In recent years, many retail and distribution companies have been struggling with balancing the challenges of an increasingly digital world, with increasing customer expectations. Today’s customers, whether B2B or B2C, demand exceptional service across a multitude of channels, prioritising speed, personalisation, and convenience.
To stay ahead of the curve, companies need to make sure they’re investing in the right CX solutions to empower their teams, understanding their audience, and make meaningful changes. Fortunately, there are some excellent vendors out there ready to help.
DFS, one of the UK’s biggest furniture retailers, knew it needed a forward-thinking CX partner to help maintain the loyalty of its target audience. Vee24 stepped in to provide the company with everything they needed to track the customer journey, and optimise it according to client needs.
Here’s how Vee24 and DFS worked together.
Thriving in a Complex Environment with the Right CX
Among the most popular furniture companies in the UK, DFS has made a name for itself delivering high-quality customer service, both online and offline. Using the Vee24 digital experience platform, the organisation has successfully replicated a number of in-store experiences in the digital world.
Through intelligent chatbots, text chat and video chat, DFS can serve customers quickly and efficiently. The Vee24 platform also became particularly valuable to DFS during the pandemic, when retail stores started to shut their doors. Staff working from home and thousands of customers concerned about outstanding orders placed new pressures on the brand.
According to DFS Online Multi-Channel General Manager, Jamie Ostle, the brand had plans to elevate the virtual buying experience before the pandemic, to reflect new changes in customer expectations. Covid simply accelerated this strategy, but it also created additional challenges. Not only did the company need to pivot faster, but it also had to facilitate home-based working, while ensuring customer service remained a priority.
Keeping Teams Running Smoothly
When stores started to close, DFS needed to get its service agents up and running quickly. With the Vee24 browser-based platform, service agents were given immediate access to their consoles from home. Within hours, the organisation had seamlessly built a new online working strategy. What’s more, they were also supporting a four-fold increase in service calls.
The flexible nature of the Vee24 platform ensured agents could be added to the system and available to answer calls in a matter of hours. According to Ostle, the pandemic became the catalyst for the whole company’s shift towards hybrid working.
While DFS had considered hybrid working before to attract new staff from a wider area and provide greater flexibility, the store closures boosted the urgency of the change.
Without Vee24, the move to working remotely would have been time-consuming and problematic for agents, as well as a poor experience for thousands of customers, according to Jamie. With Vee24, the transition was much quicker and simpler. Hybrid work even lead to fewer sick days and lower attrition for DFS.