Chapter Five

Use Friendly Web Sites and Electronic

Communication

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The Internet is a new avenue for businesses to deliver customer service

Provides increased exposure and sales

Provides decreased marketing costs

Provides opportunities for better customer service

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The Web is a “perfect” sales channel AND is an excellent channel for pre-sale and post-sale customer support

Customers have come to assume a Web site for virtually any business

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Customers can use online knowledge bases to answer their own questions

FAQ’s

Email responses, searchable by keyword

Customer service postings, searchable by keyword

Self-learning knowledge databases, searchable with multi-word searches

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Web chat allows customers and service representatives to carry on two-way conversations.

Blogs can serve the same function—real time conversations.

Remember 80/20 rule: the 20% who are reading blogs influence the other 80%

One third of US ‘Net users read online forums

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Web self-service has significant cost advantages over traditional service channels

Employing only one person to maintain a website

Allowing full-time staff to answer only unusual questions

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Norms of ‘Net Geners

Customization Security Integrity Collaboration Entertainment Innovation

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Poorly managed e-services can eliminate any potential cost savings and result in lost customers.

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Successful e-service delivery requirements:

Website uptime: have redundant servers

Navigation ease: one click access

Response speed: less than 2-3 seconds to refresh a page

Communication alternatives (email, phone)

Form & function. Appropriate site design, accessibility

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Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. • All Rights Reserved.

Successful e-service delivery requirements:

Benchmarking

Traffic monitoring

Adaptive knowledge bases

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Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. • All Rights Reserved.

Few companies today can survive without an electronic presence, and today’s Web-mediated customer service offers a low-cost approach for run-of-the-mill customer transactions.

Take the opportunity to surprise customers with exceptional e-service.