PhotoBox uses online chat feedback to improve internet sales

Personal publishing and photo printing website PhotoBox has reported significant performance results since implementing a live chat service from RightNow Technologies.

Through the live chat interactions with its customers, PhotoBox discovered that, of those creating photo books, approximately 70% abandoned their creation, unaware they need to have uploaded photos to their PhotoBox account. The retailer now plans to fix the problem by implementing a new feature that enables customers to upload their photos directly from their own computer or from any online storage space.

Phase one of the chat implementation has allowed customers that want assistance with their purchase to activate a chat session with an agent by clicking on a link. A second, later phase, will proactively trigger a chat session if a customer appears to have been on a particular page for a period of time. PhotoBox also plans to survey customers after their chat engagement in order to continuously measure and improve this customer service channel.

Follwing the initial deployment in the UK, PhotoBox will also be rolling out the service across sites in France, Germany, Italy and Spain over the next few months.

PhotoBox already uses RightNow on its website to offer customers answers to their questions via its self-learning knowledge foundation. The system is also linked into agents who are able to answer queries and log customer details in order to give consistent responses and gather a clear contact history record for each customer contacting via phone or email.

“We deployed chat to help support customers in real-time when they have questions about products or purchases on our website, the aim is to remove any concerns that may prevent a purchase,” explains Renaud Besnard, director of UK operations at PhotoBox. “What we found is that the chat facility certainly does do that, but it has also given us tangible feedback about things that we can improve to enhance the overall customer experience and their relationship with us.”

“PhotoBox prides itself on being a personal, responsive and friendly brand, so great emphasis is placed on providing superb customer service — our latest RightNow deployment is integral to that provision,” he adds. “It is helping us take immediate action where necessary while effectively supporting customers so that they can enjoy the experience of creating unique and personal mementos.”