Newsweek’s Best Online Shops of 2021 list highlights how brands who use Quiq’s AI-powered conversational tools are leading the e-Commerce race

Quiq, the AI-powered conversational platform that enables businesses to engage with customers across the most popular digital messaging channels, today announced Quiq’s e-Commerce clients Lane Bryant, Blue Nile, Bob’s Discount Furniture, Office Depot and Overstock were honored in Newsweek’s Best Online Shops for 2021. Built for conversational commerce, Quiq empowers clients with the tools to provide an exceptional customer experience (CX).

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Newsweek’s Best Online Shops 2021 list was conducted in partnership with respected global data-research firm, Statista. An initial list of more than 9,500 online shops in the United States was compiled using Statista and online databases, online directories, and price comparison websites to identify the most relevant online shops. The online shops with the most U.S. American visitors in 2020 were selected as candidates for further evaluation. The brands selected to the Newsweek search for Best Online Shops 2021 were identified and scored based on 41 objective criteria and 10 subjective criteria across seven areas, including: structure & usability, trust & security, service & communication, payment, purchase & delivery, technical performance, and likelihood of purchase. Read the full methodology here.

Built to improve customer experience and agent efficiency, Quiq plays a key role in enhancing the way a brand asynchronously interacts with customers. The full suite of Quiq supported messaging channels includes SMS/text, Apple Business Chat, Google Business Messages, web chat, WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook Messenger and more — in 170+ languages. Messaging conversations are recorded as tickets that are attached to customers, giving brands a full 360-degree view of customer activity across all interaction channels.

Quiq enables brands like Lane Bryant, Blue Nile, Bob’s Discount Furniture, Office Depot and Overstock to deliver a first-rate customer experience across the most popular messaging channels. Inclusion in Newsweek’s Best Online Shops 2021 list further validates these top brands as CX visionaries. The e-Commerce brands recognized by Newsweek use Quiq for a multitude of services:

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• Lane Bryant received a Newsweek score of 7.68/10, deployed an automated sales assistant with Quiq to help customers find the right product. Lane Bryant’s smooth handoff and automation are paying off by making their customer experiences more personal; even allowing agents to complete sales when necessary. The brand found that users who engage with their automated assistant are three times more likely to convert to a sale, and have a 20% higher average order value (AOV).
• Blue Nile received a Newsweek score of 8.64/10, uses Quiq’s conversational design and intelligent routing to identify sales opportunities. Quiq also ingested FAQs to help contain service-related questions when possible and did NLU training to interpret care issues that needed escalation. Based on the customer’s intent, the chatbot can determine whether the query could be completed via self-service or if assistance is needed. In a short 5 months with Quiq, Blue Nile converted 10% of phone calls to messaging. They’re on track to move 20% of inbound calls to messaging.
• Bob’s Discount Furniture received a Newsweek score of 8.12/10, and partnered with Quiq to deploy an IVR to SMS strategy that allows callers to opt in to SMS based on their reason for contact. Quiq’s automation then engaged with customers to pre-fill Zendesk tickets and attach photos before passing them to an agent. Bob’s expanded ‘BobBot’ to a conversational web assistant built to resolve common inquiries such as product questions, delivery tracking, FAQs and more — while handing users off to an agent when necessary. Lastly, Quiq and Bob’s setup data feeds to allow for delivery and service scheduling and rescheduling to be completely automated, saving agents time and providing customers with quick and seamless service.
• Office Depot received a Newsweek score of 8.60/10 and is championing self-service with SMS text messages, Apple Business Chat, and Google channels powered by Quiq. Office Depot also integrated Quiq chatbots with Oracle Service Cloud and Oracle Digital Assistant (their chatbot) for order status self-service via SMS. Office Depot’s customers can get key information like order confirmations and statuses via their preferred communication method.
• Overstock ​​received a Newsweek score of 8.07/10. Overstock empowers customers to communicate with them over several direct messaging channels, including SMS and Apple Business Chat. The brand also powers outbound order status SMS notifications with Quiq at a high volume. Overstock customers reply to SMS texts and get connected to an agent through Quiq’s responsive and asynchronous notification system.

“Brands today face increasingly high expectations from customers,” said Mike Myer, CEO and co-founder of Quiq. “We’re honored that these brands trust Quiq to help them enhance and meet their customers’ needs — and applaud the recognition they’ve received from Newsweek for their incredible devotion to customer experience.”

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