Call Centres : Keep Them Coming Back!

There has been a phenomenal increase in the number of people

using the Internet in the last five years. These users spend many hours each day browsing

the Web and are increasingly purchasing goods and services over the Web. International

Data Corporation (IDC) estimates that the total purchases over the Web amounted to $10

billion in 1997 and will be $220 billion in 2001.

The huge growth in e-commerce transactions on the

Web brings tremendous opportunity to all kinds of businesses. Businesses can grow and

expand their revenues and customer base using Internet as a sales channel. Companies in

nearly every industry are rushing to embrace e-commerce as a primary or complementary

distribution model. The problem is that in the rush to deploy e-commerce capability most

companies have overlooked or failed to establish sufficient customer care infrastructures

to deliver the level of service that customers expect. As a result, most e-commerce sites

have mediocre customer satisfaction levels. In the process they not only lose business to

competitors, but also create negative brand equity.

Although e-commerce promises to revolutionize many

segments of the economy, it is still not a mass-market phenomenon. And customer care has

been a major factor in that. A study by Computer World found that only five out of twenty

three web sites (less than 20 percent) responded within 24 hours when an e-mail message

was sent to them. Customers have to wait for days or weeks to get simple queries answered.

Research has shown that customers abandon about two-thirds of online shopping carts

without making a purchase, and that more than 85 percent of regular Web shoppers abandon a

web site for a competitor’s if they receive poor customer care. The inverse is also

true–nearly 80 percent of online shoppers have actually increased their spending with

sites that provide positive customer care.

• Less than 20 percent
  
  web sites respond to queries within 24 hours.
• Web shoppers abandon
  
  two-third of online shopping
  
  carts without making any purchases.
• 85 percent online
  
  shoppers change site loyalties due to poor customer care.
• 80 percent online
  
  shoppers have increased their online spending with sites that provide positive customer
  
  care.

_{It is becoming apparent that there is little customer loyalty on the Net}

It is becoming apparent that there is little

customer loyalty on the Net. And the most effective way to differentiate one e-commerce

site from another is the service, not the price.

Methods of Customer Care

Presently, most customers

can only register complaints via e-mail, and/or seek answers to product- or

service-related questions via generic FAQs. But the more advanced sites are using push

technology and automated agents to guide customers through the problem-resolution process.

Online customer care is a good way to drive online sales and is much cheaper than

traditional telephone customer support. There are three major channels through which

online customer care can be delivered:

Self Help



Despite the promising numbers of users, Internet remains a daunting experience for
many. Unlike the brick-and-mortar world, there is no one to greet web site visitors at the

door, respond to their questions, or guide them to the products and services best suited

to their needs. Companies are now using software solutions to deliver the dynamic,

personalized assistance that Internet currently lacks. Intelligent dialogue engines are

used to engage web site visitors in real-time question-and-answer sessions to determine

their needs, present relevant product recommendations and service solutions, and offer

related education and advice.

E-mail help



Customers can get help from a company by submitting an e-mail/Web form. The company
then routes, tracks, and responds to these submissions by either using automated responses

or by getting customer care agents to answer the queries. In an automated response, a

software programme intelligently picks the most relevant answer from a knowledge base and

e-mails it to the customer.

Live help



By providing online shoppers with the opportunity to ask questions or seek assistance
from agents in real-time, e-commerce sites can make shoppers much more comfortable about

their purchasing experience on the Net. And comfortable shoppers are more likely to

complete their e-commerce transactions. There are fewer abandoned shopping carts. In

e-tailing parlance, "browse-to-buy ratios" improve, and so do the revenues.

_{Live channels provide the means for browsers to access agents}

Live channels provide the means for browsers to

access agents at any given time with a simple click of the mouse. These channels can be

deployed in a variety of ways based on the customer’s technological limitations and

preferences. A few methods in which live help can be provided include:

Text chat: Text is one of the oldest ways for

users to communicate on networked systems. The difference today is that one can

effectively route chat streams from multiple users to a single agent, parse the content to

route based on skills, carry the customer’s profile and recent activity along with

the chat request, and better equip the agent to handle the transactions efficiently. One

can do this so successfully that each customer believes that he/she has the undivided

attention of the agent.

Shared browsing: With today’s

sophisticated chat engines, all sorts of new capabilities are enabled, including shared

browsing, dynamic tailoring of the Web server to match the profile of the customer, and

the ability to track every page visited by the shopper and proactively offer assistance.

In its simplest form, shared browsing is the capability for the agent and the customer to

view pages on a Web server simultaneously, and to push pages to each other as desired.

Sometimes referred to as collaborative browsing, this capability has the advantage

of  interactivity and immediacy. A good collaborative browser supports shared forms

and enables the agent to move the customer’s cursor to specific areas on the screen.

Collaborative browsing is particularly well suited for complex online transactions such as

filling out detailed forms, applications, and so forth.

Proactive assistance: By monitoring a

shopper’s activity on a web site, an agent can proactively offer assistance at some

predefined marker—typically a dollar value, time elapsed on a particular page, or

customer purchase profile. For example, the agent may be notified when a shopper has

placed $500 worth of merchandise in his or her cart. The agent can click a button that

pops a dialogue box up on the shopper’s screen, asking if the customer would like

assistance on completing the purchase. If the customer agrees, the agent can initiate a

telephone call, use VoIP to speak to the shopper directly over the speakers on the

shopper’s computer, or initiate a chat or collaborative browser session.

Strategic Differentiator

Online businesses need to understand that

customer care is not an expense that needs to be minimized but rather a key function that

adds strategic differentiation. With competition only a click away, e-commerce sites that

provide high quality of service will  generate greater loyalty and repeat business.