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Chatting Up Customer Service
October 30, 2008
Companies turn to click-to-chat technology to reduce operating expense and enhance customer service (Edited by Stacy Straczynski)
The days of waiting on hold for a service rep are through. Now customers can increasingly use click-to-chat technology via a company's Web site to get immediate on-demand solutions to their problems and questions. And those companies who have watched their competitors' revenues and customer satisfaction scores soar are more frequently jumping on board with these virtual conversation tools in an effort to maintain their sales during economic lows.
Click-to-chat technology—also referred to as "chat"—enables companies to communicate online with customer service reps via real-time instant messaging, rather than over the phone. Because chat allows service reps to handle more than one contact simultaneously and provide customers with a detailed record of the online conversation, companies are able to reduce their high operating costs and improve the overall customer experience.
"Historically, chat has played an important role for retail businesses in gaining competitive advantage with enhanced customer service," says Mike Trip, Senior Vice President and General Manager at Connextions. "Companies that do not provide chat as an online tool risk losing valuable opportunities to acquire new customers and maintain their brand loyalty."
But for some, chat is still labeled as "uncharted waters." Although chat is a mainstay customer service tool for many successful businesses, such as the online bidding company eBay, it's not a plug-and-play customer service solution. There are also some risks associated with chat, according to Trip. Just as with any service-enhancing technology, "when improperly configured or inappropriately staffed, chat technology can degrade the customer experience, erode brand confidence and even drive a customer to a competitor," he claims.
Before considering whether chat fits with an organization's strategic sales and customer service program, it's important to recognize some of the most common errors businesses make with this technology:
• Hiring the wrong agents. Chat and voice agents have distinct personalities and skill sets, and they shouldn't be expected to perform each other's jobs. Proper recruitment, training and supervision are critical. "The best voice agents prefer social interaction and enjoy talking on the phone," notes Tracey Ayers, Senior Vice President of Connextions' North Carolina customer service center. "When a voice agent completes a call, she'll turn to her colleagues and continue talking. Chat agents are exactly the opposite. They prefer written communication, are extremely focused and don’t like interruptions when working."
• Leaving customers waiting too long for a response. Like a frustrated radio listener who switches to another station when there is "dead air," an online customer will often terminate a chat session when too much time elapses between questions and answers. Well-designed chat solutions are staffed with trained agents and employ automatic system interventions that shorten customer wait time and reduce session abandonment. For example, an agent can "push" pre-programmed time-elaspe responses to the customer such as: "Your customer service agent is researching your question and will be right back with your answer. Thanks for your patience."
• Making chat icons difficult to locate. Strategic placement of the click-to-chat button on a company's Web site can turn shoppers into buyers, enable faster resolution of customer service issues and strengthen brand loyalty. Chat entry points placed on logical pages—such as those containing billing or statement information—often lead to faster resolution of questions and more satisfied customers. Conversely, hunting for a chat icon leads to a poor customer service outcome.
• Overusing chat solutions. Web pages containing links to frequently asked questions can prompt customers to locate information without using either a chat or voice agent. Companies often overlook opportunities to place informational links in multiple locations on their Web site for customers to self-educate and self-serve, thereby diverting a chat or inbound call. Or they miss opportunities in a chat session to gently instruct customers on how to locate information or serve themselves in the future.
According to Ayers, the bottom line is that chat technology is very different from a telephone-based interaction. It's not a one-size-fits-all solution. To be successful, chat must be customized to fit a company's specific business plan and customer service goals. Productivity expectations for chat agents compared to voice agents must also be realistic. "Chat can reduce phone costs by 30 to 50% and can optimize customer service operating costs," she says, "but the best results are achieved only when appropriate metrics are in place, agents are properly trained and chat icon placement has been carefully considered before the program is launched."
As more companies seek to enhance their online presence with interactive customer service tools, industry analysts expect the application of such technologies to become a standard method for maintaining member satisfaction and brand loyalty.
Founded in 1992, Connextions' 2,500 professionals provide technology-based business process solutions for a long list of America's best-known corporate and healthcare organizations, including Kaiser-Permanente, Caremark, FedEx and Sprint. For information, see www.connextions.com.
Sales & Marketing Management Magazine
This article is brought to you by Sales & Marketing Management, the leading authority for executives in the sales and marketing field.
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