Small and medium e-commerce businesses can use CX to level up their growth. Here’s how…
By Jenny Choo
The estimated revenue of the Indian e-commerce business in 2022 stood at US$79 billion and is expected to reach US$350 billion by 2030, according to a study by NASSCOM. With over 80 million SMBs constituting around 90% of businesses in India and 30% of the country’s GDP, the role of this dynamic sector cannot be denied in India’s growth story.
Zendesk’s CX Accelerator report revealed that 45% of businesses employing 10 to 999 employees in India are considered CX ‘Risers’, those considered runner-ups to CX ‘Champions’. While many small and medium businesses (SMBs) in India are starting to pay attention to the importance of delivering great customer experiences, they still have a lot of work cut out for them amid the rising cost of living and growing customer expectations.
So, how do e-commerce SMBs become CX Champions?
Embed CX into growth plans
With 12 million e-commerce companies across the world and more people shopping online, delivering easy and convenient customer experiences is more than just a competitive differentiator—it is a necessity for a brand to succeed. And the consequences of poor customer experience can be far-reaching as it results in low retention rates and lower spending, which ultimately impacts your bottom line.
SMBs in India are already in the process of getting the fundamentals of CX right — by being where their customers are on messaging platforms, social media and more. And yet, they are experiencing a disconnect between the need for creating great customer experiences and the leadership believing CX is an important function. Nearly 40% of SMBs in India have allocated less than 7% of their IT budget towards CX, indicating investments towards CX may not be a top priority among them. While SMBs do not have large budgets like enterprises, it is important to embed CX into growth plans, as investing in the right CX tools and resources can help set them up for strong, resilient growth.
Embedding CX into growth plans starts with adopting a customer-centric culture. Putting the customer at the heart of everything reflects on customer satisfaction scores. Customer-centric companies are often in a better position to offer services that their customers love. This mindset can build high-quality, seamless services that would keep customers coming back for more. And being customer-centric is not a responsibility that falls only on the customer support team or any single team. It requires an organisation-wide shift and starts with accountability from the leadership at the very top.
AI and automation for better CX
Scalability is a top consideration for small businesses that often operate with limited resources. And for e-commerce SMBs, ensuring that the customer journey is smooth and hassle-free can seem daunting. Having smaller service teams, agents risk being overwhelmed by the workload, especially when ticket volumes increase. That’s why it’s important to find a support solution that works out of the box but can be easily customised to address the unique needs of your business and customers.
Implementing AI and automation is a great way for SMBs to scale a smaller team while balancing budget constraints. For example, from hypergrowth to seasonal rushes and daily fluctuations in ticket volumes, conversational AI helps e-commerce brands provide 24/7 support with sophisticated self-service capabilities that allow for seamless handoffs between bots and humans – all while driving down operational costs. Repetitive and straightforward questions can be directed to chatbots and self-help resources, leaving support agents with more time to focus on more complex issues that require a human touch.
Setting teams up for success
Increased customer expectations lead to increased pressure on agents, who act as the company’s front line. Zendesk research found that 90% of Indian organisations agree that customer service agents are essential to retaining customers. Yet, 76% of agents in India feel overwhelmed with their workloads. For e-commerce SMBs, this is where investing in training, the right tech stacks and streamlined processes can go a long way to set your team up for success.
Equipping support agents with the knowledge and tools needed to deliver outstanding customer experience is critical to the success of your CX strategy. When thinking about the technology that can help alleviate the burden on support teams, business leaders must prioritise its ability to integrate seamlessly with existing solutions, or better yet, be connected on one unified platform. Doing so ensures crucial customer data is not stuck in silos and internal teams can have a single view of the customer, providing support teams with important context based on ongoing and past conversations on multiple platforms. This in turn allows agents to understand and resolve customer issues effectively. Having a single source of truth also allows leadership to measure CX performance and share insights across the business.
Delivering exceptional customer service is an investment — a profitable one — because memorable experiences drive customers to come back again and again. With the right technology and focus on CX, e-commerce SMBs in India can scale and drive long-term growth.
Jenny Choo isthe regional vice president of SMB for JAPAC at Zendesk. Her team advises SMBs in the transformation of unlocking growth through customer experience. Jenny is passionate about helping SMBs succeed through the adoption of cloud technology, and is a strong advocate of diversity and women leadership in STEM.
