To make a customer service, support, sales, or billing and collections solution truly work, in delivering the sought-after benefits of increasing customer retention and revenues requires the underlying technology and the people delivering it to be in sync.

 

That’s what Sykes Enterprises has done with its ePersonal Banker solution, which it rolled out in near the end of 2008, and for the above reasons is starting to gain marketplace attention. Several financial services companies have already deployed the application, and several others are evaluating it in pilot programs.

 

ePersonal Banker is a proactive Web chat application that integrates technology from LivePerson (News - Alert) with Sykes Enterprises’ well-trained contact center agents. It enables the agents to easily identify and reach out to those visitors on clients’ websites who need assistance and helps them meet their needs.

 

When a visitor lingers over a page longer than usual the solution triggers an alert to a Sykes (News - Alert) Enterprises agent who launches an instant message ‘can I help you?’ application to them. This is very similar to a retail salesperson observing a customer who comes into the store then stops to look at a specific item, which prompts them to walk over and inquire how can they be of assistance?

 

With this proactive approach ePersonal Banker helps customers easily navigate sometimes complex online banking tasks. These include signing up for bill-pay, applying for credit line increases, and performing balance transfers.

 

In return ePersonal Banker yields higher conversion rates and revenues from customers who might otherwise abandon their transactions out of frustration. The ease of use and high service quality may attract more use, business, and customers. It also reduces costs by minimizing unpredictable, and more expensive inbound calls and visits to branches to handle the same transactions and issues. Lowering branch traffic pays a green dividend by cutting down on greenhouse gases and other harmful pollutants emitted by customers’ motor vehicles.

 

“The ePersonal Banker vertical-customized outsourced solution makes proactive chat much more affordable, effective, and quicker-to-realize positive results than similar in-house applications,” explains Mike Clarkin, Sykes Enterprises’ Vice President, Marketing. “This comes from the economies of scale through our integration of the core technology into the service and that we have agents already trained on and who have mastered the application.”

 

Prior to ePersonal banker, banks often had their own in-house, reactive chat tools that were triggered by ‘Click Here to Speak With an Agent’ buttons on their sites, reports Clarkin. Unfortunately this approach suffers from multiple deficiencies including depending on the customers taking the initiative to start the conversations.  No assistance can be provided if they do not see the buttons, or if they just do not bother to ask for help.  They would often then simply abandon the transactions.

 

Also, customers would sometimes face long waits: clicking to chat at a moment when no agent is available, or busy with other chats, and many would just give up, and go away also frustrated with the service experience of the bank as well. In addition customers could pose questions at any time in their web sessions, whether the agents are well prepared to answer it or not.  

 

“Reactive solutions do not provide the bank with the ability to filter questions,” explains Clarkin. “Thus, the agent cannot be designed to support questions or problems of a specific kind, but must instead be treated as generalists.”

 

ePersonal Banker, on the other hand, is a proactive service that allows agents to approach customers who have already exhibited behavior that lets them know they are in a situation where a chat would be helpful. Like the observant retail salesperson mentioned earlier.

 

Banks can segment the customer situations and problems that they most importantly wants to address, such as new account applications or online banking logins, and provide trained and skilled staff that are excellent at addressing these needs.  This leads to a more customized solution that allows banks to target specific users based on their needs. In addition, agent response is immediate, as customers are only invited to chat when an agent is available; reactive solutions often leave customers staring at a blinking cursor as they wait for an agent to arrive.

 

“The net experiences with ePersonal Banker for the customers are far superior to self service or calling the call centers,” says Sykes Enterprises’ Clarkin. “Their online experiences are enhanced without any effort on their part, and the experience is typically a positive surprise that elicits top responses in customer satisfaction.”