What the Internet offers in convenience it lacks in the ability for customers to get a question answered in a timely fashion, or seek the advice of a friendly sales clerk, friend or relative. That missing link – being able to communicate during the shopping process – is a big factor in shopping-cart abandonment.
E-tailers Lands’ End and Smarterkids.com feel they have the answer to reducing the abandon rate and moving more shopping carts through the virtual checkout counter: They’re putting the human touch back into the shopping experience by way of their call centers.
Lands’ End executives saw an opportunity to improve personal service after conducting a survey of online shoppers. “Fifteen percent of respondents said they’d received no response to e-mails,” notes Bill Bass, vice president of e-commerce, “while another group said it would take between one and three days to get a response back.” And FAQ pages? Forget about it, says Bass. “FAQs are worthless when it comes to providing customer service. What a customer really needs is an instant response, a live person to answer their questions right away.”
To provide a personalized shopping experience and address what it considers to be consumers’ desire for more human contact online, the cataloger launched two programs last September: Lands’ End Live and Shop with a Friend. Lands’ End Live allows a customer to click on a “call back” link on the site (www.landsend.com) and enter his or her name and phone number, which generates an electronic signal from the customer’s computer to a Lands’ End Live “personal shopper” (a.k.a. customer service rep). The signal immediately calls the customer back and connects the two parties by phone and Internet browser. Both are able to view the same Web pages simultaneously and forward Internet pages back and forth. A split screen allows the caller to compare products side by side.
Shop with a Friend allows two customers from different parts of the country – or the world (Lands’ End also operates in Japan, Germany and the United Kingdom) – to shop the site together. After the two parties agree on a time and a password, a phone call is made to the customer service center to set up the call. After logging on and entering the password, a message confirms that both cybershoppers are connected. Conversation can take place via text chat or by telephone if shoppers have additional phone lines, cable modems or cell phones. Shoppers can view the same pages simultaneously. Each person has the capability of pointing to pages on the site and that same page will appear on the companion’s screen. Only the initiator of the get-together can make a purchase during that shopping session. Both services are available 24 hours a day.
PLAYING ALONG
Educational products e-tailer Smarterkids.com has similar services – Shop with Me and Call Back – planned for a first-quarter launch. The company, which sells educational games, toys, software and books, wanted to make sure anyone who had a problem in the ordering process could get instant answers and have a seamless transaction. “I think people are less and less are happy with crowded malls, waiting in lines and dealing with sales clerks who don’t add much value to the process,” says Al Noyes, Smarterkids.com’s senior vice president of sales and marketing. “The real answer here is, you can do that virtually without being physically together, so it’s much more powerful and less hassle.” The site is also trying to create affinity groups where people with common interests (e.g., moms with first graders) can shop together.
Neither e-tailer has ROI goals for these programs. “We launched these services simply for the added value it gives customers,” says Bass, “and each customer experience – by its very nature – is personalized. But we don’t track the calls, we don’t ask for personal information, and we don’t try to cross-sell and upsell. We’re just there to answer their questions and provide the absolute best shopping experience possible.”
How does Lands’ End know the services are increasing sales? They don’t. “It’s hard to break out results that any one thing caused sales to grow, because the Internet is growing so much,” explains Bass, noting Lands’ End’s online sales have jumped 239%, from $18 million to $61 million, in three years. “But we know we’re providing a service that people want to use because we asked customers what they wanted,” he confirms. “And we know it’s strengthening our brand as a result. It’s like Nordstrom. Even if you don’t ask for help there, when you shop at Nordstrom, you know help is available if you need it. It’s the same with us. It’s a comfort level.”
Smarterkids’ Noyes has a qualitative customer feedback study planned for the near future.
Both companies’ capabilities are powered by Cisco’s Collaboration Server and Media Blender technologies. Lands’ End chose Cisco products because they best integrated with its existing Rockwell server and other technologies. Smarterkids.com chose Cisco’s line for it’s ease-of-use and the close proximity to its tech support, among other reasons.
The bar is definitely going to get raised, predicts Bass. “Eventually, companies will have to provide human customer service or die, and services like Lands’ End Live will become a requirement for all.”
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