New feature: Call-me-Later (delayed Call-me-Now)

We are currently implementing a new feature: Call-me-later. This feature enables browsers to schedule a call when the Call-me-Now option is not available.

To schedule a call, the online visitor can enter her phone number and the exact time she wants to be connected to an agent. When the online visitor schedules a call for 9:05 the next (business) day, the call is initiated from the PushCall platform at exactly that time.

This function enables browsers to plan a call at their convenience. People know exactly when they want to be called (tomorrow at 9:05 when I am in my car) and are not interested in an estimate (tomorrow somewhere in the afternoon).

The Call-me-Later functionality is another way of improving your online customer contact availability.

Survey on Online Customer Service

A recent survey, commissioned by ATG, showed some interesting results. Not because the results are new (we already pitch them during our sales process), but because they confirm what we already know.

Key findings of the survey:

Live help services increase shopper conversion.
Access to live online help - via live voice or live text chat - is very important to online shoppers and plays a key role in converting them from browsers into buyers. It was rated the third most "important" of seven core Web site features, after clear pricing information, and the ability to quickly browse and research products and services.

Consumers want their questions answered while they shop.
Online shoppers, especially those who shop frequently, want to be sure they can get their questions answered right away by a real person when they are browsing and shopping online. The complexity of questions, sensitivity of information, prices of goods and services, and problems transacting online all drive consumers to choose live assisted services such as click to call and click to chat.

Consumers want choices for live help.
Nearly 85% of consumers who browse, research, and buy products and services online want the choice of click to call or click to chat to get live sales or service assistance. While consumers see value in both, their preferences and use of each vary, depending on product pricing, complexity, the information required of the consumer. In fact, 67% of the respondents reported that having live help options in the form of click to call end click to chat together would be useful when making purchases online.

A live human voice - without having to call a toll free number and wait on hold - is the preferred live help option for most consumers in most situations.
Yet text chat is preferred in specific situations - mainly when questions are more simple and straightforward - indicating a need to offer both options and allow the consumer to choose.

Demand for click to call out paces its availability on shopping sites.
Nearly twice as many consumers have tried click to chat versus click to call. These findings indicate a lack of broad availability of click to call options on consumer Web sites. Businesses offering only a toll-free number that routes online customers into their standard interactive voice response (IVR) system are potentially losing a substantial number of transactions.

To read the complete survey, check out the ATG Web site.

Interesting survey. It seems to me our widgets (Flash Overlay Menu and Pizza Button Menu) offer exactly the choice online consumers are looking for.

Electrabel CallBanner launched

Today another CallBanner is launched. Electrabel offers a CallBanner at energieprijzen.nl, a Dutch site that compares different utility companies.

The CallBanner offers the website visitors to call directly from the banner, by entering their phone number. Directly after the visitor clicks the 'call me' button, the connection to the provided phone number is established and forwarded to an Electrabel agent.

Besides the call option, the online visitor can click on the CallBanner to a landing page. This ensures the efficient use of the Callbanner; leads who want to contact you directly are able to start a call without the need to browse the landing page for contact details, and leads who prefer to go to the landing page, to investigate more about the offer.

Electrabel starts with 24/7 support (wow!) so the CallBanner does not have to change appearance outside office hours. When support is only available during office hours, the CallBanner offers a Call-me-Back solution outside office hours.

Click the banner below to see the dynamic version of the CallBanner.

New website PushCall

Ai, it has been a while since my last post... I will get back into it as from now (I hope).

Did we do anything the last months? Of course we did. There are some nice developments we are eager to share with you. In this post, I will focus on our new website.

I think we really improved our new website. It is now very easy to experience our Flash Overlay Menu on your own website. Check out our previewer on our homepage.

We changed our point of view towards our solutions. In our previous website, we focussed on our technical solutions; Web-to-Phone, Call-me-Now and Chat. In our current website, we also explain everything about our 'multi channel communication tools', but we also focus on specials (like our CallBanner), custom design and account management. Last but not least we explain more about what PushCall can add to your business (see also our post on our TNT Business Case).

Feel free to look around and do not hesitate to give your feed back. We know there are still some small bugs. We are working on solving them.