The NPS-boosting reinvention of ASOS customer care

At InMoment’s CX Elite Awards in September, ecommerce giant ASOS.com took home the trophy for Best CX Impact. The category recognized an organization that has demonstrated ROI through CX Initiatives to show value in their programme and positively impact business results.

One of three winners at the awards, other categories were presented to M&S Bank and Primark.

CX Network caught up with Joseph Vassie, the brand's head of insight and analytics, to find out more about this award-winning work.

The CX Elite award was given in recognition of CX initiatives that achieved great ROI. What did ASOS do and what returns did it generate?

Joseph Vassie: ASOS greatly improved its customer care experience by choosing to offer a live chat as a single contact channel, introducing a virtual assistant and empowering front-line advisors to resolve a higher proportion of customer issues. The result of this change was an improvement in resolution rates, a reduction in waiting times and ultimately more than a 50-point gain in NPS, as measured by InMoment’s surveying technology.

As a major global online retailer, what challenges was ASOS looking to overcome in this work?

JV: ASOS used to speak to customers through social media, telephone calls, emails and live chat. Some of these channels were more effective than others and customers were used to using the channels that were most convenient for them. ASOS was able to measure the service offered through each of these channels and prioritised live chat as it was evidently the space in which ASOS could create the best customer service experiences. ASOS needed to overcome the established habits of both the business and customers to overhaul the experience and establish a strategic step towards service automation.

What was the impact for customers?

JV: The changes within ASOS customer care have demonstrably improved customer experience as measured by NPS surveys sent to customers at the close of their conversations with ASOS.

The changes made in the last year have increased this measure by more than fifty points and improvements have been observed in other measures such as customer resolution rates and customer lifetime value.

How did the employee impact increase EX and reduce attrition?

JV: Attrition in ASOS customer care has reduced significantly over the past 24 months, the move towards digital service has created promotion opportunities for many people within customer care and employee engagement has risen reliably over this period due to the improved culture, great business results and improvements to the customer experience.