February 2000

Humanizing Your Web Site Through Callback And Chat

BY DON STEUL, GENESYS TELECOMMUNICATIONS LABORATORIES, INC.

The business impact of the Internet is simple: companies that conduct business on the Internet are taking customers from companies that don�t. And companies that take care of their customers on the Web are taking customers from those that don�t. Superior customer support on the Web clearly offers businesses a competitive advantage. According to Silicon Valley marketing guru Regis McKenna, as service emerges as a prime differentiator in today�s marketplace, a company�s brand impact increasingly depends on its customers� Web support experience.

With personalization and the need for �real-time� help on the Internet, Web site encounters are becoming more humanized. Unfortunately, when most companies think of providing high-quality online customer interactions, they think exclusively of e-mail. E-mail, however, is only one form of communication, and it does not meet all customer needs, especially those that require immediate assistance. Customers ultimately prefer to choose how they wish to communicate with businesses to buy new products or resolve customer service needs. Some customers appreciate the privacy of self-service, while others may prefer to engage in a live discussion or chat session with an agent before making an online purchase. In fact, a recent Jupiter Communications study showed that 90 percent of online customers prefer some form of human interaction during an e-commerce transaction.

The Human Touch
The best way to offer support that burnishes brand image and gives customers what they need and want in Web-based support is to equip company Web sites and contact centers with the option to provide live access to contact center agents. This allows customers to communicate with businesses in real-time by whichever medium they find most comfortable and convenient: chat, Web callback, Web collaboration, Web call-through (VoIP) and, of course, the telephone.

In reality, many companies, no matter how committed in theory to total Web-based support, may not yet be ready to offer all forms of live Internet-based communication channels. However, two of these channels, Web chat and Web callback, seem to be gaining early industry acceptance and are worth further investigation.

Click To Chat
Chat, also known as �text conferencing,� is an increasingly popular form of communication on the Internet. A new generation of users comfortable with chat has increased its adoption over the last few years, and many more are in high school and college today, representing the customer base of the future. Chat is particularly important when you consider that not everyone has two phone lines. Chat allows the customer to remain online while �speaking� with an agent.

The basic functionality of chat is to allow customers to ask questions via their browser and view text-based responses from an agent in near real-time. Chat also gives the contact center the opportunity to apply text analysis capabilities to better serve customers and provide consistent service. Suggested responses can be automatically inserted into a chat session, freeing the agent from answering repetitive questions. Additionally, scripts can be executed within a chat session, automatically helping a customer through a series of questions that will inevitably help the agent deliver better service.

Chat technology comes in many forms, including HTML, Java applet, browser plug-in or stand-alone application. Industry standards such as H.323 also support chat, enabling interoperability between H.323-compliant applications. If chat is to be supported within a customer service environment, it is most prudent to support a range of approaches, enabling those customers with less sophisticated chat capabilities installed on their computers to take advantage of the service offering.

Web Callback
Though the Internet is hot, the telephone still rules. Far more people use the phone than the Web. Most Internet sites provide at least a customer support telephone number, although it is surprising how many do not. (Not providing a phone number on a Web site leaves customers with the worst possible impression � what is this company trying to hide?) More advanced sites have �call-me-back� capabilities, giving the customer the opportunity to request a phone call from the contact center.

Just requesting a callback is merely scratching the surface in terms of finding out what the customer needs for the contact center agent to deliver first-rate service. Companies can collect rich information from an Internet customer based on information gathered at a Web site before the call is initiated. When a Web callback is requested, the contact center can then assign the best possible agent to place the phone call while providing the information necessary to help the agent assist the customer. Furthermore, dynamic queue statistics such as position in queue and expected wait time can be provided to tell customers when they can expect to receive the callback. Callback capabilities can also be designed to give the customer the option of scheduling a phone call for a later time.

Adopting A Multimedia Contact Center Model
Offering a variety of contact channels presents opportunities to achieve higher levels of service, reduce costs and even increase sales. Media blended environments, coupled with the asynchronous nature of e-mail, will increase the efficiency and effectiveness of a contact center while achieving economies of scale. For example, since it is typically acceptable to allow longer wait times for e-mail replies, gaps in telephone and chat traffic can be filled by having agents respond to accumulated e-mail.

With asynchronous and near synchronous communication channels such as e-mail and chat, it is possible to allow a single agent to handle more than one customer at the same time. For example, an agent might be engaged in replying to a time-insensitive e-mail when an important customer chat session is routed to his or her desktop. Or, an agent might be actively engaged in two or more chat sessions at the same time. Ultimately, the ability to handle multiple customer interactions simultaneously depends on both the skill of the agent and the capabilities of the underlying infrastructure. In the end, it�s the contact center manager and the business that benefits by making the most of available resources, while offering customers a consistent, responsive interaction experience.

What�s Next?
Even though most companies are still just considering the adoption of total media contact center solutions, even more customer-to-enterprise communication channels will emerge, increasing the challenge to customer support professionals. Wireless technologies such as pagers and cellular phones can send and receive e-mail today and are gaining momentum with users worldwide. Navigational systems are being placed in automobiles, giving them instant access to detailed directions and even listings of local restaurants and hotels. Personal digital assistants (PDAs) are giving mobile users the ability to access stock quotes, report status from remote sites, and even find the cheapest nearby gas station. It stands to reason that all these technologies will eventually find their way into the contact center, and the company that prides itself on first-rate Web-based support will have to adjust its offerings to accommodate the emergence of new communications mediums.

While Web chat and Web callback provide a good start, today there is no �right answer� � other than education and awareness � to the increasingly complex question of providing great Web-based customer support. Not every business needs to build out every communications channel, and not every channel will be of equal importance. But companies do need to get smart about Web-based support options to effectively compete in the Internet economy. They must ask themselves tough questions about the nature of their business, the demographics and attitudes of their customers, the capabilities of their Internet site and the capabilities and support strategies of their competitors. The key is to underlie the contact center with a strong, broadly conceived infrastructure designed to support not only the wide variety of today�s applications, but also applications yet to come. If the contact center infrastructure is strong and flexible, it will support the company while the company supports its customers.

Don Steul is director of Internet and analytical applications for San Francisco- based Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, a player in the enterprise interaction management software market. Don has played an integral role in the product management and development of the Genesys Internet Suite, a blended, integrated multimedia contact center solution.