KANA Customers Buck Industry Trends and Provide Superior Online Customer Service Over the Holidays
KANA`s Market-Leading Contact Center Solutions Enable Companies To Provide Higher Levels of Cost-Effective Service Even as Customer Interactions Increase
Menlo Park, Calif. - January 23, 2002 -KANA Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: KANA), the leading provider of external-facing eCRM solutions, today announced that its customers increased online customer service responsiveness while reducing costs during the holiday season, even though recent industry reports state that, on average, online customer service faltered. Customers such as RedEnvelope, eBags and Ashford.com enjoyed very successful holiday seasons supported by KANA`s Web-architected contact center solutions that easily scale to support increased levels of customer interactions.
Jupiter Media Metrix recently reported that the number of companies responding in a timely manner to customer service e-mails hit an all time low of 22 percent during this holiday season. Although online customers expect a response to their e-mail inquiry within 48 hours, very few sites within retail, travel and financial services were able to achieve this level of service. However, KANA customers easily met and exceeded their customer service goals for the season.
eBags, the world`s largest online retailer of bags and accessories for all lifestyles, had its most successful holiday season to date. eBags increased revenue by 30 percent from last year, and site traffic at eBags.com increased by nearly 60 percent. Even while eBags saw dramatically increased traffic, it was able to maintain the highest level of customer service. With the help of KANA Marketing software integrated with KANA iCARE Analytics, eBags was able to improve and personalize customer care, with offers such as a free upgrade of second-day shipping to targeted customers.
"Many of our biggest competitors are traditional brick and mortars and most saw sales decrease by as much as 40 percent, as customers looked to shop online," said Mike Frazzini, vice president of information technology at eBags. "We capitalized on the online shopping increase with strong customer service, supported by KANA`s Web-architected eCRM solutions that enabled us to provide superior customer service during this busy season at no additional costs. The result was our most successful season ever."
Ashford.com, the leading e-commerce destination for corporate and personal gifts, met its goal of delivering 99.9 percent of holiday gifts on time. Using KANA Response™ software, the company answered 80 percent of e-mails within two hours this holiday season. KANA Response is the world`s leading e-mail management solution, and enables Ashford.com to auto-respond to e-mails and automatically route customer requests to the most appropriate customer service representative.
RedEnvelope, recently recognized by a Wall Street Journal poll as one of the top ten favorite consumer e-commerce sites, saw its customer base grow by 300 percent. KANA Marketing enables RedEnvelope to increase customer conversion and decrease abandonment, without increasing costs.
"KANA customers were able to rise above the customer service issues that plagued the online retail industry this holiday season because our external-facing eCRM solutions are Web-architected and can scale to very high numbers of concurrent users," said Bud Michael, executive vice president of products and marketing for KANA. "Even though online shopping reached its highest level yet this holiday season, KANA customers were well prepared and able to handle the increase in customer requests without incurring additional costs or seeing a decline in service."
Nearly 1,200 companies worldwide are using KANA next generation eCRM solutions to drive better relationships through effective, efficient interactions with customers at all points of contact (Web collaboration, phone, e-mail, live chat) and throughout the enterprise. The KANA approach to customer relationship management technology solutions combines sophisticated analytics with thin-client Web architecture to deliver extraordinary customer interactions that decrease costs and drive revenue.
About KANA
KANA (NASDAQ: KANA) provides the industry`s leading external facing eCRM solutions to the largest businesses in the world, helping them to better service, market to, and understand their customers and partners, while improving results and decreasing costs in contact centers and marketing departments. Through comprehensive multi-channel customer relationship management that combines the best-in-class KANA iCARE Architecture with enterprise applications, KANA has become one of the fastest-growing providers of next generation eCRM technology. The company`s customer-focused service, marketing and commerce software applications enable organizations to improve customer and partner relationships by enabling them to productively interact when, where and how they want - across all touch points, including web contact, web collaboration, e-mail, and telephone. KANA`s global customer base includes Global 2000 organizations in the financial services, manufacturing, high technology, communications, retail and services markets. ADP, Chase, E*Trade, GAP, GM, Hewlett-Packard, Kodak, Sony, United Airlines, Verizon, and Williams Sonoma are among the industry leaders that have implemented KANA`s eCRM solutions. KANA has locations in 22 countries worldwide, in addition to an extensive global network of channel partners. For more information, please visit www.kana.com.
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Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Information in this release that involves KANA`s expectations, beliefs, hopes, plans, intentions or strategies regarding the future are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements include statements about KANA`s expected profitability, revenue, earnings per share, growth and new business, its market position and its relationship with customers. All forward-looking statements included in this release are based upon information available to KANA as of the date of the release, which may likely change, and we assume no obligation to update any such forward-looking statement. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results could differ materially from our current expectations; visibility remains limited after the first half of the year 2002. Factors, trends and uncertainties that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, uncertain economic conditions, competition in our marketplace, including introduction of new products or services, or reductions in prices, by competitors; inability to attract and retain qualified employees, to manage case and expenditures or to expand sales; inability to manage business in light of recent management changes and personnel reductions; KANA`s history of losses; particularly as they affect spending by our prospective customers on eCRM and similar enterprise software products, risks associated with the merger with Broadbase and integration of the companies; risks associated with lack of market acceptance of KANA`s products or services; inability to enhance and develop our products and services within budget and on schedule; competition in our marketplace, including introduction of new products or services, or reductions in prices, by competitors; inability to attract and retain qualified employees, to manage cash and expenditures or to expand sales; inability to manage business in light of recent management changes and personnel reductions; and trends and uncertainties slowing and uncertain economic conditions, particularly as they affect spending by our prospective customers on eCRM and similar enterprise software products. These and other factors are risks associated with our business that may affect our operating results are discussed in KANA`s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including our most recent annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly report on Form 10-Q, and registration statements on Forms S-3 and S-4.
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NOTE: KANA is a registered trademark, and KANA Software, KANA iCARE, KANA Contact Center, KANA IQ, KANA ResponseIQ, KANA Response, KANA Marketing, KANA iCARE Analytics and the KANA logo are trademarks of KANA Software, Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Jessica Hohn
KANA
508/653-4000
jhohn@KANA.com
ennifer Meyer/Karen Pantinas
PAN Communications
978/474-1900
kana@pancomm.com
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