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    Web Engagement Platform Helps SMBs Deliver Top-Notch Online Customer Service

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    Customer service is something that many small to midsize businesses (SMBs) pride themselves on. And certainly, when your business is smaller, most employees can take the time to give personal attention on site or on the phone. But what about customers who engage your business online? Does your website leave them feeling cold and waiting for a response?

    One way to create a more welcoming online experience for your guests is via web engagement software. Recently, vCita, a leader in this industry for SMBs, launched its LiveSite digital concierge service. Using this platform, any SMB website can become an interactive site where customers can find information, make appointments and send messages. According to vCita’s press release, the service remembers customers and provides a personalized experience upon return:

    And unlike other web engagement options, clients returning to a LiveSite website are automatically recognized and greeted by a personalized, self-service portal, where they can view past communications, appointments and invoices, directly contact the representative they’ve worked with in the past, schedule a follow-up call or service, upload documents and make a payment.

    The LiveSite Web Engagement Platform provides the following features:

    • Client portal
    • Mobile-ready site
    • Online scheduling software
    • Invoicing and online payment options
    • File sharing
    • Business Dashboard
    • Client management and business operations for the business team

    LiveSite runs on top of the vCita web engagement platform and currently is being used by more than 100,000 SMBs globally. The company offers packages to fit many sized businesses and can grow with the company.

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    Several vCita customers who now use the platform responded via email about their use of the product. Brian Zang, VP of sales and marketing for ShopKeep POS, a successful SMB point-of-sale system provider, says the company has booked nearly 2,000 appointments using the vCita platform. Zang adds:

    It’s saved our reps a ton of time in outbound calling to customers who need our support. vCita enables ShopKeep to focus on its mandate: Creating technology and services that help local businesses compete with big corporations and win. 

    MamaRed (Jerilynne) Knight is the CEO and owner of her own business automation consultancy. Knight found the vCita platform to be “simple to integrate. Very intuitive.” She adds that it “literally took me minutes to install.” Knight says she’s very satisfied with the web engagement tool and it has saved her a lot of time:

    [It] Eliminated the telephone volley in scheduling appointments. It used to take more time to set the appointment than the appointment itself. Now it’s easy, fast and tailored to the client. The entire process is automated saving me considerable time and energy.

    Knight is the owner and began as a “solopreneur.” But she says that her business has grown since she began using vCita. In comparison, ShopKeep uses the platform for a company with more than 120 employees scattered among three office sites. Clarence Williams, CEO of Easy Way Ordering, says that his company employs 35 people, and they’ve been using vCita since day one. Williams adds:

    It was part of our site originally so it would have been a negative not to have it. We didn’t have to create a communication tool so it saved us time going to market. We are more efficient as customers can connect with us while online, viewing our website. Clients are steered towards a call to action rather than just sending an inquiry for general information. Tech support, sales or a demo are the options and it helps navigate them to engage and to move more swiftly through the sales process.

    People typically want general information when a contact form is used and you never hear from them again. With vCita, we get a more serious engagement.  Fifty percent of our inquiries come through vCita and of that, 50 percent are international.

    Williams believes that as a company that does business online, it’s integral to have that functionality 24/7. Web transactions are often global, so good customer service any time of the day is important:

    We’re an online ordering company and our business is all about being online and transacting business online. So using an online communications channel only makes sense. It reflects our mission of efficiency. vCita provides the ability to have the conversation without the phone call.

    Kim Mays has been editing and writing about IT since 1999. She currently tackles the topics of small to midsize business technology and introducing new tools for IT. Follow Kim on Google+ at google.com/+KimberlyMays6 or Twitter @blumoonky.

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