As the New Year approaches, Scott Nelson at the Gartner Group has decided to post a few customer-centric resolutions.  We find the first three to be particularly poignant...now if we could just lay off cheesecake. 

Resolution 1: Take CRM seriously. Instead of just paying it lip service, how about really making it a mission-critical strategy this year.

Resolution 2: Actually start a dialog with customers. Talk to them and listen to what they want.

Resolution 3: Stop thinking of CRM as a technology, and instead think of it as a strategy.

According to Red Herring, it's been a happy holiday season so far for online retailers.  The past few weeks have seen spending of more than $16 billion online.  When all is said and done, comScore predicts online holiday spending for 2005 will reach $19 billion. 

We're always looking for ways to improve online customer service.  One way to do that is to learn more about how YOU -- as a consumer -- think.  We feel it's the best way to deliver services that will help large enterprises improve the online shopping experience for their customers.

If you're interested in helping, please check out our survey.

 IT Business Edge approached us recently to answer 3 questions about enterprise click to call solutions.  Here's what eStara CEO John Federman had to say:

Question: What are some ways companies are utilizing click to call technology, and how are they achieving ROI with it?

Federman: Since 1999, large enterprise companies like DaimlerChrysler and Continental Airlines have been using eStara's click to call service to increase online sales conversion, reduce Web site abandonment and improve customer loyalty. In 2005, we launched the world's first VoIP-based call tracking service which, along with our click to call product, helps to track ROI for advertisers on search engines and online directories like Verizon's Superpages.com and Amazon.com's A9.

eStara's clients typically see results that lead to incremental increases in sales conversion rates and reduced Web site abandonment by helping to deliver qualified business leads. Independent research by Forrester Research and Jupiter Research confirms that online consumers prefer phone communication over self-service tools, e-mail and text chat when it comes to complex, high-value transactions. In the case of Continental Airlines, after using eStara's service they calculated an ROI of 50 times the cost. Other clients have witnessed similar results, including increased conversion rates that are, in some cases, double the conversion rates of standard inbound marketing calls.

Question: Can you briefly explain how click to call technology works?

Federman: eStara's click to call service "voice-enables" any online medium, including your Web site, advertising banners, search engine ads and even outbound customer e-mails. Instead of dialing a phone number, your customers simply click a customized Push To Talk graphic (we call it a "button") to speak immediately with one of your telephone sales or customer service agents. With our patented IP telephony technology, callers can use any land-line or cellular phone by simply entering their phone number. eStara places standard phone calls to both the customer and your inbound call center, and connects them together. Or, if their PC is equipped with a microphone and speakers, your customer can also choose to talk directly from their PC without installing any special software.
This allows companies to avoid the informational black hole of traditional phone contact by opening the door to bi-directional data passing and increased opportunities for collaboration between buyers and sellers. Plus, it ensures continuity of experience for the end-user between the online and offline channel. In the case of an online transaction, users that click to call from an e-commerce Web site won't have to be reverified or authenticated by the call center since the context of their Web session is delivered straight to the call center agent's desktop. This equips the call center agent with the information they need to better assist the customer, and it relieves the usual customer anxiety of having to start all over again when they jump from the Web to the voice channel.

Question: What is involved for companies that wish to implement it, and how much can they expect to pay?

Federman: eStara operates on an ASP model. Our solutions are fully hosted, which allows for immediate operability and ensures best of breed service. It requires as little effort as plugging a few lines of HTML code into your Web site script. We do the rest, including real-time reporting and provisioning of the service through our client portal, which we call WebCare. In addition, our customer service representatives are available to assist you and provide best practices guidelines to maximize results.

The cost of our service really depends on the call volume and Web site traffic of the individual business. Typically there's a start up fee and a monthly licensing fee. We provide service to hundreds of large enterprise customers and — through our online media partners — millions of SME advertisers. For our directory publishers and search engine partners, eStara's technology offers the flexibility to provide "pay per call" and/or subscription-based call volume guarantees to their advertisers.

The ability to smoothly transition customers from a Web session to a voice channel is one of the largest potential benefits of using eStara's click to call service. Conventional phone calls cause a very disruptive gap in the customer experience, because customers are forced to abandon their Web sessions and literally “start all over again” with a call center agent.

Cross-channel data passing ensures a seamless continuity of experience by transferring information about the customer and the context of their online session directly to the call center at the time of call initiation. The call center software can be configured to display this information directly on the agent's desktop screen, or it can use the incoming data values to trigger lookups into the company’s own databases to retrieve related details (Customer records, purchase history, billing information, etc.)

To learn more, contact your eStara customer service representative today!