CRM - October 2008 - (Page 44)

knowledge base for Astute’s RealDialog, but agents changed their tune when they realized the power and efficiency the new solution delivered.“The tenured associate thinks, ‘I don’t need this [because] I already know everything—so I don’t know how this is going to change my day or workflow,’” she says. “Ironically, in short order they became the biggest advocates of the new system.” The integration allowed all agents to access data quickly through a single user interface. With natural-language processing and advanced linguistics techniques, RealDialog understands real-world input. Agents can enter a customer’s question verbatim and instantly receive a response—a specific answer, paragraph within a document, or a file—and also build the system in real time. The benefits have been both tangible and psychological. “This technology is really supporting at the agent level and has really improved their ability and confidence to deliver great messages on behalf of our brand,” Crowley says. “This allowed us to eliminate those awkward pauses and putting people on hold because agents were struggling to access a piece of information.” The confidence has translated into a 68 percent reduction in hold time, 33 percent drop in average handling time, and 49 percent fewer escalations—and a quick return on investment. “We were going to be content if it took 24 to 36 months, but we were able to take this solution and go into the black within a sixmonth time frame,” Crowley reports. And that’s nothing to turn your nose up at. —Christopher Musico Some Stories Never Get Old A cosmetics company relies on its customers to share the beauty of its brand ver since Phoenix-based cos- “We were careful not to set goals because metics company philosophy we didn’t really know what to expect,” Sulaunched its Web site in 1996, perfon admits.“We really went into it with a feedback form has invited a testing mindset.” Marketing included customers to share product experiences. emails to existing customers, co-branded Without any incentives, customers sub- emails to reach new prospects, advertisemit testimonials articulating everything ments on its own site and on Oprah.com, from the products they liked to how phi- and paid search. The prize for the winning losophy as a brand has touched their lives. story was a $1,200 shopping spree on “We received amazing, very touching philosophy.com. Within just a couple of stories from people,” says Sarah Superfon, weeks, there were more than 1,000 stories the company’s director of interactive mar- and thousands more participated in seketing and direct response. Stories flowed lecting the best one. Moreover, 39 percent in at least a couple of times a day, but phi- of all traffic on philosophy.com that May losophy’s system was rudimentary. Stories originated from a Stories page. Of those visitors who were new to the weren’t shared with other visitors, surfacing only in email “[Customers] come site, 33 percent spent time on a Stories page. Most striking? campaigns or during infomer- to the brand for Compared to the average visicials. And yet customers sharing different reasons. tor, those who came through a stories has always been an inteStories page had 81 percent gral part of the brand, she says. They share for more page views, 20 percent “It was a more-engaging and different reasons.” higher average order values, interactive way for them to communicate with philosophy Once and 19 percent more items per order. When the campaign ended, philosophy they [did], they became very loyal.” As the online channel continued to retained yourmomsphilosophy.com but for grow, philosophy turned in January 2008 reading purposes only. After a short hiato Bazaarvoice, a provider of social- tus, the company will reopen the site for commerce solutions, for its Rating and customers to contribute more stories Reviews product. Further discussions, about their mothers outside of a contest however, unveiled a better fit: a product setting. Eventually, philosophy intends to called Stories, which Bazaarvoice had yet open its Stories page to broader discusto make publicly available. (Stories had its sion. “Philosophy plays different roles in people’s lives and obviously they come to official launch in July 2008.) Catering to its predominantly female the brand for different reasons,” Superfon customer base, in mid-April philosophy says. “They share for different reasons.” launched its Stories-powered microsite, Regardless of where they’re coming from, yourmomsphilosophy.com—intended to she says, stories “bring out something run through Mother’s Day. The cam- really special in people.” —Jessica Tsai paign, Superfon says, allowed customers to share personal anecdotes and lessons learned from their mothers. Many of the WITH BAZAARVOICE STORIES, PHILOSOPHY.COM: stories don’t even mention philosophy or saw 39 percent of its total site traffic in its products. “A lot of people feel like it’s May come from its Stories page; and their brand—and being able to share their had 33 percent of all new visitors visit a Stories page. story and being able to post their pictures AVERAGE on the Web site makes that feeling even COMPARED TO THEACCESSED VISITOR, CUSTOMERS WHO YOURMOMSPHILOSOPHY.COM: stronger,” Superfon says, adding that, even generated 81 percent more page views; if only indirectly, the bond was highly produced 20 percent higher average beneficial to the company. order value; and At first, expectations weren’t very high. purchased 19 percent more items per order. E the payoff WITH ASTUTE SOLUTIONS’ REALDIALOG OFFERINGS, BATH & BODY WORKS WAS ABLE TO: $ the payoff eliminate the need for weekend overtime during peak season, saving 10 percent on the holiday budget; reduce seasonal-associate training time by 50 percent; cut incoming callers’ hold time by 68 percent; reduce average handling time by 33 percent; cut supervisory-assistance calls by 41 percent; reduce escalations by 49 percent; and eliminate the need for agents to deal with binders and papers to answer questions. $ 44 CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT | OCTOBER 2008 www.destinationCRM.com http://www.Oprah.com http://www.philosophy.com http://www.philosophy.com http://www.yourmomsphilosophy.com http://www.yourmomsphilosophy.com http://www.PHILOSOPHY.COM http://www.YOURMOMSPHILOSOPHY.COM http://www.destinationCRM.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of CRM - October 2008

CRM - October 2008 Contents Front Office Feedback Reality�Check Customer Centricity The Tipping Point Sprinting Toward Disaster? SAP�Retains Market-Share Lead in�CRM A�Week of Strong Customer�Service CRM�on Twitter Build a Good Event and They Will Come Required Reading There's No Place Like Home The New Breed of CRM�Consultant The Price is Right...You Hope How Much Marketing is Too�Much? The�Sweet Smell of High-Quality�Service The Next Act! For An Acquisition Some Stories Never Get Old CRM�Eases the Pressure For WIKA�Instruments Secret of My Success Re:Tooling Scouting Report Pint of View

CRM - October 2008

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