Self-service migration

A new initiative by Cincinnati Bell is aimed at migrating customers from call center contacts to online self-service. In addition to providing quick and convenient responses, the online self-service center is expected to cut customer service costs and to increase online sales. Customers can use the Web site to order new products and services or, for example, to learn how many rate plan minutes they've used.

The marketing and support staff at Cincinnati Bell will use WebSideStory HBX analytics service to measure the success of the self-service program, as well as to improve its outcome and to chart the effectiveness of various banner ads and e-mail campaigns promoting it.

"This new strategy is all about improving the customer experience--making it easier and quicker for customers to get the answers and services they need," said Cori Rothenbach, VP of e-business for Cincinnati Bell, which has more than 600,000 subscribers. "At the same time, we expect to see savings in customer support costs, as well as an uptick in the sales of new products and services. WebSideStory will be an integral part of this new initiative, helping us to make improvements that are in alignment with our business transformation plan."

Says Rand Schulman, chief marketing officer for WebSideStory, "Every customer issue that can be resolved online instead of off can result in dramatic savings." HBX is an on-demand analysis and reporting service that delivers data about online visitor and customer behavior.