CompUSA puts agents into stores as training for live chat
Before agents are assigned to respond to chat inquiries from online customers, they spend time in a CompUSA store taking questions face-to-face. That three-week stint helps agents become familiar with products and promotions, says Al Hurlebaus, managing director of marketing and advertising at CompUSA Inc.
“Having experienced the store and understanding sales and promotions and the questions customers have provides them with more breadth of knowledge so when on the web site a customer asks a question they have the knowledge and experience to answer appropriately,” Hurlebaus says. He says more than 90% of customers who have used live chat say they are satisfied with the experience in company surveys.
CompUSA, which uses a live chat service from InstantService Inc., engages in about 3,000 interactive chats a month with web site visitors. Hurlebaus says about 70% of the questions fall into a few areas, such as about site navigation and promotions, and that an agent often can handle three chats at a time. CompUSA is No. 42 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide.
HP Home and Home Office Store, the direct-to-consumer arm of computer and printer manufacturer Hewlett-Packard Co. that is No. 62 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, finds agents can handle as many as three chat sessions at a time after about a month or two on the job, says Nikhil Behl, vice president of call center sales and customer service. HP puts live chat agents through a three-week course on products, sales skills and company tools and policies.
PlumberSurplus.com has started recently taking advantage of the expertise of customer service representatives by encouraging them—when they have free time—to invite a visitor searching the site for a product the agent is familiar with to have an online chat.
One agent “has great experience with tankless water heaters and knows lots about shower systems,” says Joshua Mauldin, customer service manager at the web-only plumbing supply retailer. “Another lady is great on home décor and lighting. I would encourage her to search for her customers. Either way, we’re looking for customers who have been on the site for a long time and look like they might need help, and/or customers browsing in a category the rep is intimately familiar with.”
Mauldin says about one in five customers invited to chat accept the invitation and that among all customers who chat the conversion rate is about double that of customers who do not engage in a text chat.
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