Ninety-five percent of consumers say customer service drives brand loyalty, which makes your contact center crucial to revenue and reputation. Retail contact centers have a heavy load to carry for the retail brands they represent, especially during peak season when demand spikes.
And yet, the retail industry’s high attrition rates and evolving customer expectations mean managing an effective workforce can feel like an uphill battle. And that’s true for both in-house and outsourced contact centers, whether they’re dealing with purchases from online or in-store shoppers.
This guide will explore essential strategies to optimize contact center performance, focusing on hiring and management practices that optimize customer experience (CX), efficiency, and profitability. You’ll also find a saveable, shareable cheat sheet covering key considerations for success.
Retail Contact Centers Build Brand Loyalty and Revenue Via Customer Satisfaction
Retail contact centers are more than support hubs—they’re pivotal in shaping customer experiences and driving repeat business. Consider these findings:
- 80% of customers say the experience a company provides is as important as its products (Salesforce)
- 66% say poor customer service makes them think about switching brands (Medallia)
- And the most critical factor in determining brand loyalty? Access to professional agents (NICE survey)
The good news? Retailers can meet and exceed buyers’ expectations by investing in top-tier service. It’s how the most successful businesses turn everyday customer interactions into lasting trust.
The Multiplier Effect of Positive Customer Experience: Revenue Benefits
Customers feel valued when contact center agents consistently deliver professional, empathetic support. This emotional connection can lead to:
- More repeat business. According to Salesforce, almost nine in ten consumers say good customer service makes them more likely to buy again.
- Positive word-of-mouth. Loyal customers become your strongest advocates, referring friends and family.
Retail leaders who prioritize hiring and training for CX excellence can confidently position their brands as people-first, helping them earn trust and revenue.
For example, the e-commerce brand, lululemon, stands out in a highly competitive leisurewear space by investing in employees and customers to deliver better experiences across the board.
lululemon credits its people-first value proposition with driving “global growth and guest loyalty”—and the numbers back it up. After the retail company listed guest experience (i.e., CX) as a pillar of its growth strategy in 2019, revenue increased 162% to reach $2.4 billion in 2024.
Develop a Retail Contact Center Team That Drives Customer Satisfaction
A high-performing retail contact center doesn’t happen by chance. It needs strategic hiring, ongoing training, and a supportive environment where employees can thrive. Here’s how to achieve it all in seven straightforward steps.
1. Embrace Skills-Based Hiring
Skills-based hiring means assessing candidates on their hard and soft skills instead of college degrees or other formal credentials. “Skills-based hiring isn’t a fad. It’s one of the quickest and most effective methods of identifying qualified talent and, in effect, creating a world-class hiring program,” says Chad Sowash, Co-Host of The Chad & Cheese Podcast. His conclusions are supported by recent studies.
After analyzing sample data from one organization employing more than 100,000 people, it was found that skills-based hiring reduced bad hire rates from 4.5% to 0.5%. That’s a 400% decrease that, if scaled, would save the company millions.
Contact centers that serve the retail sector need to know:
- What skills are required for their customer service agents to be successful
- How to measure those skills accurately and efficiently
For example, speaking fluently and paraphrasing enable retail contact center agents to communicate effectively and defuse difficult situations, helping them keep customers happy and complete more calls. The exact combination of skills that each retail contact center needs to hire for will depend on the nature of the product being sold, the location service is being delivered to, and the medium that customer service is delivered (chat, phone, email, social media). However, HiringBranch data shows that agents with the following abilities typically perform best: acknowledgment, positive language, delivering difficult messages, paraphrasing, and speaking fluently.
To measure which candidates and agents have these qualities it’s best to use a skills assessments with an open-ended question format:
Candidates get access to a fairer hiring process because these assessments showcase an individual’s skill regardless of their background, experience, or higher education.
2. Measure Agents’ Skills to Find and Fix Weaknesses
Accurate skills assessments are valuable after recruitment, too. Measuring agents’ abilities helps you find skill gaps and continuously optimize team performance.
Let’s say you run periodic soft skills assessments on two separate contact center teams. The results show how one group excels in empathy while the other is great at delivering complex messages. These are skills they’ve separately honed on the job.
By setting up training workshops that allow the two teams to listen to each others’ customer calls and share knowledge, you’ll improve aptitude and performance across the board.
You can also assess employees who joined before skills-based hiring became standard practice. Using what you learn to develop targeted training plans that bring them up to speed is much more logical and cost-effective than re-hiring. All in all, we found that using the right tools to inform call center training improved workforce soft skills by more than 20% over three months.
Data-driven development initiatives can reduce attrition, too, saving retailers even more money and effort. Providing learning opportunities was the top retention strategy among business leaders surveyed by LinkedIn.
3. Build a Positive, Productive Working Environment
Prioritizing employee well-being can make your retail contact center more efficient and effective. A study by Oxford University and UK telecoms firm BT found that happy agents are 13% more productive. They handle more calls and achieve higher conversion rates.
To create a welcoming and supportive work environment for your agents, try these simple tactics:
- Implement wellness programs. Stress management workshops, fitness classes, and mental health support will help agents maintain balance.
- Recognize and incentivize hard work. Celebrate achievements with rewards, public recognition, or bonuses to show agents you value their efforts.
- Provide growth opportunities. Training and development programs encourage agents to build new skills and advance their careers.
- Hire with cultural fit in mind. Recruit agents who align with your company values to create a cohesive, motivated team.
Despite the clear benefits, many retailers fail to meet employees’ expectations. DigitalGenius found that over a third of contact center agents at large businesses (500+ employees) feel that their employers don’t take their mental health seriously. And 17.5% of respondents were ambivalent.
By focusing on employee well-being, contact centers stand out from their competitors, can attract top talent, improve retention, and boost productivity.
4. Offer Omnichannel Customer Support
Making customer service as accessible as possible speeds up problem-solving and reduces frustration, creating a happier customer base.
For example, expand to include live chat and social media instead of only taking inquiries via phone and email. Then, hire and train your agents accordingly. According to the above-mentioned NICE survey, access to a preferred service channel is the third-most important factor in customer loyalty, outranking even agent patience.
While phone calls remain essential for most retail companies and audiences, the research found that consumers also highly value the following communication channels:
- Chat for real-time, convenient support on a range of devices
- Email for detailed or non-urgent queries and attaching images
- Social media for engaging customers on platforms they already use
- Messaging apps for fast, personal communication on mobile devices
For example, Shoppers Drug Mart’s various support options (including live chat, email, phone, and a self-service chatbot) make customer journeys smoother. A frequently asked questions (FAQs) page also reduces call volumes by providing basic information.
All that convenience contributes to a strong reputation. Market research and analytics firm Leger found Shoppers Drug Mart to be one of the most admired brands in Canada.
Keep in mind that different channels require specific skills. For example, live chat agents need fast, accurate typing, while call center agents rely on strong verbal communication—these are distinct forms of fluency. However, some agents will be adept at both.
5. Leverage Contact Center Software to Increase Efficiency
Tech can greatly simplify retail contact center workflows and make your team more productive. Many of the best applications use AI and automation to reduce repetitive tasks and streamline processes, optimizing both agent performance and customer experience.
For example, customer relationship management (CRM) software gives agents quick access to individual customer data, enabling faster and more informed responses. This is ideal for CX, considering 71% of consumers expect personalized interactions.
Other call center solutions that will increase productivity include:
- Workforce management (WFM) tools. Automate scheduling, forecast staffing needs, and minimize idle time to keep operations smooth.
- Performance analytics software. Track agent metrics like handling times and resolution rates in live dashboards to identify top performers and weaknesses.
- AI chatbots. Respond automatically to routine inquiries and route more complex issues to real, trained agents.
Look out for integration features when researching contact center solutions. Tools that share information help facilitate processes, keep data consistent across your business, and reduce manual data entry.
Did you know? 93% of contact center and IT leaders consider contact center automation “very” or “extremely” important to their operations.
6. Monitor and Reward Performance to Motivate Staff
Recognizing outstanding work and addressing inefficiencies with targeted training goes a long way. Research suggests that both these actions contribute to a more confident, effective workforce. For example:
- A Nectar HR survey found that 83.6% of employees feel recognition affects their motivation to succeed at work
- Employees who strongly agree that their organization encourages them to learn new skills are 47% less likely to look for another job, according to Gallup
The first step is choosing key performance indicators (KPIs) and a system to track them. For example, you might use a WFM or helpdesk management system to monitor these metrics:
- Average handle time (AHT) to gauge efficiency
- Customer satisfaction (CSAT) scores to measure quality of service (i.e., customer engagement)
- First call resolution (FCR) rates to assess problem-solving effectiveness
Next, analyze and act on that data. If an agent’s CSAT score is consistently low, coach them to improve their communication skills. If their FCR rate exceeds the center’s average, reward the success and encourage them to share best practices with the team.
Performance rewards don’t have to be monetary. Gallup found that employees also value public and private recognition from peers, customers, and bosses; promotions; and general increases in responsibility.
7. Create a Continuous Feedback Loop
Feedback should never just flow one way in a retail call center. An open dialogue between teams and managers lets agents voice concerns and share helpful insights. It also fosters trust by showing staff their opinions matter.
For example, an agent could raise the issue that customers often complain about long hold times at peak times, prompting managers to tweak schedules or add a callback option. That would make the agent’s job easier while also improving CX.
Agents might also share that a specific cross-selling or upselling script feels impersonal and rarely leads to more sales. Managers could then collaborate with the team to revise the copy for a more natural, friendly tone.
Here’s how to develop an effective feedback loop for your contact center:
- Establish structured feedback channels. Anonymous surveys, digital suggestion boxes, and scheduled one-on-one check-ins allow team members to choose a method they’re comfortable with.
- Encourage open dialogue. Foster a culture where employees feel comfortable giving honest feedback without fear of repercussions. Train managers to listen actively and validate agents’ concerns.
- Act on feedback. Follow through by implementing changes that address recurring issues. Then, tell agents how you’ve acted on their feedback to close the loop (e.g., “We heard call volumes were causing bottlenecks, so we’re outsourcing some of the workload to a call center service to ease pressure”).
The more you engage in this feedback loop, the more trust you build and the more open staff will be. 23% of service reps in DigitalGenius’ survey said they wanted more listening, awareness, and acknowledgment from managers.
Hiring for Retail Contact Center Success: Cheat Sheet
Here’s our handy hiring cheat sheet, which you can download to boost your recruitment efforts and the efficiency of your contact center’s team.
Set Your Retail Contact Center Up for Success
Building a high-performing retail contact center is about more than recruiting the right talent. In addition to hiring, you must create a system where employees can flourish, technology continuously supports efficiency, and customers feel heard at every touchpoint (in-store or otherwise).
Blending skills-based hiring with ongoing training and intuitive tech will equip your agents for long-term success. That ultimately means smoother buyer journeys, more trust-building buyer experiences, and increased customer retention.
Image Credits
Feature Image: Unsplash/Arlington Research
Image 1: Via Lululemon
Image 2–3: Property of HiringBranch. Not to be reproduced without permission.
Image 4: Via DigitalGenius
Image 5: Via NICE
Image 6: Via Shoppers Drug Mart