In the race to modernize retail, brands have increasingly turned to automation, digital-first strategies, and AI-powered customer support. Chatbots, messaging apps, and self-service portals now dominate the frontlines of customer interaction. But beneath this digital transformation lies a paradox: despite these advancements, customer experience (CX) is actually getting worse. And amid this decline, the voice channel, once declared outdated, is proving more essential than ever.
Recent research tells a sobering story. According to Forrester, CX quality in the U.S. has declined for the third consecutive year, dropping from a score of 72.0 in 2021 to just 69.3 in 2024, the lowest recorded since 2016. The Wall Street Journal confirmed the trend, highlighting that nearly 40% of brands have experienced a drop in CX performance. Compounding the issue is the harsh reality that over half of customers will abandon a brand after a single disappointing experience.
CX quality in the U.S. has declined for the third consecutive year, dropping from a score of 72.0 in 2021 to just 69.3 in 2024, the lowest recorded since 2016.
The Hidden Challenges Undermining Retail Customer Experience
Digital Transformation Limitations
Despite rising investments in automation and digital-first strategies, many retailers are seeing limited gains in customer experience. Digital tools often lack the empathy needed for complex issues, leaving customers frustrated, especially when chatbots block access to real support.
Siloed Tech, Broken Journeys
Many retailers still rely on disconnected systems, making it difficult to meet customer expectations. Platforms such as CRM and CCaaS are often not fully integrated or overlapping, which leads to inconsistent messaging, disjointed customer journeys, and operational inefficiencies that ultimately weaken the overall experience.
Data Fragmentation and Operational Gaps
54% of organizations cite fragmented customer data as their biggest barrier to delivering quality service. When data is siloed across departments and channels, agents lack the context needed for fast, personalized support. The disconnect not only slows resolution but it also limits the effectiveness of any AI strategy or implementation, which depends on unified data to deliver accurate insights and automation. Without it, AI will always fall short of its potential.
Workforce & Integration Hurdles
Retail contact centers also face internal operational pressures. Staffing shortages, high turnover, and unpredictable demand make it hard to maintain consistent service levels. At the same time, while many organizations are exploring generative AI, they often struggle to implement it in ways that enhance workflows without sacrificing empathy or human judgment. The result is a gap between automation potential and real-world CX outcomes.
Voice Isn’t Dead—It’s Evolving
While digital channels have overtaken voice in total volume for the first time, voice support is quietly reasserting its relevance as the go-to when things go wrong. Customers pick up the phone when emotions run high, when a package is lost, when a refund is delayed, or when they just need to speak to someone who understands their situation. These aren’t just transactions but rather pivotal moments that can make or break trust in a brand.
Today’s AI-powered voice support can blend the speed of automation with the emotional intelligence of human interaction, making it ideal for high-stakes moments. In fact, Gartner predicts that by 2028, 30% of Fortune 500 companies will offer service through a single AI-enabled channel, as enterprises seek to leverage recent advancements in Voice AI to simplify the customer service experience versus current omnichannel models.
The Future of Retail Service: Voice AI and Connected Operations
In retail, every customer conversation counts—and contact centers are now a strategic bridge between data, AI, and human empathy. With ServiceNow Retail Operations Management and 3CLogic, retailers are unifying data, eliminating silos, and empowering agents to deliver smarter, more connected experiences. Here’s a look at how:
Digital-First Experiences, but Not Digital-Only
Rather than treating voice as an outdated channel, 3CLogic and ServiceNow together elevate it into a premium customer engagement tool. By integrating Voice AI and contact center capabilities directly into the ServiceNow platform, intelligent voice interactions blend the speed of automation with the empathy of live agent support. Customers can move seamlessly from self-service to human assistance, reducing frustration and restoring trust during high-emotion moments like lost deliveries or billing issues.
Unified Workflows, Consistent Service
Together, 3CLogic and ServiceNow unify contact center and retail operations into a single engagement and workflow platform. Voice interactions are managed alongside digital channels within ServiceNow’s Retail Operations and Service Management environments, ensuring a consistent customer experience and unified agent workspace, without toggling between systems or channels.
Integrated Voice Data for Smarter Retail Operations
With ServiceNow as the primary system of record and action, 3CLogic leverages real-time ServiceNow data, such as cases, orders, knowledge, and customer profiles, to deliver personalized voice experiences. In turn, rich interaction and contact center data, including real-time transcription, call summaries, sentiment, and KPIs, are seamlessly integrated back into ServiceNow to eliminate disparate data silos and power future tasks.
Optimized Agents, Smarter Routing
Voice AI and intelligent call routing reduce agent workload by automating repetitive tasks and guiding calls to the best available resource. ServiceNow’s Retail Operations Management and WFO solution ensures agents are scheduled and empowered with workflows and knowledge at their fingertips, improving productivity and service consistency, especially during peak retail periods.
Final Thoughts
In retail, every customer conversation matters. Whether it’s resolving a delivery issue or answering a pre-purchase question, the moments when customers choose to engage, especially by phone, are moments that require clarity, empathy, and speed. While digital tools are essential, they are not replacements for human connection. Voice isn’t just surviving in the retail landscape; it’s being reimagined as a premium channel for delivering value when it counts most.
As customer expectations continue to rise and tolerance for poor experiences diminishes, retailers must embrace a balanced approach, investing in digital efficiency while preserving and enhancing the personal touch. Voice, backed by AI and supported by unified systems (3CLogic and ServiceNow), is poised to play a central role in delivering on that promise.
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