The appeal of interactive Web service for icontact's clients is that despite the growing popularity of online shopping, millions of people still find the process confusing and frustrating. A survey conducted last summer by Net Effect, a software company recently bought by Ask Jeeves, found that 67 percent of online shoppers never complete their transactions. And less than 6 percent of people who window shop online try to buy something before clicking off. Web site designers have scrambled to improve online customer service, setting up 24-hour live customer support services in special chat rooms and fully automated help features. On the Land's End e-commerce site, which uses a help system designed by Cisco Systems, shoppers who click on a special Help button are given the option of calling a company representative on the telephone or communicating with an assistant through a chat window on the Web site.
Net representatives using icontact systems focus on particular types of shoppers.
Most shoppers, Mr. Christie said, are delighted to learn that live, online help is available. One of the first hurdles, he said, is convincing shoppers that the help they are getting is being provided by a real person and not some kind of artificial intelligence. Shoppers have quizzed Net representatives about everything from the weather to the identity of Monica Lewinsky before they were convinced that the online help was indeed human. Johanne Torres said she had found that most consumers appreciated the unsolicited human touch online. They are very surprised that we can control their browser, that they don't have to do anything.