Ann All spoke with John Federman, CEO of eStara, a provider of proactive conversion solutions for enhancing online sales and support initiatives.

All: There is growing interest in using both click to call and click to chat technologies. How can companies determine which technologies are most appropriate?
Federman: Prior to investing in either a Click to Call or Click to Chat solution, it’s important to ask a few questions: Is the goal to increase overall sales? Reduce shopping cart abandonment? Increase customer service for premium customers? Handle routine customer service inquiries? Considering these questions, you can see that a company might want to deploy either technology at various points throughout the transaction process.

Because of this, it’s important to target consumers with the right contact at the right time. Not every interaction is going to merit one-on-one interaction. This is why most companies would prefer not to have every customer inquiry result in a phone call or chat, and invest heavily in providing self-service tools like FAQs and knowledgebase systems.  However, in those instances where customer contact is desired or required, finding the right escalation path is key. Some scenarios may be better suited for Click to Chat, while others are better served by Click to Call. What we’ve found through working with Fortune 500 clients, is that as the level of complexity and transaction value increase, customers are much more likely to complete a transaction over the phone.

All: Can you clarify the particular strengths and/or best use cases for click to call and click to chat?
Federman: Both Click to Call and Click to Chat allow companies to engage customers proactively using Web analytics to target customers with an invitation to chat or call a sales agent. Plus, the context of the online user's session data can be sent to the contact center agent once contact is initiated using either technology, so both technologies have the ability to create a seamless cross-channel experience.

Click to Chat is great because it offers agents the ability to handle multiple sessions at once. On the other hand, analyst data shows that, realistically, the average call center agent cannot handle more than two simultaneous chats without having to resort to using canned responses for many of the customer’s questions. As a result, the average chat session is twice as long as a phone call.

Click to Call gives customers access to a dedicated representative. Because the session data is shared as they transition from the Web to the phone, the consumer does not have to start all over from scratch or sit through an IVR. They are connected immediately to a customer service representative from the right department, and the agent has insight into what prompted the shopper to place a call, thus lowering call handle times.

Due to these shared strengths and key differences, we recommend using Click to Chat for service and Click to Call for sales. For example, several online retailers are targeting site visitors during the online process with chat for answering simple questions or directing consumers to self-service tools, and escalating prospective buyers to the phone to handle more complex transactions, such as high-end appliances or electronics, to close sales.

All: Do they offer similar ROI models?
Federman: Due to the fact that they provide companies the ability to engage customers proactively, both Click to Call and Click to Chat have demonstrated value when it comes to lifting sales, reducing Web site abandonment and improving customer loyalty for some of the world’s most recognizable brands. A Fortune 100 company offering online access to its credit card, financial and travel services conducted an A/B test looking at conversion rates using eStara’s Click to Call and Click to Chat vs. a control group where neither option was offered. They found a 62.2 percent sales lift using Click to Call and Click to Chat over traditional methods. Of those that were offered both Click to Call and Click to Chat, twice as many people converted using Click to Call than Click to Chat.

What this example shows is that there is a subset of consumers that are happy to transact via chat, but a greater number of consumers still prefer the phone when it comes to completing sales.

All: Can you offer any real-world examples of companies using these technologies?
Federman: Companies ranging from Allstate and American Express to Best Buy and Jenny Craig have leveraged these technologies in recent years to bridge the gap between their online and offline channels. On average, sales conversions are double those of regular inbound contacts and Web site abandonment is reduced anywhere from 25 to 35 percent. We’ve also seen tremendous impact when it comes to improving contact center efficiency, and creating valuable up-sell and cross-sell opportunities.
The leading online retailer in the world saw a reduction in average call handle times of 70 seconds per call using Click to Call because its call center agents were able to leverage the data transferred from customers’ online sessions to ensure a continuity of experience when a phone call was made. Meanwhile, a leading PC manufacturer’s small business unit conducted an A/B split test and found that Click to Call conversions yielded nearly 30 percent more revenue per call than standard inbound calls.

All: I saw a recent article that stressed the importance of making sure that the agents using click to chat are quick/accurate typists, an areas that I imagine is easy to overlook. Are there any other challenges that companies should be aware of — for both click to chat and click to call?
Federman: You mention an important point when it comes to comparing Click to Call and Click to Chat solutions, and that is the fact that chat requires a different skills set on the part of the contact center agent. Enterprise-level chat products, like eStara’s, have a number of features, the most basic being spell check and canned responses, to minimize typos — but like any new software it requires agent training.

Click to Chat also requires that each agent using it have software installed on their desktop, while Click to Call requires no additional hardware or software installation. This makes Click to Call much easier to scale across an organization, since calls are handled like any other inbound phone call and are delivered to the existing telephony and CRM infrastructure.