Ms. Jenkins

Website / Online Mechandising / SEO

Live Chat Technology: Best Practices to Improve Online Customer Service

By Cid Jenkins, Vice President, ATG's eStara

As online customers are presented with more choices on where to book travel online, customer experience is proving to be a crucial differentiator for many hospitality providers. In a study conducted by The Forum Corporation, 72 percent of consumers who switched to a competitor did so because of issues involving customer service. In the age of the empowered travel customer, it is of the utmost importance to cater to consumers' sense of convenience and desire for personalized care.

With the Internet now considered a public utility for a large cross-section of the population, customer behavior is changing radically. Whereas in previous years customers were content merely researching products online and making purchases offline because they were too intimidated to share personal and financial information over the Web, consumers now spend more time online searching for the best bargains. However, price alone does not influence many consumers. A recent survey by Nielsen Online found that convenience, not price, has the greatest impact on online purchasing behavior.

While the phone is an effective means of reaching out to hesitant online consumers, it is by no means the only option companies have to offer personal online service. Online chat technologies have gained prominence in the last few years and many companies are using it as a supplementary tool to enhance their overall online customer experience and drive sales. However, like most technology, chat has its strengths and limitations. In order to benefit fully from these kinds of tools, companies must plan their implementations carefully.

One of the key benefits of online chat is its ability to provide immediate assistance. Customers that have a simple question and do not wish to speak with a customer service agent over the phone find chat to be a convenient method of getting the information they need quickly and confidentially. When online FAQs and self-service tools fail, online chat is an excellent escalation point for customers that prefer to transact online.

In addition to offering online chat options at strategic points during the online transaction process, companies may also choose a more proactive approach. Leveraging the context of an online-visitor's session, companies can create a series of business rules that dictate when customers will be invited to chat online. This dynamic approach allows hospitality companies to engage serious customers that are likely to convert, but may be showing signs of abandonment. For example, if customers are booking their accommodations online and receive an error message, or if they are sitting idle on a page where they're prompted to enter their financial information, it's probably because they need assistance. At this point, companies can invite these idle visitors to chat with a customer support representative to help them with any issues preventing them from completing the transaction.

There are a multitude of variables that companies can use to engage customers with proactive chat. These rules are best defined by looking at your online goals. Are you looking to increase sales? Reduce Web site abandonment? Give extra support to premium customers? Using real-time Web analytics, companies can selectively decide which segments of their online visitors are most likely to benefit from live assistance, and which visitors do not require live assistance. This not only helps companies offer more personalized service to valued customers, but also reduce contact center costs by helping online customers find the right form of assistance at the right time rather than having every customer inquiry escalate to the contact center.

Whether over the phone or via chat, companies would be well advised to ensure that the context of the customer's online session is delivered to the contact center agent once a dialogue begins. By maintaining a continuity of experience across channels, customers will not have to start their transactions over and will be more likely to complete their bookings.

If your goal is to reduce Web site abandonment, you can set rules so that whenever a customer attempts to back out of an online form they are offered an invitation to chat. Oftentimes, customers in these scenarios are simply frustrated or confused by a simple item. By offering Web browsers a lifeline just before they head out to your competitors, they sense that you care about their business.

Look at any leading brand and you will find that the cornerstone of its business is a solid backbone composed of loyal, lucrative customers. Personal customer service is the proven method for keeping your most profitable customers happy and also presents your company with the opportunity to up- and cross-sell depending on the situation.

Staffing is another important factor to consider when implementing a chat solution. Because it requires a different skills set than standard inbound phone calls, chat agents must be vetted to assure they can solve complex questions with brief, yet accurate, responses. As chat invitations roll in it is also important for your contact center to address each chat invitation in a timely manner as immediacy is a key customer benefit to online chat. To be successful, enterprises must focus on their customers' online experience and devote the necessary time and training to ensure that this objective is met.

Perhaps the most important rule of all is discretion - on your part. Because it is so easy to set up these rules, a danger exists of companies abusing these rules to try and capture additional sales and alienate their customers. Would you want a sales person asking if you needed help multiple times while in one store? Of course you wouldn't. The key to online chat success is to align your goals with your customer's behavior and find the points where they intersect to capitalize on a well-balanced multi-channel strategy.

Cid Jenkins oversees strategic sales initiatives. For nearly a decade, Ms. Jenkins has been instrumental in developing eStara’s strategy in the travel and hospitality market while garnering extensive experience driving revenue for eStara's partners, which include companies like Continental Airlines, Hotels.com, Red Lion Hotels and Starwood. Ms. Jenkins' career began as Director of Business Development at GraciasDoctor.com. Her international business knowledge started at the Consulate General of Chile and International Sleep Products Assocation. Ms. Jenkins can be contacted at 703-648-8296 or cid.jenkins@estara.com Extended Bio...

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