本文源引自Stacy Hamer在《Technology Reseller》2024年3月28日的刊文，采用中英双语排版，由ImmersiveTranslate提供翻译支持。
In challenging market conditions, telecom retail businesses that want to remain competitive will need to retain the loyalty of the customers that they already have. This means keeping up with rapidly evolving consumer expectations for customer service. This has become increasingly true as demanding younger consumers—such as Gen Alpha, who were practically born with phones in their hands—start to come on stream over the next decade.
在充满挑战的市场条件下，想要保持竞争力的电信企业需要保持现有客户的忠诚度。这意味着要跟上快速变化的消费者对客户服务的期望。随着要求更高的年轻消费者（例如天生手里拿着手机的阿尔法一代）在未来十年开始流行，这一点变得越来越真实。
So, how can telecom retailers meet customer expectations and provide great purchasing experiences? Here are the trends to stay on top of—or get left behind.
那么，电信零售商如何满足客户期望并提供良好的购买体验？以下是保持领先或落后的趋势。
1. Fully understanding the customer and personalizing their experience is more crucial than ever
1. 充分了解客户并个性化他们的体验比以往任何时候都更加重要
With the typical buyer’s journey now spanning multiple channels, it’s no longer enough to have a partial view of your customers. You could be missing crucial information that might help you land a sale or keep that customer loyal. But how do you get on top of customer insights to create a fully personalized customer experience that today’s—and future—customers expect?
现在，典型的买家旅程跨越多个渠道，仅仅了解客户的部分情况已经不够了。您可能会错过可能有助于您达成销售或保持客户忠诚度的重要信息。但是，如何充分利用客户洞察来创建当今和未来客户期望的完全个性化的客户体验？
At a panel event at CES 2024 in Las Vegas, Brian Higgins, Verizon’s Chief Customer Experience Officer, discussed the concept of the “segment of one” — meaning that each individual customer is their own consumer segment with very specific personal wants and needs. His perspective is that with new AI technology coming on stream, true customer personalization can finally be achieved.
在拉斯维加斯 CES 2024 的一场小组活动上，Verizon 首席客户体验官 Brian Higgins 讨论了“细分市场”的概念，这意味着每个客户都是自己的消费群体，具有非常具体的个人需求。他的观点是，随着新的人工智能技术的出现，真正的客户个性化最终可以实现。
“We’ve previously had offers that go out to hundreds of thousands of people, and that’s been fine, but where we are moving to is the segment of one,” Higgins said. “As a retailer, you know about this customer through data and purchasing behavior, and you’re going to offer them promotions that are relevant to them. That’s happening now, but customers don’t realize that’s all AI in the background.”
希金斯说：“我们之前曾向数十万人提供过优惠，这很好，但我们现在转向的是其中的一小部分。” “作为零售商，您通过数据和购买行为了解该客户，并且您将为他们提供与他们相关的促销活动。现在这种情况正在发生，但客户并没有意识到这一切都是人工智能在后台进行的。”
Retailers need technology and systems that offer a 360-degree view of their customers—and that includes processes that save time in other areas to create space for engaging with customers and listening to their needs, and creating their personalized package accordingly.
零售商需要能够提供 360 度客户视角的技术和系统，其中包括节省其他领域时间的流程，以便为与客户互动、倾听他们的需求创造空间，并相应地创建个性化包装。
Businesses that truly understand their customers’ needs will have a major advantage — Gartner has projected that this year, these retailers will outperform competitors’ CX metrics by 20%.
真正了解客户需求的企业将拥有重大优势 – Gartner 预测，今年这些零售商的 CX 指标将比竞争对手的 CX 指标高出 20%。
2. Efficient processes are mandatory, and inefficiency will not be tolerated
2、高效流程是强制性的，低效率是不能容忍的
Today’s consumers are loyal to experiences, not brands, and will jump ship if they think they can get a better experience somewhere else. The evidence is there in the research:
当今的消费者忠于体验，而不是品牌，如果他们认为可以在其他地方获得更好的体验，他们就会跳槽。研究中有证据：
- 94% of consumers are frustrated by disjointed experiences across a brand
94% 的消费者对品牌中脱节的体验感到沮丧 - 54% of consumers will stop using a brand after just one bad experience
54% 的消费者在经历过一次糟糕的体验后就会停止使用某个品牌
The top indicator of a bad experience? Wasted time.
糟糕体验的首要指标是什么？浪费时间。
- 86% of consumers have left a store because of frustration about slow lines
86% 的消费者因排队缓慢而感到沮丧而离开商店 - 74% of consumerswill go to a competitor’s store if they feel like the lines are shorter there
74% 的消费者如果觉得竞争对手的商店排队时间更短，他们会去那里 - 73% of customerswill leave without making a purchase if they have to wait more than five minutes
如果等待时间超过五分钟，73% 的顾客将不购买而离开
Optimizing store tools and processes is no longer optional. Retail operators need to do what it takes to implement systems that improve transaction times and reduce frustrations, such as needing to enter the same information multiple times.
优化商店工具和流程不再是可选的。零售经营者需要采取一切措施来实施能够缩短交易时间并减少挫折的系统，例如需要多次输入相同的信息。
The same applies to omnichannel retail experiences. If your customer is buying online and picking up in store, for example, you need technology and systems in place that create a seamless, frictionless journey with a consistent experience across all touchpoints. This will make the customer feel as nurtured as if they were in the store talking to an attentive sales associate—while giving them the now-expected convenience of shopping online or starting their purchasing journey on social media, or at a pop-up event, or anywhere else.
这同样适用于全渠道零售体验。例如，如果您的客户在网上购买并在商店提货，您需要适当的技术和系统来创建无缝、无摩擦的旅程，并在所有接触点提供一致的体验。这将使顾客感到像在商店里与细心的销售人员交谈一样受到照顾，同时为他们提供现在期望的在线购物或在社交媒体或快闪活动上开始购买之旅的便利，或其他任何地方。
3. Employee experience is important, too, and affects the customer experience
3. 员工体验也很重要，并且影响客户体验
Employee turnover rates of 50% or more have been the reality in retail for years. The added stresses of the pandemic only served to increase retail employee churn to an average of 60%, as many retail employees are attempting to leave the sector entirely. Research shows that employees “dissatisfied with their work technology […] are more than twice as likely as those who are satisfied to say they feel burned out at work, and half as likely to say they’re generally happy with their work.”
多年来，50% 或更高的员工流动率一直是零售业的现实。疫情带来的额外压力只会使零售员工流失率平均提高到 60%，因为许多零售员工正试图完全离开该行业。研究表明，员工“对自己的工作技术不满意[……]，表示自己在工作中感到精疲力尽的人的可能性是那些满意的人的两倍多，而表示对自己的工作总体满意的人的可能性只有一半。”
Improving employee experience isn’t just about ensuring that stores have adequate staff to reduce long wait times. Retail research data shows that investing in better employee experience directly improves the customer experience and satisfaction.
改善员工体验不仅仅是确保商店有足够的员工来减少长时间的等待时间。零售研究数据表明，投资于更好的员工体验可以直接提高客户体验和满意度。
Retail operations with highly engaged teams outperform less-engaged competitors with:
拥有高敬业度团队的零售业务在以下方面优于敬业度较低的竞争对手：
- 5% higher rates of customer satisfaction
客户满意度提高 5% - 10% higher likelihood of customer recommendation
客户推荐的可能性提高 10% - 8% higher sales 销售额增加 8%
- 18% lower employee turnover
员工流动率降低 18%
A key part of improving employee experience in wireless retail is ensuring that employees have the technology and tools that empower them to provide the best customer experience possible, without extra obstacles to seamless customer interactions.
改善无线零售员工体验的一个关键部分是确保员工拥有技术和工具，使他们能够提供尽可能最佳的客户体验，而不会对无缝客户交互造成额外障碍。
This is another area where AI has the potential to be extremely helpful as a practical application. Verizon’s Brian Higgins explained at CES, “When the wireless store customer or even the associate don’t realize that AI is running in the background, that’s when it is most helpful. If the store associates’ lives are easier, then the customers’ lives are easier.”
这是人工智能在实际应用中可能发挥巨大作用的另一个领域。 Verizon 的布莱恩·希金斯 (Brian Higgins) 在 CES 上解释说：“当无线商店顾客甚至员工没有意识到人工智能在后台运行时，那就是最有帮助的时候。如果店员的生活更轻松，那么顾客的生活也会更轻松。”
Making investments to improve employee engagement and remove roadblocks to providing excellent customer service can go a long way toward giving your business the competitive advantage it needs to stay ahead in what could be another turbulent year.
进行投资以提高员工敬业度并消除提供卓越客户服务的障碍，可以大大帮助您的企业获得在可能又一个动荡的一年中保持领先所需的竞争优势。
