Key Takeaways:
- Real-time engagement tools like video chat and co-browsing increase customer confidence and reduce cart abandonment.
- How luxury brands use live digital interactions to replicate in-store experiences and drive higher conversions.
- How customer behavior insights help businesses refine engagement strategies and improve sales performance.
Converting online visitors into paying customers is tough — especially in luxury retail, where personalized, in-store experiences are the norm.
For brands like Watches of Switzerland, the question is: how do you replicate that high-touch service online?
A common mistake is thinking that a user-friendly website and automated tools are enough — but they’re not. Without real, human interaction, conversion rates can remain stubbornly low.
This presents an opportunity for real-time engagement tools like video chat, co-browsing, and live interactions, which can all help build the trust and confidence customers need to make a purchase.
In our interview, CEO and president of Vee24 Tomer Azenkot reveals how tools like these can cut abandonment rates, build trust, and turn casual browsers into loyal buyers.
Who Is Tomer Azenkot?
Tomer Azenkot, CEO and President of Vee24, has built his career on driving growth and building strong teams. He began in product development, working as an on-site implementation specialist and developer before advancing to roles as a solution architect and product manager. Over the past 13+ years, he has led loyal and motivated teams that consistently exceed expectations, always with a clear focus on delighting prospects and customers.
Nearly half of U.S. consumers abandon their online shopping carts during checkout due to hidden costs like shipping, taxes, and fees. According to Statista, many others often back out of their online purchases because of slow delivery or because the website requires an account to proceed.
In light of increasing cart abandonment rates as revealed by the Baymard Institute, brands must address these pain points to keep customers engaged throughout the buying process.
Tomer tells me that video chat and co-browsing have had a significant impact on the customer decision-making process.
“These tools provide instant, personalized guidance that enhances customer confidence in the products or services they are considering. Often, customers return items because the product doesn’t meet expectations — images and descriptions online may not fully capture what the customer is purchasing, leading to costly return rates for businesses.”
With video chat, customers can receive one-on-one assistance to help guide them through the entire process — something not all physical stores can even provide, he adds.
“Seeing a product demonstrated live can address doubts, showcase key features, and help customers make informed decisions with greater confidence. Co-browsing allows the agent to guide the customer around the website and handhold them all the way through checkout. Customers are supported throughout the entire journey.”
How Digital Engagement Tools Boost Conversion Rates
When there’s no engagement, businesses can miss opportunities to address concerns, resulting in abandoned carts and lost sales.
In response, many have turned to more personalized solutions — especially in industries where the customer experience is everything.
For example, luxury brands like Watches of Switzerland have a distinct identity, defined by their premium products and the unique in-store experience they provide to customers.
To ensure that this luxurious customer experience seamlessly transitioned to Watches of Switzerland’s Luxury Watches Virtual Boutique offering, Vee24 leveraged tools such as live video chat, co-browsing, and appointment scheduling with highly trained agents.
“Through video chat, Watches of Switzerland has expanded its team of agents, dedicating specific workspaces to mirror the elegance and exclusivity of their physical stores.
"These spaces, designed to maintain the brand's luxury feel, create an environment where agents, trained to the same rigorous standards as their in-store counterparts, can provide consistent, high-quality service," Tomer explains.
On top of that, Vee24 tailored its platform to reflect the brand’s aesthetic and tone.
enhanced-content.jpg "Watches of Switzerland’s Live Assistance | Source: Vee24")
This ensured that virtual interactions simply felt like an extension of the Watches of Switzerland identity rather than something separate.
“This alignment maintains the brand's prestige and consistency across both digital and physical customer touchpoints, offering a unified luxury experience regardless of how customers choose to engage.”
The result? 90% of customers gave 4-star or higher ratings.
The tools — live video chats, co-browse, and scheduled appointments — improved engagement and reduced abandonment rates because they addressed customer concerns.
In turn, this increased purchase confidence and reduced returns.
The takeaway? Increased engagement and seamless interactions fostered trust and loyalty, turning satisfied shoppers into repeat customers.
Leveraging Customer Behavior Insights to Optimize the Experience
According to Tomer, businesses are also tapping into customer behavior insights to refine the overall experience and drive conversions. With this data, brands have a clear view of what needs improvement along the customer journey.
enhanced-content.jpg "Vee24’s Digital Experience Platform for DFS | Source: Vee24")
For Leading UK furniture retailer DFS, this meant using insights from chat transcripts, customer feedback, and abandonment rates to streamline the process and boost sales.
“By analyzing chat transcripts, the DFS team can identify common questions and recurring concerns that customers express during their interactions.
"This data allows agents to refine their communication strategies, address customer pain points effectively, and proactively guide shoppers toward making confident purchase decisions," Tomer says.
Conversely, customer feedback comments and satisfaction scores highlight the quality of the shopping experience and the effectiveness of support interactions.
“Analyzing this feedback enables DFS to pinpoint areas for improvement, train agents to deliver personalized and empathetic assistance, and ensure customer satisfaction remains high throughout the journey.”
Step-by-step Guide to Boosting Engagement and Sales
Tomer outlines key ways brands can use data-driven insights to optimize customer engagement and increase sales:
- Identify drop-off points: Abandonment rates highlight where customers exit the shopping process, allowing brands like DFS to implement targeted strategies to keep them engaged.
- Track sales impact: Digital interactions influence conversions and average order value (AOV). Monitoring this helps businesses refine their approach and replicate successful engagement strategies.
- Enhance customer support with co-browsing: Agents can guide customers in real-time, helping them find products, troubleshoot issues, and navigate the site more efficiently.
- Drive upselling and cross-selling: Personalized recommendations during co-browsing sessions create opportunities to increase order value and ensure a seamless shopping experience.
Leveraging these insights, Tomer tells me, enables brands to create more personalized and effective customer journeys, which ultimately drive higher conversions and loyalty.
Ensuring Privacy During Real-Time Engagement
While this all sounds promising, privacy remains a major concern for customers. To maintain trust, brands must protect sensitive data — especially during live interactions.
Vee24 ensures high levels of data security by adhering to compliance frameworks, implementing advanced security measures, and offering tools for clients to manage consent and safeguard sensitive information.
The platform also adopts industry-leading compliance standards, including GDPR and SOC 2 certification ensuring compliance with global data protection regulations.
"SOC 2 certification further demonstrates Vee24’s dedication to upholding stringent controls around security, availability, and confidentiality, giving brands the confidence that their interactions meet rigorous compliance requirements," Tomer explains.
In addition to all those measures, Vee24 employs encryption methods that allow clients to mask or redact specific information, like credit card numbers or personal identifiers, ensuring agents cannot access confidential data.
Watch our video to learn more about the key types of protection and the most cunning threats lurking in the digital world:
The next step in improving the customer journey is integrating engagement tools with CRM systems and e-commerce platforms.
“Vee24 offers flexible integration functions that enable real-time data exchange with leading CRM systems such as Salesforce and Zendesk. During or after a customer engagement, the platform can automatically push relevant information into the CRM.
This ensures that customer records remain up-to-date and provides service agents with a 360-degree view of the customer’s history, enabling more personalized and efficient follow-ups.”
Custom short links, embedded in emails, social media posts, or ads, allow brands to tailor engagement configurations, like pre-configured workflows or personalized messaging.
“Brands can design tailored engagement processes that align with their specific business goals. Whether it’s routing customers to agents with specific expertise, automating repetitive tasks, or triggering CRM updates based on predefined conditions, Vee24 ensures that customer interactions are efficient and highly relevant,” he adds.
Scaling Customer Engagement for Growth
To take customer engagement to the next level, brands must also focus on integrating these tools with their broader systems, such as CRM platforms and e-commerce solutions.
Vee24 helps brands do this by combining smart automation with a flexible, phased approach to digital engagement.
“AI-powered tools, such as chatbots, efficiently handle FAQs and routine inquiries, providing instant responses to customers. These systems can seamlessly escalate interactions with human agents whenever more complex support is needed, ensuring customers receive the help they require without frustration,” he says.
Tomer says brands can adopt a “crawl, walk, run” approach: Starting with smaller, targeted implementations before scaling to more stores or broader customer touchpoints.
Groupe Clarins UK’s Virtual Boutique redefines beauty experiences.
— Vee24 (@Vee24) January 17, 2024
Read the Press Release here: https://t.co/exx5nnmGiQ
Watch the Full Video: https://t.co/B4mAdeuoFJ#clarins#beautyinnovation#digitalcustomerengagementpic.twitter.com/BYSZlAfvsV
This means first focusing on a few key areas — answering FAQs or offering video chat in select stores — and collecting data on customer behavior and pain points to fine-tune their strategies.
“As demand grows, the scope of digital engagement can expand gradually. For example, after testing and refining these solutions in a few locations, brands can scale up to more stores or broader customer touchpoints, continually adapting to meet evolving needs.”
This strategic, data-driven approach ensures that investments in customer experience technologies are effective and efficient, helping brands attract and retain customers while optimizing operational performance.
