Eddie Bauer launches online customer service
Specialty retailer Eddie Bauer has introduced “Ask Eddie” an online customer service program based on Servicesoft’s eCenter solution.
The new feature at eddiebauer.com offers online holiday shoppers around-the-clock, Web-based customer service. Using Ask Eddie, customers can research information on their own, request and receive e-mail information promptly, or chat live with a customer satisfaction associate.
According to a survey commissioned by Servicesoft, 87% of online shoppers who spent $2,000 or more on the Web in the past six months will abandon a merchant’s Web site and click to a competitor’s if they experience bad customer service. The study also revealed that good online customer service increases customer loyalty. For example, 79% of big Net spenders claim to have increased their spending on a Web site when the customer service experience is favorable.
"When building our Web strategy, it was important that our long-standing commitment to customer service remain front and center,” said Mark Staudinger, VP of interactive media at Eddie Bauer.
If customers are unable to find an answer to their question in the eCenter database, they can write Eddie Bauer directly. Servicesoft’s technology allows Eddie Bauer to manage and monitor inbound e-mail and respond within twenty-four hours.
Finally, a third component of Ask Eddie, provides a human element for the online customer, LiveContact offers live interaction in the form of a chat session. "We felt it was important to let customers determine how they wanted to contact us," Staudinger said. "Our goal was to provide our customers with an array of options but let the choice be theirs."
Calling Eddie Bauer a great high profile account, Jeff Whitney, Servicesoft’s VP of marketing said, “This demonstrates the concept that the best way to support on-line customers is with e-mail or chat or live collaboration. But people want self service as a first choice, then option for escalation.”
Self service Web help is made practical by the fact that 50% of customer inquiries can be answered by the same 20% of a store of information. This allows a Web site to answer customer queries before they escalate to an e-mail exchange or a live agent.
“It reduces the strain on agents to handle e-mails,” said Whitney. “It allows agents to focus on tough issues--like shopping carts overflowing with orders.”
Whitney said that the most popular responses can be authored in about four to six weeks. “These address about 50% of inquiries and while (users) continue to author additional knowledge,” he said.
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