Customer Service

America leads the world in telephone customer service, but we pay a high price for it. Since the beginning of the database marketing revolution, every company provides a toll-free number for customers to call with any kind of question. Operators sitting at PCs or terminals linked to the customer database and to company data and archives receive these calls through an electronic call director. As customers ask questions, the operators key in commands on their keyboards and read the answers off their screens to the waiting customers. They also note in the customer database that the customer has called, and what the customer called about.

All this expensive service is changing as a result of the Web. Customers are being given access through the Web to the same information that the customer service reps are seeing on their screens. They are able to enter the same commands and get the same information without ever being put on hold. They can search for the status of their shipment, for the price and description of obscure needed parts and supplies, for the text of previously published articles and white papers. They can see and print maps, product descriptions, specifications, illustrations, and prices. This service builds customer loyalty and saves the company millions of dollars.