InformationWeek
Defining The Business Value Of Technology
July 12, 1999
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The one form of Internet communication that most customers are comfortable with, of course, is E-mail, so it's no surprise that most customer service is being done this way. Reducing the E-mail load on customer-service centers while maintaining customer satisfaction is perhaps the greatest service challenge facing electronic retailers. New products are being introduced to help them do that. Most rely on a knowledge base, a database of rules about a subject that uses artificial intelligence to come up with the correct response to a query.
Companies are using knowledge bases to automate E-mail responses or to provide interactive information kiosks on the Web. Both approaches allow for natural language queries, which are crucial to improving the E-commerce shopping experience. And online knowledge centers offer the advantage of immediate response to customer queries, while E-mail communications let customers use a familiar tool to request service.
Vendors of knowledge bases include Brightware Inc., Inference Corp., Remedy Corp., and other help-desk software providers, which are adding Internet access to their applications. Most of these applications are good for answering simple requests, but accuracy rates range from 60% to 70%, according to Meta Group's Harmon. Because of this limitation, he says, companies must be careful that automated responses don't frustrate customers more than they help them. If these systems can't answer a customer question properly, shopping sites must have other options available to customers. "I would never advise companies to deploy this as their only customer-service capability," Harmon says.
Self-Service Help
Since many customer-service questions relate to phone bills, such information online could also reduce the load on Bell Atlantic's call center while giving customers a more convenient way to resolve issues. Such a service will let customers query for usage patterns, such as calculating how much they spent on certain types of calls during a period of time.
Meffert is particularly excited about the cost savings possible from such online help features. "We have such a huge number of rudimentary call-in questions, you can image the savings if we can cut those in half," he says.
Knowledge bases, chat technology, and click-to-talk products can all help improve customer service on the Web, but the key is for companies to make online customer service a priority. "Customer service on the Web is more important because it's a virtual relationship," Fry says. "People are tentative about their purchases on the Web. Better customer service can provide extra comfort. It all comes down to answering questions."
Among the vendors offering new chat applications are LivePerson Inc. and Net Effect Systems Inc. Both companies offer a chat interface for real-time sales support. NEware from Net Effect also determines if a customer-service representative with the appropriate knowledge is available to field a question and then notifies the customer about response time, says David Sonnenschein, director of Internet consulting for Metamor E-business Solutions.
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Bell Atlantic Corp. has sent out a request for proposals to knowledge-base vendors for setting up self-service online help desks, according to Walt Meffert, director of electronic commerce at the telecommunications company. Meffert is also looking to provide customer billing information online, a spin on knowledge bases.
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