Giving Good Service on the Web

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[December 28, 1999] By Bonny Georgia

So, you've finally launched your online store. Anticipating hoards of new customers beating a path to your virtual door, you wonder if you've forgotten anything. Killer Web store design - check. Simple but powerful shopping cart - check. Warehouse full of merchandise and suppliers on stand by - check. Megabucks spent on marketing it all - check. You're well on your way to becoming the next e-store success story. Or are you?

Pop quiz, hotshot: Someone visits your site and tries unsuccessfully to place a massive order at 2AM. Have you got customer service tools in place to close the deal or will those dollars walk away?

Selling is only half of the e-commerce equation. Blinded by dollar signs, many e-commerce businesses go live without thinking about the flipside of opening a 24-hour, 7 day a week store on the Internet - they also need a 24/7 service department to support the needs of new and existing customers.

Using static FAQ files, a service e-mail address, and existing phone support may suffice while your site is in its fledgling stages, but these solutions don't scale well as site traffic grows. E-service tools on the other hand can give you a competitive edge by helping you offer superior service online and sell more effectively over the long haul.

E-service refers to solutions that facilitate interaction between customers and Web businesses online. E-service apps fall into three main categories: Self-service, e-mail management, and live help. Depending on your site's traffic, the type of goods and services you sell, and the kind of service requests you get it may be worthwhile to implement some or all of these solutions at your e-commerce site.

Self-Service
Unless your Webmaster is asleep at the wheel, chances you already have a frequently asked question file (FAQ). Yours might be populated with information about warranties, shipping options, return policies, corporate contact information and the like. Database-driven knowledge bases are similar, but take it a step further by combining technical, product, and general information into a database that customers can query by keyword for answers to their questions. The downside? FAQ files and knowledge bases require constant massaging and editing to be effective, plus the skills of a seasoned database guru to maintain them.

RightNow Technologies Inc. offers a self-service solution that is both powerful and easy to manage. RightNow Web 3.0 is a dynamic FAQ interface with an "organic" engine that automates the FAQ building and maintenance process. As customers interact with the FAQ, they rate the effectiveness of published answers and suggest additional questions to add. Reps can publish them automatically or after reviewing them with a customer service manager. On future visits the highest rated and most requested answers for a topic are presented first, further enhancing the self-service process. The service also includes basic e-mail handling to make sure customer questions are addressed by a specific agent or business department.

RightNow Web 3.0 comes in two versions - a server-based application or an outsourced service. Add-ons including an auto-responder, live help, and survey engine are also available.

E-mail Management
A December 1999 study by Jupiter Communications found that of 125 top Web sites surveyed, just under half (46 percent) did not respond to e-mail queries for five days or more, did not respond at all or did not have contact details on their site for customer queries. To prevent your Web business from becoming a similar sad statistic, replace your rudimentary email address (such as service@mycompany.com) and weak message filters with a sophisticated e-mail management tool.

E-mail management applications such as eGain Mail and Kana Response let you auto-respond to e-mail or Web forms with scripted answers, route more complicated queries to specific agents, assign messages a priority status in the queue, and track communications with the customer through the resolution of the problem. Both offer helpful backend reports to pinpoint customer service trouble spots and ensure your reps are better prepared for similar queries in the future.

Live Help
Think for a moment about that hypothetical customer having trouble with your shopping cart at 2AM. An e-mail address and FAQ file are unlikely to fix their problem in time to keep the sale from going south, and calling your customer service number requires them to log off, which defeats the whole purpose of e-commerce. Now what?

Adding a live help component to your Web site will minimize such service dilemmas. Here's how it works. You add a live help link to your Web page. When a customer clicks it, this activates a real-time chat session with a live service agent. The live agent can respond to questions, push sales collateral and helpful links, or engage in suggestive selling all while the customer remains connected to your Web site.

Several vendors offer live help solutions in both outsourced and server-side formats. Some solutions, including FaceTime and iSession, are designed to outfit your existing staff of agents with live chat tools; others such as LivePerson, PeopleSupport and LiveAssistance let you augment your own staff with rented live agents around the clock, after hours, or during peak periods.

Integrated e-Service Solutions
If you'd like to enhance your e-commerce site with all these options, consider an integrated e-service suite. Most suites are modular, letting you add extra components or features when you need (or can afford) them. Depending on whether you install and administer the tools yourself or choose an outsourced version, they cost up to several thousand dollars and can take anywhere from a few days to several weeks to roll out. Among the most sophisticated choices are NetEffect Systems, ServiceSoft's eCenter Suite, and RightNow Web with plug-ins.

Bonny Georgia covers business technology issues from her home in suburban Boston, Massachusetts. She is a contributing editor for Home Office Computing, PC/Computing, and FamilyPC. She can be reached at georgialyn@aol.com.