Case Study: Retail

Processing more than 1.6M social moments annually for a leading retailer

Harnessing people, processes, partnerships, and AI to efficiently manage millions of owned and earned mentions

Overview

A Fortune 10 retailer struggling to manage millions of social media mentions per year turned to HGS for an improved, end-to-end social customer care, brand-building, and affinity solution. HGS provided a team of engaging social brand ambassadors, a social media playbook, AI and automation for filtering and tagging, analytics, a crisis management solution coordinated with a PR firm, and a solid customizable social media management platform to reply to and engage with more customers online, faster.

$12M+in cost savings

180K+customers engaged

150K+e-commerce site visits

Client background

The client is a multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of department and grocery stores.

Business challenge

This international retailer receives more than 14 million social media mentions a year. The reality is not all of the mentions require a response from the brand. For example, some customers simply tweet about having visited the store. The business challenge comes down to limited resources. With such large volume, how do you filter through the noise to find the actionable posts?

Part of the volume stems from 6,000+ local store pages, where customers are demanding an answer to their question or a resolution to their poor shopping experience. The client wants their customers’ experience on Facebook to mirror the friendliness of their neighborhood store.

The client needs to minimize negative sentiment and social media incidents that can negatively affect the company’s online reputation.

Traditional social media efforts are fragmented across brand teams, and customer care issues are not typically optimized for resolution. Other brands will simply send the customer to an 800 number or an online form, causing a high-effort and negative customer experience.

The solution

HGS teamed up with a leading social enterprise platform as well as with the client’s existing PR agency to provide the ultimate end-to-end social engagement solution. Together the three companies brought the right people, expertise, process, AI, automation, and analytics to address all of the obstacles the client was encountering on social media.

People and Expertise

We have a team of 100 brand ambassadors who possess the right skills and talents to effectively engage customers on social media. They participate in an extensive four-week training program covering topics such as understanding the top contact drivers, e-commerce objectives and techniques, the rules of engagement, writing using the brand voice, spotting a crisis, engaging with influencers, and more. Additionally, the advocates are supported by a team of leaders and analysts with significant experience in modern digital customer engagement.

Process

Our digital customer engagement game plan includes rules of engagement and best practices, process and workflow, quality, case management and design, reporting and KPIs, ideal agent profile, and training program. We ensure all customer engagement opportunities are handled quickly, be they in-channel resolution or amplification of brand love. Agents respond with humanity, ensuring the customers have meaningful conversations, which drives loyalty.

AI and Automation

By partnering with a best-in-class social engagement platform, we employ artificial intelligence and rules architecture to maximize the value of each interaction. We continuously apply learnings to improve filtering, routing, and response efficiency.

PR Partner

Leveraging the expertise of a PR agency, HGS helps protect the brand from any type of viral post crisis, while also amplifying the positive buzz by tapping into influencers and celebrities.

Analytics

Using analytics and a structured tagging system, we decode the voice of the customer (VOC) and inform the enterprise on competitors and trends to help make operational business decisions. When a marketing campaign is launched, we track the (VOC) in reference to the campaign and work in close coordination with the client’s digital and marketing teams to track progress and effectiveness.

Maximize the value of each interaction

Employ artificial intelligence and rules architecture.

Results

HGS continually enhances the retailer’s online reputation and customer affinity, and we work diligently to recreate the customer’s in-store experience virtually. We are a technology-driven organization combining people and processes to achieve cutting-edge solutions. We have won international best practice awards for process execution, specifically in social media brand management and value-added leadership.

$12M+cost savings
by filtering 8.5x non-actionable mentions via enhanced automation and AI

180K+customers engaged
with personalized responses across four social channels

<15 min.response time
(48% of all customers engaged within 15 minutes; nearly 90% within 2 hours)

1.2M+customer insights
from certified social specialists

150K+e-commerce site visits
generated on reactive comments

200K+spam mentions removed
(commercial and personal solicitation, hate speech, and bullying)

Decode the voice of the customer

Simplify operational business decisions with analytics.

Global locations

USA • UK • Canada • India • Philippines • Jamaica • Australia • Colombia

Global Headquarters: GHS, Bommanahalli, Hosur Road, Bengaluru – 560068

Registered Office: Tower C (1st floor), Plot C-21, G Block, Bandra Kurla Complex, Bandra East, Mumbai – 400 051

CIN: L92199MH1995PLC084610

Online Dispute Resolution (ODR)