1. Real-time
communications
Repercussions for your
brand.
Professor Merlin Stone, Head of Research, TCF

2. Contents
• The Internet age demands that B2B brands are ready and able to
engage with customers and prospects at a time to suit them
− That inevitably means almost immediately
• This presentation focuses on the implications of instant gratification
communications on brands and marketers
• How they can provide customers and prospects with what they want
and need
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3. Putting it into perspective
• We have been consulting /benchmarking in customer management for
25+ years
• We’ve seen companies make great progress in customer management
• We’ve seen new arrivals take customer management to new levels
• We’ve seen new information and communication technology make an
immense difference to how customers can be understood and how
customer management can be planned and executed
• We’ve seen customer expectations rise, making it hard for companies
to take credit for their customer management achievements
• But we’ve also seen successful challenges based on very strong and
simple propositions which succeed by allowing customers to find their
way to them and manage themselves
• The change never stops
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4. Trends that CM leaders master
Decade Characteristics of leaders
1980s • Success in grappling with giant databases, using mainframes
• The first giant call centres
• Direct mail dominant
1990s • Multichannel emerges (sales, TAM, contact centre, mail, web/email beginning)
• Channels measured independently
• Customer Value analysis investigated
2000s • Acceleration of process, real time data gathering and use, but still mainly batch insight and
customer management
• True multichannel consistent customer management becomes possible
• Silo’d functions collaborating clumsily
2010s • Low-latency customer management focussing on enterprise-wide real-time update and
use of data
• Social media becomes integrated with real time customer management ‘always on’
marketing
• Matrix organisations re-design of workflows, processes, targets & incentives
• Line of sight metrics help align organisations behind strategies
• Customer engagement more of a focus for leaders and the city
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5. Big B2B trends for 2011-15
• Low-latency customer management becoming a reality
− Immediate customer management – from prospect to after-sales
and relationship development
− Enterprise-wide real-time update and integration of channels, and
analysis/follow-up
• Customer self -service and self-segmentation becoming essential
• Increasing board focus on customer engagement strategies
• Line of sight metrics help align organisations behind strategies
• Social media becomes integrated with real time customer
management – in B2C and B2B
• Matrix organisations forcing re-design of roles, workflows, processes,
targets & incentives, to allow “seamless flow” across them
* © TCF May 2011 World Class Benchmarking Survey of 30 of the World’s best companies
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6. Leaving brochure ware behind
• Too many B2B websites effectively brochure-ware
− Advanced
− Well-organised
− Beautiful
− Comprehensive
− Easily searchable
• But still brochure-ware
• Engagement is becoming much more important, even normal
• N America setting standards for rapid responsiveness
• Hence importance of click to chat/call
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7. An example from Marketpoint
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8. Click to chat planning
• Match presentation rules to business goals
• Aims e.g.
− Increase sales
− Reduce abandonment
− Better service
• With experience and experimentation, identify key variables e.g.
− Time spent on site/page
− Value (customer, order)
− Abandoning (pages, online form)
− Service (history, need)
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9. Click to chat management
• Response time
− Customers should wait no more than a minute for an agent after
accepting chat invitation
− Streamline delivery to agents
− Set up routing rules based on parameters such as line of business,
customer value, language and level of escalation.
• Chat availability
− Constantly review agent workloads, do not deploy C2C during peak
− Plan routing so agents handle no more than three simultaneous
sessions to ensure quality and efficiency
• Agent skills and proficiency - not all suited to C2C
− Agents must be able to respond to customers succinctly and
accurately, which requires specific communication skills.
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10. Cordinating click to chat/call
• Click to Chat is best suited for service and support where interactions
are of low to moderate complexity or sales transactions are of lower
value e.g.
− Routine/repetitive customer enquiries ideal for chat
• As the value of online purchases, or the complexity of customer,
increases, customers prefer to speak with agents on phone
− Strong preference for voice channel for complex, high-value
transactions
− Click to Call more effective
• By combining Click to Chat and Click to Call, gain flexibility to manage
contact throughout sales/service cycle and transition a chat to a phone
session if appropriate
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11. C2C productivity (Marketpoint)
• Proactive chat can increase conversion rates by up to 20% vs. reactive
sales interactions
• Increases productivity of agents by cutting handling time by up to 20%
• Sessions average 6 mins, longer than typical phone call
• Conversion lift about 15% for customers who are having problems
compared with where no chat session
• In customer care, where agents are helping existing customers set up
online accounts, the lift as much as 30%
• Customer response overwhelmingly positive (post-call survey)
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12. Conclusions
• C2C is just one example of the many innovations available to
accelerate customer interactions
• Offer better than classic web heading “I want to”, followed by a list
− i.e. real-time direct engagement
• The ultimate in integrating the web into other channels
• Start point – mystery shop your own company, your competitors,
parallel industries, best of breed
− B2C as well as B2B
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