Alibaba by Sutherland Global Services

Consumer Experience – Alibaba.com April 2012

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Alibaba.com Consumer Experience Study Client • Client is a leading e-commerce vendor and needed to understand the most effective mix of channels for customer service

Project Scope • Key objective of the study was to provide a brief overview of the different channels of customer service as well as identifying mix of service channels used by companies present in client’s industry. Highlighting impact of adding a particular channel of customer service on revenue was also an added requirement

Sutherland’s Solution • SGS conducted extensive secondary research to understand the mix of customer service channels used across the client’s industry • A ‘Customer satisfaction ratings study’ done by a third party vendor was also used in order to draw comparison across various service channel mix • Case studies showing the impact of introduction of any particular channel of customer service on revenue were also compiled • All news-based databases as well as other information repositories that Sutherland has access to were extensively used for the purpose of this research

• Benefits to the Client • The project provided significant and exclusive intelligence to the client to better its ‘customer experience management’ strategy

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Channels of Customer Service Interaction Style: Customer Service

Interaction Intent

Assisted

Sales

Live dialogue between customer and provider; Information is directly shared by a live agent

Service

Partially Automated Customer can access information directly and are assisted through the web to execute transactions on their own

Advice

Channel

Customer accesses information via an unassisted channel that might escalate to an assisted channel if transaction is complex

Face-to-Face

Virtual Assistant

Phone

Mobile Services

Social Media

IVR

Ability to solve complex issues

Automated

Web Chat

E-mail Response Management

High

Web Self Service

Medium

Low

Source: Gartner, SGS Research

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Customer service channels used by retailers to service their customers Type of channel

How does it service the customer

Face-to-Face (brick & mortar retailers only)

• In store person-to-person interaction, also necessary when customer visits service center (specially in case of technology products)

Phone

• Person-to-person interaction via phone

E-mail Response Management

• E-mail management environment with optical character recognition, e-mail routing, virtual e-mail agent, etc.

Web Chat

• An online, text-based interaction with a live agent, or a speech-based interaction with a virtual assistant

Web Self Service

• Web-based self-service using a knowledge-management-type solution with a information repository and a search engine

Mobile-based Services

• Service interaction and chat via mobile device or smart phone using data and an SMS channel. Also includes service through mobile apps. No voice involved

Social Media Support

• Person-to-person interaction with customers through social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter

Virtual Assistant, IVR

• Interaction with a virtual person or avatar via the Web, SMS, IVR, messenger and other interfaces

Low

Moderate

High

Extent of Usage by Retailers

Very High

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Customer service channels used by major retailers (2/2) Customer Service Channel

Assisted Retail Format

Pure Play Online

Electronic Retailers

Office Supplies

Mass Merchants

Companies

Phone

Automated

Web Self Service

Call

Click to Call (Call Back)

Web-Chat

Amazon

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E-Bay

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Alibaba

Virtual Forums / Assistance, Communities Mobile app IVR

Customer Experience Index 2012 (Forrester)

E-Mail

Social Media

FAQ/ Search

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Apple

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Dell

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Best Buy

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Staples

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Office Depot

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Office Max

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Walmart

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Sears

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J.C. Penny

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Index Score Distribution (on a scale of 100)

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Partially Automated

85+ = Excellent

75-84 = Good

Most of the players in pure play online and electronics retail seem to have presence across all the customer support channels

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• Note: # Chat amongst buyers & sellers as against customers chatting with support team Source: Company Websites, Forrester's Report on Customer Experience Index 2012

65-74 = OK

Voice, e-mail, social media and mobile app and FAQ/search are used by all retail formats Forums/communities are used by pure play online and electronic retailers

55-64 = Poor

Less than 55 = Very Poor

This table as well as other reading suggests that Voice is the most preferred channel currently. Most often it is also seen that chat or email support is upgraded to Voice in case of irate customers or in cases where there is a potential threat of losing revenue www.sutherlandglobal.com 4 February 2013

Case study 1: Genesco

About  Genesco Inc. is a leading specialty retailer and wholesaler of branded footwear and headwear of global brands such as Lids, Journeys, Journeys Kidz, Shi by Journeys, Underground Station, Johnston & Murphy, and Dockers footwear  The company was founded in 1924, in Nashville, Tennessee  The company operates over 2,380 retail stores in North America  The company also sells via its webpages journeys.com and lids.com which together account for majority of the company’s online sales

Challenges  Genesco’s journeys.com and lids.com websites register 1-2 Mn visits each month, with peak traffic coming in around holiday season

 While the buyers on these sites are young adults and students, the real buyers are their parents, with whom Genesco seemed to have only a superficial connect  Genesco wished to connect with its clients better: young and adults alike; as well as to enhance customer satisfaction rates and close more sales on a call-in

 The total revenues of the company as of year ending January 28, 2012 are c. USD 2.3 Bn

Solution

Impact

 Genesco implemented an integrated third-party (ATG) solution that allowed the options of ‘Click to Chat’ and ‘Click to Call’

 With Click to Chat, Genesco increased conversion rates by more than four times its site average

 Via these options, the agents could answer product questions, assist with queries on orders, as well as inspire to increase the order sizes. Through new system, agents also had an option of escalating the chats to call for a better turnaround, especially for order-processing queries where Genesco perceived that it could lose as much as 50% of the clientele if not catered to on voice

 Click to Call increased conversions by eight times the site average

 The dynamic help options were placed on many pages of the website; and the placement on the checkout page helped limit the abandonment at the time of payment

 c. 30 to 40 % of chats considered to impact the brick-and-mortar purchases

 Escalated chats to calls improve conversions to more than 20 times the site average  Average order values for buyers using live help were 56 % higher than purchases made without assistance

 Collectively, customer satisfaction exceeds 90% on both sites

Source: ATG’s case study on Genesco

www.sutherlandglobal.com 4 February 2013

End of Presentation