Mike Fahey

The “Internet of Things” was first coined by British visionary Kevin Ashton, describing how internet connected devices would change our lives. Today households have brands like Nest and Hive connecting their heating systems to the internet and there is no doubt that ore and more connected technology will be coming to your home in the near future. But there is an elephant in the room and that is a lack of industry standards. How will all of these devices talk to one another? Many critics point out that the benefits of a smart home are outweighed by the inconvenience of having to open separate apps for every major device. Many players in the industry have built and protected their own ecosystem rather than signing up for industry-wide standards that would benefit consumers. Many are predicting a repeat of VHS vs. Betamax and HD-DVD vs Blu-ray. Join us for a captivating discussion around the Internet of Things and the lack of standardization, including the implications for your returns business.

Making sure that a customer has the right expectations and understands a product’s capabilities is crucial. Whether it’s an air conditioner that can only cool a certain size room or a tv that will only deliver top notch sound with a soundbar, there often seems to be an expectations gap. How do we close that? How important is the box in communicating the true capabilities of a product? Consumer education is a multichannel process, involving face-to-face interaction in a physical store, phone support and web resources – i.e., FAQs and product videos – that help consumers make more informed purchase decisions and drive down returns. Learn what strategies are being employed by industry leaders:

• Obtaining a comprehensive view of social media feedback (blogs, Facebook, Twitter) to drive better customer service: Identifying user experience hiccups
• Utilizing – and building awareness of - diagnostic applications to resolve customer issues with purchases
• Employing different strategies for new product categories vs. mature product categories
• Educating your employees on specific products to ensure that they are able to address customer concerns prior to the sale
• Informing the customer about support options so they turn to those when experiencing difficulty, rather than returning an item out of frustration
• Online tutorials & chat
• Call center support with special attention to first-time customer contact (priority handling) Home appliance strategies: Taking a proactive approach to ensure a product will work in a customer’s home and that it will be deliverable