Online Retailer Achieves Sustainable Business Growth with Automated Appointment Scheduling
CHALLENGE
Connecting Buyers and Sellers in a Tech-Driven Environment
As millions of people come to rely on digital connections for work, business, shopping, and social interactions, it’s no surprise that the future relationship with technology will only continue to deepen. The retail industry is a great example where the “new normal” is forcing businesses to rapidly adapt and invest in new technologies that help address performance issues, enhance connectivity, and streamline operations.
A prominent online retailer with the mission to extend the lifespan of luxury goods and help reduce carbon footprint to save the planet, chose SUMO to help transform their customer engagement processes. The company works with thousands of shoppers, consignors, and luxury managers across thirteen offices in eight regions. Keeping everyone connected in the face of increased demand for remote interactions has become a challenge. By 2020, the company was ready to change how it handled its customer service.
SOLUTION
Customer Engagement That Matters
In an effort to preserve the authenticity of the brands sold through its platform, The company created an extensive vetting process performed by a team of in-house experts including fashion authenticators, gemologists, and art curators. In the past, meetings between customers and in-house experts were scheduled via multiple spreadsheets and other disjointed resources. Prone to a human error, manual data entry lacked accuracy and personalization.
Because none of the company’s systems interacted with each other holistically, real-time understanding of customer interactions seemed unattainable. The marketing department was unable to provide much-needed personalization and automation to ensure a successful ongoing relationship between consignors and luxury managers. Any attempt to automate workflows was held ransom by expensive third-party providers and incoherent processes.
With current challenges in mind, The company started to search for a technology solution that allowed achieving the following business goals:
- Growing customer engagement and revenue
- Creating a reliable and easy-to-use online scheduling system
- Automating and personalizing customer experience
- Replacing outdated technologies with a powerful omni-channel platform
RESULTS
A Holistic Solution with SUMO Scheduler
After making initial contact with SUMO, the company’s eyes opened to a whole new world of possibilities and the solution was soon determined. In a matter of weeks, the company deployed SUMO Scheduler to allow prospects and customers to make self-guided appointments with the right luxury experts by following a simple link on the company website. Native Salesforce integration was used to create custom objects that automatically mapped prospects and customers to appropriate services, experts, and locations, eliminating human error and improving staff utilization.
Furthermore, lead nurturing and customer engagement became possible with personalized drip campaigns and custom templates geared toward maximizing every step of the buyer’s journey. SUMO’s native integration with marketing platforms such as Pardot simplified the majority of marketing tasks allowing prospects and customers to receive timely reminders and seamlessly schedule follow-up appointments at their own convenience.
Calendar integration was another automated function that considerably reduced the number of missed appointments and eliminated the need to manually follow up with the customers. SUMO’s capacity to sync mirrored availability with Google Calendar allowed them to not only see open time slots but also provided the desired transparency and a more streamlined way for business development representatives to book appointments on behalf of luxury managers.
The company couldn’t be more excited about the future of its customer engagement. The fear of losing customers was replaced by an optimistic outlook and ease of innovation. The real-time, custom reporting with SUMO Analytics Builder has empowered the executive team to make sound decisions based on specific campaigns, locations, appointment volume, and other key performance indicators.
Finally, working with the technology solution backed by real people, providing real support has become an invaluable part of the entire partnership. By focusing on efficiency and workflows that effectively streamline different support functions, SUMO was able to foster the environment of trust and ensure that the retailer’s technical needs are met across all channels, time zones, and devices.
The company loves technology and looks forward to continuing its partnership with SUMO. The company knows it only scratched the surface with its current customer engagement strategy. The executive team plans to fully embrace omni-channel and drive more business to company’s physical and web properties via targeted campaigns and online scheduling capabilities. It also plans on expanding its data-driven approach by utliizing custom analytics to track the path to purchase in order to closely align with the needs of their prospects and customers.
