Keep Shoppers Engaged With Text Chat

Mall concierges seeking to provide improved customer service have new reasons to consider text chat. A recent JupiterResearch Consumer Survey shows that shopper satisfaction and adoption with text chat are both on the rise. Satisfaction with text chat grew to 59 percent from 50 percent in 2003, and 55 percent of consumers who contacted customer service used text chat in the last six months versus 50 percent in 2003 and 39 percent in 2002. This improvement is believed to be caused by a combination of the use of text chat as a retention tool during the shopping process and the availability of knowledge management tools.

If mall shoppers are unable to find a store that carries the brand or product they are looking for, they are likely to leave the mall. Text chat using short messaging services, or SMS, provide an additional channel for mall shopper support…provided that the mall is able to automatically provide answers to shopper inquiries.