CRM - November 2008 - (Page 18)

Contact Centers Chatting to Success No longer simply a forum for teens, chat is becoming an integral part of the cross-sell, upsell, and support strategies run by customer service s part of the ongoing effort to making contact centers more profitable, upselling and cross-selling to customers have frequently been the focus of attention. But not all customers are created equal, and not everyone likes to interact with contact centers in the same manner. Companies have had to respond by making themselves available via phone, email, Web self-service, and now even Web 2.0 technologies such as blogs, chat, forums, and wikis. “Clearly you look at the older generations, and in a lot of cases, they want to pick up the phone and talk to a live person because that’s what they’re accustomed to,” says Rob Bois, research director at AMR Research. “Increasingly, it’s the consumer generation that’s demanding more and more technology to be incorporated [into] how they’re serviced.” Nowhere is this more prevalent than in Generation Y—born between 1977 and 1994 and representing approximately 72.5 million people in America, according to Census Bureau data, only slightly fewer than the 75.8 million Baby Boomers. At destinationCRM 2008, CRM magazine’s annual conference this past August, Tim Bajarin, president of consultancy Creative Strategies, explained in a keynote presentation that “Generation Y’s worldview is digital; they grew up with nothing else and have no correlation to analog anymore.” John Ragsdale, vice president of technology research for the Service and Support Professionals Association, says that companies are finally starting to understand chat’s potential. “People are realizing that chat is an important…moneygenerating channel,” he says. Bearing this in mind, companies such as Agoura Hills, Calif.–based live and automated Web-chat provider Conversive are looking for ways to combine com18 A merce with pleasure for Gen Y. “There’s number of searches, customer profitano question that having Web chat avail- bility, or agent availability. Talisma Chief able appeals to end users who are classic Executive Officer Dan Vetras likens it to Generation Y because they text all the a concierge service. “We’re reaching out time,” explains Conversive Chief Execu- and trying to help,” he says. “That could be traditional customer suptive Officer Bob Williams. port, but also cross-selling, Williams argues that his “[Younger agents] upselling, and revenue generacompany is taking chat a tion as a result.” step further with Conver- have the advantage. Another benefit to chat in sive Live Automation, com- They grew up chatting the contact center is that, as bining automated and live and understand the customers become more comchat—thereby allowing techfortable with this Web 2.0 nology to handle simple channel really well.” technology in their own lives, inquiries and escalating difficult questions to agents. The solu- the newest class of agents—predomition, he adds, doesn’t presuppose nantly Generation Y—are equally conwhether a customer will get an auto- versant in its nuances. “Just because mated or live response—it’s an organic you’re a fantastic phone agent doesn’t decision determined by the situation. mean you’ve got the quick or appropriWhen a customer submits a question, an ate typing skills by text,” Ragsdale exautomation engine provides a customer plains.“That’s one place younger workers service representative with a potential re- coming into support centers today have sponse and a confidence factor, indicat- the advantage. They grew up chatting ing how sure the engine is of the answer. and understand the channel really well.” Ragsdale also notes, though, that If confidence is high, the rep can simply press enter and send the message. If not, these agents must be trained specifically the agent can then take over the chat and to chat in a professional setting and should be monitored. “Just make sure find the correct answer. Other vendors, such as customer ser- they cut the cute shortcuts and acrovice solution provider RightNow Tech- nyms,” he writes in his blog. “‘LOL’ and nologies and customer interaction various emoticons do not belong in management provider Talisma, an business chat.” —Christopher Musico nGenera company, claim to be taking Several of the stories in this month’s Insight refer to chat to a proactive level. Rule engines information and presentations from our recent allow agents to start a conversation with destinationCRM 2008 conference. For more of our coverage from the show, please visit http://snurl.com/dCRM08. users based on, for example, time period, www.destinationCRM.com CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT | NOVEMBER 2008 http://snurl.com/dCRM08 http://www.destinationCRM.com

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

CRM - November 2008 Contents Front Office Feedback Reality Check Customer Centricity The Tipping Point Working with the Years CRM on Twitter Virtual Spenders Contact Centers Chatting to Success The Complexity Chasm Required Reading Generational Spending: A Special Report Who, What, Where, When, Y The Slackers’ X-cellent Adventure The Boomer Boom The Matures Endure Boosting Productivity North of the Border Changing the Channel Invicta’s Thrill of Victory Secret of My Success Connect Re:Tooling Pint of View

CRM - November 2008

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