MM: Bob, would you explain how innovative companies today use technology to manage online customer experience?

BK: Absolutely. Today companies find more and more of their customer interactions on-line. Whether B2C or B2B, most of us see a great opportunity to attract, serve and interact with online customers in a brand consistent and cost-effective way.

The biggest challenge companies face in these on-line interactions is ensuring satisfaction, answering the question such as “Did the visitor find your site and the appropriate page in your site using the search terms or affiliates desired?” Once on your site did visitors successfully “convert”? This might be a sale, a self-service activity, conducting research, or any number of varied interactions.

For years companies have been buying technology and creating process around Customer Relationship Management (CRM).

A lot of in the industry talk about Customer Experience Management (CEM) as the next generation of that same practice. However, I disagree; CEM entails a completely new practice.

To me, CRM focuses on internal issues: How do we as a company collect and leverage customer information to our benefit? CRM provides great insight into customer behavior, marketing effectiveness, buyer demographics, etc., allowing our company to better tailor our products, services and go-to-market strategies—all good and valuable.

By contrast, CEM focused on external issues and opportunities. With CEM technology and processes your company takes the customer’s perspective of your products, services, people, partners, etc. CEM in the on-line world emphasizes how customers choose to interact with your company and whether or now you successfully served the customer—a very different set of issues than CRM.

In my previous position, I worked for Tealeaf in providing a software solution for CEM. We exploited the insight supported by Forrester Research data indicating that 91% of executives’ surveyed view CEM as very important and even critical to success in 2008 and beyond.

We gave companies a means to replay web visitor interactions, enabling web property managers to rapidly resolve on-line issues and assess behaviors that will help them improve their on-line environments. Having the ability to watch every customer on your site provides unique insight otherwise not available.

MM: Can you give me a specific example?

BK: Sure. Let’s say you run the new credit card customer department in a bank. You develop web pages optimized to attract on-line shoppers for a new credit card and the subsequent pages to capture these visitor’s applications and to provide approvals. Part of the site logic might be an up-sell procedure after the visitor has provided income feedback.

During development the designers instituted logic that would offer someone with a six-figure income a platinum card if it weren’t their original selection. While the code for this application was tested prior to launch the designers never considered an applicant for a base line card would have the income to qualify for this platinum offering.

After the site launches you begin to get multiple calls to your call center from customers unable to complete the application process. By replaying these callers’ sessions you quickly see the up-grade offer is not executing properly and with a view of all visitors who failed to complete this process you find many more visitors than the few who call the call center.

This example is in line with a recent Harris Interactive poll that found 9-out-of-10 web users have experienced problems. Of these, 41% immediately abandon the site where they had the problem. Of those remaining only 47% will contact the company to report their problem and close to half of these will not get resolution.

MM: So from a baseline of 100%, we’re down into the low 20s or high teens.

BK: That’s sounds right! But companies using Tealeaf have an opportunity to improve their understanding of these problems and the scope beyond what might be only a few calls to customer service. In many cases this insight has saved companies millions of dollars and has provided an opportunity to re-engage otherwise dissatisfied customers.

MM: For the most part, Bob, most companies that are not taking a second-by-second movie of a session … these companies have no idea why somebody took off.

BK: That’s right! Without this insight several things happen. Customers who do contact the company are asked to help diagnose the problem. Often the customer’s feedback is not sufficient to help the company find a specific issue. Hundreds of man-hours can be spent trying to recreate a problem. And even when found and resolved the scope of the impact and those visitors affected can’t be determined.