Customer Service Helps Luxury Brands Thrive Online

By Christine Kern, contributing writer

Survey demonstrates customer service is crucial to the success of luxury brands.

Enhanced customer service offering have allowed luxury brands to capitalize on growing digital sales, according to results of a survey conducted by benchmarking firm L2 Think Tank. Features such as product quick view, FAQs, and geolocation have surged in popularity among luxury marketers with an online presence, and are becoming crucial to their success.

As The Guardian pointed out last year, the rise of digital marketing alters the way luxury brands are engaging with their customer base. And MyCustomer asserted, “The luxury sector is arguably leading the way when it comes to meeting these rising consumer expectations. Luxury brands have had to prove their value to customers far more extensively than other brands, by providing an entire 360 experience that justifies the price. In the luxury sector, quality of product and service go hand in hand, and this is what makes the luxury experience so positive.”

And as consumers turn to mobile and e-commerce to meet their needs, brands must follow suit to keep their customers satisfied.

The L2 Think Tank study demonstrates that while luxury brands were initially slow to go digital, some are now realizing that enhanced customer service can help them stand out. A survey of 69 luxury retailers from L2 Think Tank found that service-oriented website features have grown in the last few years.

The data shows that while less than one-fifth of luxury brands’ sites had a product quick view feature in 2013, today 76 percent now do. The percent of luxury brands that included an FAQ page also rose from 39 percent in 2013 to 71 currently, while almost half (46 percent) now have geolocation features to help match product to person. And while they are still used by less than one-fifth of luxury sites, live chat, personal shoppers, and social logins have also become more prevalent.

Luxury brands are more reliant on customer service and support to guarantee success, since their purchases tend to be weighed carefully by customers.

Among all retailers, according to the “Holiday Retail Readiness Report” released in October, customer service is second only to e-mail in driving customer retention, with 53 percent of executives naming it among the marketing channels and tactics they use.