Up to now, we’ve found this acceptable, even exhilarating as we forge our own trails into the digital frontier. This was new ground we were exploring and the thought of reinventing the way we communicated and did business made us all feel like pioneers. If we had to sacrifice a few humans along the way, so be it.

Unfortunately, with this new territory came an abysmal level of customer service, response and accessibility that would have driven many bricks and mortar businesses into the ground in very short order. I personally have, on many occasions, requested more information about a product or service only to be ignored by machine and human alike. Repeated efforts finally lead to frustration and abandonment.

As e-commerce matured, the best of this new breed realized the importance of prompt replies and superior customer service. CRM (see past NetProfit) software that often came with colossal price tags were integrated into most of the top e-tail sites. Now we could track customers, mine data from them, pigeon hole them into demographic categories and even instantly re-merchandise our online storefronts to suit their perceived needs and preferences. There was only one thing missing. It still wasn’t possible to talk to our buyers face to face.

Human to Human is still the Best User Interface

Recent studies have shown than online shoppers are 94% more likely to buy if they can have their questions answered immediately either through instant callback or online chat channels. Our own research has shown that consumers have indicated lack of human interaction as one of the things they dislike most about shopping online. Humans are social animals. We need interaction. We need relationships. A cold mouse is no substitute for a warm handshake.

The CRM software that is currently on the market is incredibly efficient at gathering customer data and tracking their activity. All the packages fall a little short in the human element however. E-mail replies can be automatically triggered and sent based on a pre-specified series of customer actions. But these e-mails are about as personal as a utility bill.

The same can be true for shopping online. E-commerce sites are very good at allowing the consumer to quickly search the entire inventory of the store and narrow down what they’re looking for. We can pull information about products and compare features and prices. We can download brochures and spec sheets. But it can sometimes be very difficult to find someone to answer a simple question that doesn’t fall into a prepackaged, spoon fed FAQ page. 

Chatting Online

A couple of weeks ago I looked at some of the live customer chat software that’s available. We looked at HumanClick, Groopz, and LiveHelper. Since then I’ve contacted Groopz to get more specific information about pricing. It appears that while Groopz has a nice feature set, it will also cost you substantially more than HumanClick. While HumanClick will run you about $90 per month for unlimited operators and up to 4 concurrent chats, Groopz is about $250 per month for each operator. I’m still waiting for some pricing information from LiveHelper. 

One of these programs will go a long way towards making a visit to your site much more personal. If your visitors can have access to a person for real time chatting, you can make their online experience more interactive and intuitive. By using the proactive features, you can initiate relationships with potential customers.

I’ve been both on the operator and visitor side of these software programs and I’m still not totally comfortable with the chat interface. While it is definitely an improvement over no interaction at all, I find trying to communicate by typing awkward and slow. Interestingly, I usually find that chat sessions initiated through these programs proceed to a certain level and then switch to a phone call. When communicating, we’re used to talking, not typing.

Put a Human Face on Your Site

The Web can be a faceless place. When we go to a website, we very seldom see the people behind the website. Occasionally, the website may have a section that gives a bio of the management team and key personnel. But the rest of the site is usually personality free.

Why not have members of your team host sections of your site? Have some pictures taken and incorporate them into your design. Let them talk about the product or features in first person, giving their personal perspective to the customer. This is similar to what would happen in a bricks and mortar store.

Almost all the customer chat software programs mentioned above have the ability to customize the chat windows. You can use staff photos here as well, so people can see who they’re talking to. By the way, Groopz does this on their site but unfortunately they use a stock photo of a generic phone operator. The whole effect is lost.

Respond Quickly and Personally

If you request information from a website, more often than not you receive an e-mail that reads like a form letter. In many cases, you might not receive a response at all.

The first golden rule of e-mail is to respond to customer queries as quickly as possible. The single biggest frustration in using e-mail as a communication tool is in the length of time required to get a reply. Let’s look at it from the customer’s perspective to understand.

The customer visits your site and likes what you have to say. In all likelihood, they’re motivated to place an order immediately, but they just have one question that needs answering. They e-mail you, asking for more information. Now, they move on to another site or to do something else. As they do so, their interest in your product or service starts to cool. The longer it takes you to respond, the more the interest fades. If the reply comes in under an hour, your chances of closing the sale are still excellent. If it takes 6 hours, you may have a fifty-fifty chance. Any more than a day and chances are you’ve lost the opportunity. Not only has their interest faded, they also have not formed a very good opinion about your responsiveness to your customers.

Quite often, if we can track down a phone number, we’ll phone the person right back. You’d be amazed at how many sales can be closed with a timely phone call.

Building a Long-term Relationship Person to Person

The second thing to remember about e-mail, or any communication in general, is that the more personal it is, the more effective it is. Use first person. Talk directly to your customer. And tell them a little bit about yourself. If you have assigned team members to host sections of your website, have the e-mails come from them. Build a relationship between the customer and one member of your team. Again, to use the bricks and mortar analogy, if we shop in one store regularly or frequent one restaurant or coffee shop, we tend to build a relationship with one or two employees. We seek out these friendly faces when we enter the business, because we’ve built a relationship with them. Your website should be no different.

Reinventing the Handshake Protocol

Every time you dial up through a modem, something called a handshake takes place. This is when your modem and the receiving modem transfer some data bits, establishing who the other party is. As bandwidth increases and communication on the Net evolves, I believe it’s time we look at creating a more personal handshake for our visitors online. Think of all the ways you would make them feel welcome if they visited you in person, and then see how many of these things could be accomplished on your website. Remember, there are literally billions of examples of successful relationships between people. There are very few examples of fulfilling relationships between a person and a computer. Ever seen 2001, A Space Odyssey?