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BUSINESS BASICS CHANNELS 
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Help
Your Customers Online, Selling products on the Web is a lot like trying to sell at a trade show. You pay an exhibitors' fee or set up a website and get ready for visitors. The big companies can go with the deluxe treatment, custom designs and fancy suites. Small businesses often build their own. The big companies can pay for placement in prime areas and the smaller businesses might find themselves in an out-of-the-way location. The Web is a trade show with a difference. Some of the big guys have installed fancy sites with great graphics but have not realized that the Web is more than an expensive brochure or magazine ad. They do not expect ads to sell to their customers, so they are not prepared to sell on their sites. They refer customers to middlemen or tell them to call a salesperson. Worse, they offer to answer questions by email and do not reply quickly or at all. Can you imagine what it would be like to walk down an aisle of the trade show where most of the booths have information, but no one to answer questions? Say that your business needs a supply of GO Widgets. Imagine encountering a big, fancy booth with a power point presentation about their many widgets flashing on a screen. There are racks of glossy, professionally designed brochures about the company sitting on the table but no information about the product. No one is staffing the booth. Instead, there's a sign saying that if you leave a business card someone will get in contact with you. That is like finding a website with a great Flash intro and detailed information about the company but no way to buy online. You pick up a brochure, drop a business card in a box and continue. Just beyond that booth, there's a smaller one. It's not fancy. There are a couple of products on the table, some brochures and a couple of friendly people standing there. This booth has GO Widgets on display. You stop and talk to them. They are able to answer your questions about their GO Widgets and tell you that the Widgets are in stock. Further, they are ready to write up your order and ship tomorrow. If you are in a hurry for those Widgets and the price seems okay, you will be likely to place a small order to try them out. If they take good care of you, they'll win your business. Do your customers leave your site before buying anything? You are not alone. Estimates of people leaving a site with goods still in their "shopping cart" range from 25%, reported by Forrester Research and Anderson Consulting, to 75% reported by BizRate. There are a lot of reasons why shoppers drop their carts. Sometimes they are just "window shopping", other times they get shocked by the total bill. Still others get frustrated trying to find what they need or in getting questions answered. In other cases, your merchant account processing may be busy or otherwise unable to process the transaction "real time." How to keep the serious shoppers from leaving? Give them onsite help. Interactive chat is the best bet for small business owners to provide online help. It can let you watch as visitors spend time on your pages. This feature is called customer tracking. There are a number of other technologies that provide voice options, customer tracking on the site, PC to phone, web to phone and FAQs between your customer service department and your customers. Even if you are a one-person shop, you can use an audio alert to let you know if a customer is online and wants to talk to you. That means your customers may have had all of their questions answered before your bigger, less nimble competitor has shipped them a brochure. According to Jupiter Communications, if the product you are selling is inexpensive, only 8% of shoppers would want sales help. If the product costs over $100, one in three shoppers want online help. Is this big business? Very. Nearly 5 million online shoppers asked for help in the past year, according to Forrester Research. Help works. Lands End catalog sells product to 44% of their site visitors and they credit their online help for completing many of those sales. Want to give online chat a try? Until 1/1/2001, you can get Human Click Pro, from LivePerson, free. As a bonus, they offer their application in 11 different languages. They will start charging a fee at that point, but some of our subscribers may want to see if it can boost their online business. Check them out at www.humanclick.com. Here are the keys to serving your customers well: 1. Find people who want to buy what you are selling and let them know what you can do for them. 2. Build a relationship with your customers. 3. Make it easy for them to buy from you online. Take care of them while they are online. Land's End example.Is it necessary? No. And, depending on what you are selling, it may not even be advisable. Is it expensive? Right now Human Click is running a free trial of Human Click Pro that expires in January 2001. HumanClick
1. Audience acquisition, i.e., finding enough of the right folks who will consider buying what you're selling. 2. Relationship building, i.e., getting closer and closer to your audience in a way that ultimately results in sales. 3. E-commerce, a.k.a. taking customers' money and processing their orders. 4. E-care - supporting your customers online. I know that eCRM is much more than the latest in-thing. At Circle.com we spend endless hours of meeting time, programmer research, and email exchanges debating, analyzing, and implementing eCRM approaches on behalf of our clients. It's a matter of continual refinement and improvement. There's no way it can be communicated on the back of an airplane, like a rock band or new swizzle drink. Now I'm getting revved up. "A growing number of companies are becoming adept at the first three tasks that Paul describes. Unfortunately, most of them stop after the third step. Where many of them get hung up is on the fourth item - customer care - and integrating that with the first three items. The first experience I describe is with iUniverse.com, supposedly on the vanguard of the online publishing revolution. It promises to provide instant, professional book publishing and distribution for authors and publishers. No more publisher rejections or long waits for printing if you do get a publishing contract. All this for a mere $99. I decided to give iUniverse a try when my book was ready for publication late last spring. Pay your money, and you'll see page proofs in two to three weeks and your book will be ready for purchase in 30 days, the account rep told me. iUniverse has done a great job executing on the first three steps I described earlier. It's obtained great publicity and forged alliances with various reputable writers' organizations, including one I belong to, the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA). It sends out an exciting newsletter about the wonderful success of various authors using its services. And it took my money very easily. As for "e-care," though, well, that's another matter. Three weeks after sending in my manuscript and money, there was no word from iUniverse, and my calls weren't being returned. I located an iUniverse executive and began sending concerned emails. She responded, offering to get involved, and within a few days, I saw my page proofs online. I okayed them immediately, and then everything stopped again. By mid-June, my book was listed on iUniverse - with a dead link if anyone decided to place an order. The friendly bump-smoothing executive stopped responding to my emails. The promised 30-day turnaround has extended into nearly 60 days. I located another iUniverse executive, who consulted with the original account executive, and explained that my book had only been in the iUniverse system for three weeks. When I explained that there were nearly four weeks of dead time at the beginning, things seemed to get rolling again. By the end of June, my book was finally posted on iUniverse. But in the context of eCRM, I tell my wife, my experience didn't follow the script. The customer being challenged by the supplier and having to justify himself and harass the supplier to provide the promised services isn't what that airplane banner was referring to. Now, if you want to know about how eCRM is supposed to work, I explain, consider my experience with the king of e-commerce, Amazon.com. It started at about the same time as my experience with iUniverse. Amazon has a special program known as Publishers Advantage, through which it invites small publishers to submit books for promotion on its site; these small publishers receive the same treatment as major publishers - a full graphic of the book cover, 24-hour turnaround for orders, etc. Yeah, fat chance, I thought, as I filled in the application for inclusion in the program. I was promised an answer in two to three weeks, at which time I was supposed to receive my first order. To make a long story short, not only did Amazon.com respond two-and-a-half weeks later and enter an order via email, but everything else Amazon promised came to pass. My book's cover, together with descriptive material and reviews, were all posted when promised, and the book was available with 24-hour turnaround. Moreover, follow-up orders are now coming fast and furious. I can monitor the status of all Amazon's orders to my firm right online, through a special password-accessible system Amazon sets up for small publishers. You want a story with a happy ending? This is eCRM the way it should be, I conclude. I could go on and on, I explain - various companies in the supply chain for publishers, some of which do what they say they're going to do online and others that totally drop the ball. But you've heard enough, I tell Jean. Let's just relax in our beach chairs and hope that no more eCRM banners come flying by. HumanClick Version 2.1 Launched! HumanClick is proud to announce the launch of version 2.1, which features the new 'Email Signature'-the feature that will let you add HumanClick's 'Click to Chat' button into your email messages. To use the 'Email Signature', as well as the new 'Profiles' feature, which lets you operate multiple HumanClick accounts (HC numbers) simultaneously and the new 'Tip of the Day' feature, simply download now. New Features in HumanClick version 2.1 Email Signature - Add 'Click to Chat' functionality to your email messages Profiles - Run multiple HumanClick accounts (HC numbers) simultaneously from the same computer Tip of the Day - Useful tips to improve your business thru HumanClick What is the new 'Email Signature' feature? The Email Signature lets you add HumanClick's 'Click to Chat' button into the signature of your email. With this feature, instead of signing off, "Sincerely, Customer Service", you can now add the functionality of HumanClick to your emails. This will let recipients of your emails click and chat with you live, turning your email into an interactive customer service tool. Below please find an installation guide. At the end of this document, you will find tips for each email software that can help solve the most common problems that may occur during installation of the 'Email Signatures'. Please note that the 'Email Signature' does not work with the AOL, Netscape and Yahoo email software because they do not support the 'Email Signature' tag. How to install the 'Email Signature'? 1.
Click on the 'Email Signature' option from the 'Tools' drop-down
menu from your HumanClick Web Operator's Window (WOW). 2.
DIALOG BOX 2: SELECT YOUR EMAIL SOFTWARE Select the correct option
that corresponds to the email software you use. For Outlook 2000
and Outlook Express 5.0, select the first option. For all other
email software programs, select the second option. 3.
DIALOG BOX 3: SELECT THE BUTTON SOURCE Select which 'Click to Chat'
(Status Icons) button format you will use for your 'Email Signature'.
For buttons taken from the HumanClick Button Gallery, select the
first option. For your own Customized Buttons, select the second
option. To learn more about customizing your own buttons, click
on 'Information'. 4. DIALOG BOX 3: SELECT IMAGES FROM THE HUMANCLICK BUTTON GALLERY If you are using HumanClick Buttons, select the 'Language', 'Main Category' and 'Sub Category'. You can select the same buttons for the 'Email Signature' as you used for your site, or you can select the specially-designed Email Signature Buttons which can be found under the Main Category 'Signature' and Sub Category '1' and '2' . To browse the 'Button Gallery', click on 'View Images and Buttons…'. OR USE YOUR OWN BUTTONS If you are using your own Customized Buttons, type in the name of the folder containing these images. This folder must be placed on the Internet and must begin with http://. If you are using the same images embedded as buttons on your site, then use the same folder. However, if you have designed different buttons for your 'Email Signature', then they will have to be stored in a different folder. Enter the dimensions from your "reponline.gif" in pixels. Click on 'Test' before proceeding. If you receive an error, check to make sure that you entered the correct URL for your folder. 5. DIALOG Box 4: TO ADD TEXT To add text, enter it in the box. Then select if you would like the text to appear on the 'Left Side' or the 'Right Side' of the button, and whether you would like the text aligned to the 'Left', 'Center' or 'Right'. 6. DIALOG Box 5: SIGNATURE FILE IF YOU ARE USING OUTLOOK 2000 / OUTLOOK EXPRESS 5.0: Enter the name of the file. HumanClick will be the default name of the file. Place a check in the box if you want to make the HumanClick Button your default 'Email Signature'. Please close Outlook 2000 / Outlook Express 5.0 before proceeding to the next step. IF YOU ARE USING ANOTHER EMAIL SOFTWARE: Enter the file name for your 'Email Signature'. 7. DIALOG 6: MAIL SIGNATURE Your 'Email Signature' file has been created. Click on the 'Edit Signature' button to edit your 'Email Signature' in your designated editor software. 'Email Signature' Tips by Email Software Outlook
Express 5.0 After concluding the Installation process, enter Outlook Express 5.0 and select 'Tools' > 'Options' > 'Send' and make sure that 'HTML' is selected as the Mail Sending Format. Outlook 2000 After concluding the Installation process, enter Outlook 2000 and select 'Tools' > 'Options' > 'Mail Format' and make sure that 'HTML' is selected as the Message Format and that the 'Use Microsoft Word to edit e-mail messages' is disabled. You can easlily modify your HumanClick email signature with Outlook 2000. Select 'Tools' > 'Options' > 'Mail Format' > 'Signature Picker' > 'Edit' . Eudora Pro To
add the 'Email Signature' to an email, find the name you gave the
signature file in the drop down list of available signatures. To
make it a permanent signature in your Dominant personality (or any
other personality), right click on Hotmail After concluding the Installation process, enter Hotmail and select 'Options' > 'Signature'. There, you will want to paste the code for your 'Email Signature'. By default, the code will be stored at C:\Program Files\HumanClick\HumanClick.htm. There, copy the source code by selecting 'View' > 'Source', and then paste it into the box and click 'OK'. When composing an email message, click 'Rich Text Format' and then 'Add Signature' to add the 'Email Signature' to your message. AOL / Netscape / Yahoo The 'Email Signature' does not work with the AOL, Yahoo and Netscape email programs. AOL does not support the HTML format used by the 'Email Signature', and Netscape and Yahoo do not support the 'Email Signature' tag. What is the new 'Profiles' feature? 'Profiles' is the HumanClick feature which lets you use more than one HumanClick account (HC number) simultaneously from the same computer. For example, some web sites use one HumanClick account for pre-sales customer service and a second for post-sales product support. Others provide customer support for multiple sites. With the new 'Email Signature' feature, many HumanClick customers have added a HumanClick account for their personalized signatures as well. How to install 'Profiles'? To add another HumanClick account (HC number) to your computer: 1. Go to your Web Operator Window (WOW) and select File > Profiles. 2. Click on the new 'Profiles' button. 3. In the Registration Desk Dialog Box, select either First Operator Registration or Additional Operator Registration depending if you are the First or an Additional Operator for this HumanClick account (HC number), and click Next. 4. From here, follow the Instructions for First Operator Registration or Additional Operator Registration. ABC's CRM Toolbox HumanClick, Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of LivePerson, is the leading customer service application over the Internet for the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) market, facilitating Live, 24/7 Interactive Sales and Customer Support. The HumanClick service permits web site visitors to get immediate, real-time on-demand help and enables web site owners to track and communicate with visitors to their site. HumanClick, an Application Service Provider (ASP), enables its clients to increase sales, improve customer service and reduce costs in 11 different languages in over 60 countries all over the world. HumanClick was founded in 1999 and funded by a consortium of private investors and a leading venture capital group. The company is based in Israel's high-tech hub with US operations centered in the San Francisco Bay Area. -Cynthia Nemeth-Johannes |
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