Ruth P. Stevens Articles and Columns: IM Press (Interactive Marketing Press)

Combining web self-service with online marketing strategies

Online shoppers want what they want when they want it. So online retailers are doing everything they can to make the shopping process easier, faster and a consistently satisfying experience.

But many of the tools associated with "web self-service" can also be enhanced for marketing and merchandising purposes. Let’s look at some of the interesting experiments that are going on in this area.

Improved in-site search
The hottest new trend in site search today is linking the in-site search tool with other data, to provide results that support business objectives. Dubbed "searchandizing," this technique creates decision rules that give top search listings to the products that have, for example, the highest margins, or excess inventory that needs to be moved.

Live chat improves conversion rates
Chat was designed for customer service, but quickly became a sales tool as well. In a striking example, Backcountry.com, an outdoor clothing merchant, reports a 15-20% conversion rate among customers who use live chat, versus 1.7-2% averaging over all customers.

Proactive chat
Online retailers are becoming more aggressive about offering live chat before the customer requests it. Backcountry.com says it offers chats to customers who repeatedly hit the Forward and Back browser buttons, on the assumption that they need assistance.

Query response time
Although customers expect practically instantaneous response to their emailed service questions, e-tailers don’t seem to be in any rush to improve response speed. According to Internet Re-tailer’s survey last year, only 21.8% said they respond in less than an hour. Forty percent said they respond in 2-4 hours, and a third said they take more than 5 hours. About half the surveyed companies said they receive fewer than 100 emails a day.

Valuable content
The stakes are still rising for content as a competitive advantage. HomeDepot.com, for example, has set out to position itself as the top choice for Sunday carpenters to get answers to their home improvement questions, with a combination of step-by-step guides and videos, product demonstrations and room visualization tools.

Web 2.0 consumer-generated customer service
As consumers are "put to work" to contribute site content, many e-tailers are finding that customers can also help answer each others’ product questions. Support communities are springing up where consumers can post queries and get them answered by other customers, not only saving service costs but also increasing customer involvement and loyalty.

Efficient use of selling space
One problem with offering a variety of valuable services is that the hotlinks increase the clutter and absorb a lot of valuable real estate on the selling page. The emerging best practice in this area is consolidating multiple tools under a single menu item, like "Customer Service," to save space but still make it easy for customers to find the tools and choose the service path that they want.

Live chat helps target off-line retail sales

Live chat was originally intended to support online sales, but some companies are experimenting with cross-channel uses of chat data. Mattress e-tailer 1800mattress.com, for example, uses software from Batiz.com to transfer online chat content via VOIP to its bricks-and-mortar store managers, so that when the customers come in, the store personnel can do a better job of serving their needs.

Analyzing service-level effectiveness
Customers always appreciate higher service levels, but how do you know what services are cost-effective? retailers are exploring new ways to measure the results of their service investments by linking service behavior with buying behavior. REI.com, the leading outdoor gear re-tailer, provides some of the most sophisticated web-based services in the industry, with everything from tracking your order to getting advice about outdoor sports. REI tracks customer chat activity from various places on the site, like product pages and checkout, and monitors usage levels during the buying process to help determine staffing needs and identify up-sell and cross-sell opportunities.

Exhibit
A 2007 survey by Internet Re-tailer of 320 merchants found the following usage rates of web self-service tools.

Track packages	56.7%
Cancel items or orders	26.8%
Change shipping address	43.6%
Change billing address	41.0%
Print invoices	43.0%
Change payment method	30.3%
Change name, email address or password	51.3%
View gift certificate balance	14.3%
Apply a gift certificate to a new or existing account	19.1%
Edit gift registries, wish lists or shopping lists	19.7%
View shopping history	46.8%

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