| Experts Corner |  Having spent the money to identify our online customers, how can we maximize that investment by knowing the best time to reach them?
David King, Fulcrum Analytics
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Chat Technology: Changing the Way We ‘Talk’ to Customers
By Dr. Jon Anton, Purdue University Center for Customer-Driven Quality
If a customer is Internet-savvy and happy to make contact online, why get them to reach for a telephone when they need help?
One in five contact centers agree and already offer chat-based support as a channel of communications with Web site visitors, according to a survey carried out by Purdue University Center for Customer-Driven Quality. Of the rest, one in four is considering implementing the technology in the next 12 months.
Why? For those using chat the reasons varied, from the catch-all “providing a choice of contact methods” to the obvious “help with Web site navigation.” However, respondents also identified reducing “e-mail backlogs” and “call densities,” as well as “building relationships with customers” and “increasing revenue through closing orders.” All in all, we found some powerful beliefs in a technology that’s seen roughly a third of existing solutions implemented in just the last 12 months.
Few would disagree that online chat is one of the successes of the Internet. The concept is simple—a customer service agent and ‘client’ can communicate in real-time with each other using an instant messaging application that’s built into the company’s Web site. In other words, they send short typed notes to each other while online.
It was this concept that was the subject of a recent ‘One-Minute Survey’ carried out by BenchmarkPortal (October 2004) and sponsored by eBay. And our research paints a fascinating picture of how chat technology is being used.
Figure 1: The number of chat conversations that get started every month
For example, current volumes vary considerably. Forty-five percent of companies report less than 500 interactions a month; 25.91 percent experience 500 to 2,500. But 10.36 percent have more than 10,000 and, remarkably, 5.18 percent more than 50,000 – that’s 1,600-plus a day!
As for the length of these ‘online conversations,’ it’s certainly not all day, if that is a concern. Three minutes or less is the goal for 21.25 percent of organizations, and five minutes for 27.5 percent—more than 15 minutes accounts for just 1.25 percent.
Figure 2: Average number of chat sessions handled by an agent at the same time
Chat also creates an environment where agents can deal with more than one inquiry at a time. Although a third of companies offering chat generally handle one session at a time, 28.92 percent handle two, 16.87 percent cope with three and 8.43 percent are managing more than five customers simultaneously.
It was our last question to those already using the technology, however, that was perhaps most telling: what is the one thing you think would be helpful to those considering chat? Answers we received ranged from “Go for it!” to “Go slow!” … Go figure.
A recurring theme was that potential adopters should be “very clear on what customers should expect from the service.” Also, they shouldn’t expect all customers to embrace it: “Chat users are a unique type of customer,” answered a respondent. “Specific marketing and service strategies need to be developed.”
Finally, don’t see this form of communication as a way to save—not in the short-term anyway. “Put a chat channel in place for the customer and the efficiency and cost-effectiveness will follow,” said one reply. “Don’t do it for the reverse reasons.”
Another added: “Don’t go into it thinking that you are saving on cost … but [chat] does offer excellent customer service opportunities.”
That it does and one thing we can truly be sure of is that chat is on the rise. And, of those that have taken the plunge, two-thirds would recommend it. An impressive enough return for a technology that is changing the way we ‘talk’ to customers.
Dr. Jon Anton, Purdue University Center for Customer-Driven Quality
Dr. Jon Anton is the director of benchmark research at Purdue University’s Center for Customer-Driven Quality. He has published 24 books and 117 papers on customer service and call center methods. His education includes a Doctorate of Science and a Masters of Science from Harvard University, a Masters of Science from the University of Connecticut, and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Notre Dame. Dr. Jon can be reached at: DrJonAnton@BenchmarkPortal.com.
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