InformationWeek
Defining The Business Value Of Technology
July 12, 1999
 Print this story |
Retailers realize that solid customer service is vital to attracting and keeping online consumers
By Charles Waltner
Some retailers are realizing that the same strategy that helped many conventional merchants do well--providing top-notch customer service--can help them thrive in the virtual marketplace. Software vendors are introducing products based on emerging or existing technologies to help companies provide service on the Web, but there are still obstacles to overcome.
HTML pages can't provide answers to all of a customer's questions about a product--and even if they did, most consumers quickly grow tired of clicking through layers of Web links to get the right information. To provide good customer service on the Web, companies must open new lines of communication--and they're using a variety of means to do that. These means include click-to-talk buttons for contacting company representatives, interactive chat rooms for real-time query and response with call-center employees, and knowledge bases for automated E-mail responses and self-service help desks.
The successful implementation of customer-service applications such as these could well determine which companies stay afloat on the current wave of electronic commerce, according to some analysts. "You still find three-quarters of IT budgets are put toward transactions and engagement," says Tim Harmon, VP of retail and distribution information strategies at the Meta Group. "But that's wrong. I think that 75% of budgets need to go to E-service."
The new online tools are designed to help customers find answers to their questions faster, more accurately, and with less effort than clicking through Web pages. They keep customers at their computers and online--where they want to be--rather than on the phone or in a store. "At some point, to make the online shopping experience as good as possible, people shouldn't have to leave the channel," says Chuck Shih, a research director at Gartner Group.
Click-to-talk is the generic term for any technology that lets customers click on a button at a Web site to establish voice communications with a customer-service representative. The technology has been around for a while but has been difficult to implement. Vendors are introducing products that aim to make click-to-talk technology more practical to implement.
A few telephone companies now offer click-to-talk support for Web sites. With AT&T's Interactive Answers, for instance, customers can click a button that prompts a service representative to call them back immediately. Such technology can also let call-center employees push Web pages with pertinent information to customers' browsers.
Related links:
And from our sister publications:
ore than 400,000 companies have Web sites--many of which are trying to sell products and services. Competition is fierce, perhaps even more than in the bricks-and-mortar retail world, where geography limits the number of players in a market. So how do companies attract consumers to their sites and get them to keep coming back?
continued...page 2, 3
Back to This Week's Issue
Featured Microsite
