI and personalization, but without the proper amount of data and insights foundationally, how can you even do that? Legacy retailers have legacy architecture. They don’t have a robust data-centric way of thinking, and maybe they're cobbling together integrations and solutions.”

One way to reduce this issue is to ensure that all teams are privy to as much relevant customer information as possible, at every potential point of contact. Armed with this data, customer service specialists in a variety of roles can immediately address shoppers' concerns, removing the headache (and time wasted) of having the customer repeat themselves.

“It’s about knowing who they are and providing the offers, promotions and services that will resonate with the customer where it feels like there are no channels. The retailers have visibility into how [customers] engage across multiple platforms," Rael concluded.