March 2010 – Cover Story: The Offline/Online Disconnect

Harmonizing Your Online Brand With In-Store Customer Expectations

By Geoff Galat

If you conduct an online search query for “offline/online disconnect,” you’re likely to see an amalgam of results with no clear definition as to what this term really implies. Yet despite a lack of definition–or arguably, even general awareness–the offline/online disconnect is very much a reality–and an inevitable challenge for any company that operates in the online channel.

The Offline/Online Disconnect, Defined
So what is the offline/online disconnect, exactly? Distilled to its essence, the offline/online disconnect refers to disparities in customer service and experience across the various sales channels, primarily in-store and online. While improving customer service in the online channel presents companies with a cosmic opportunity to boost revenue and overall brand image, many companies simply aren’t up to par when it comes to their customers’ expectations and online experiences. And the proof is in the data.

In a recent survey conducted by Harris Interactive and commissioned by Tealeaf, we found that the percentage of consumers experiencing online transaction problems remains remarkably high at 80 percent. And the potential online shopping dollars impacted by transaction problems rings up at an eye-popping $47.6 billion! Further affirmation comes from recent Forrester Research data, which demonstrates that the majority of companies are still in the nascent stages of customer experience management, with far too many customers abandoning virtual shopping carts because of experiencing glitches and other usability issues online.

With customers across the online spectrum encountering barriers at the virtual checkout, it’s safe to say that brands with an e-commerce channel have a huge challenge ahead of them as they begin to match their online customer experience with in-store shopping. Compounding the offline/online disconnect is the fact that many successful companies may not even know that their online brand is being tarnished when customers’ experiences are derailed, one after the other, by an online glitch or website transaction problem.

Let’s use the example of Quicken Loans, the nation’s largest web retail mortgage lender and fifth largest retail lender. They were unaware of a major glitch in their site: a barrier was blocking one of Quicken Loans’ predominant online revenue generators being used by customers. Despite call center complaints and customer abandonment and frustration, the company simply did not have the visibility it needed to visualize and identify–and subsequently resolve–the online issue.

Quicken Loans leveraged customer experience management software to evaluate its online channel, and soon the company was able to make the small changes in the text on the online mortgage calculation tool necessary for fixing the online glitch. With online visibility finally realized, Quicken Loans increased the pull-through of the mortgage applications by nearly eight percent, which translated into more than half a million dollars in lost revenue recovered. By embracing a higher level of online visibility and tackling the issues at hand, Quicken Loans improved customer satisfaction, via the online channel, exponentially.

From airlines to Fortune 500s and every retailer in between, the proverbial virtual shopping cart needs a major makeover–and soon. With the amount of tools and services available to help companies optimize their online channel and resulting customer experience, every company under the sun is capable of closing the costly gap between their offline level of customer service and their online customer experience.

The Call Center Catalyst and Social Echo Chamber
Further exacerbating the offline/ online disconnect is the call center, as it can often function as a catalyst for online customer disapproval, as well as negative customer sentiment and experiences. Simply put, much of this “disconnect” lies in the fact that call center agents are simply uninformed about the website and so are not armed with the information they need to assist the customer.

This can be solved in part by properly training and educating employees about the website, how it works and the potential problems customers might have. Having this knowledge of the online channel is vital, but it still leaves call center agents blind to the actual experience a customer has had.

An even better solution is to provide agents with complete, real-time visibility into what a customer actually saw and did on the site–giving them the ability to replay a customer’s session while they are speaking to them on the phone or before replying by e-mail.

Today’s challenging economy has also impacted how consumers think about goods and services–every dollar counts. That, coupled with the exhaustive amount of data available on the social web, has prompted consumers to share their experiences on Twitter, Facebook and other social channels, often about sub-par online shopping incidents. The number of adults who share their experiences regarding plane-ticket bookings and other online purchases gone awry via blogs or social networks has more than doubled over the past year. These shared experiences, from a bad call center experience with an agent to a website transaction issue, can be highly influential. Online glitches can have profound effects on the “word-of-mouth” created via technology and new media.

Fostering Your Offline and Online Brand– Smarter and in Tandem
Despite the challenges ahead for online brands when it comes to customer experience and satisfaction, all hope is not lost, and there is a silver lining to the offline/online disconnect. Our survey found that online customer experience reached an inflection point in 2009. The percentage of consumers who have experienced problems when conducting transactions online showed its first substantial decrease in five years–from approximately 87 percent in all previous Tealeaf surveys to 80 percent in 2009. This improvement points to a growing business focus on delivering better customer experiences as we make our way through 2010.

Analysts and researchers alike are in agreement that more business is being conducted via the online channel than ever before. Companies embracing this new level of visibility are able to radically improve customer experience, brand affinity and agent productivity. It is also a great way to ensure that website errors or issues are rectified as quickly as possible, and customer sessions can be quickly packaged up so that underlying website issues can be corrected. With these changes on the horizon, the online customer experience, as a whole, certainly has a bright future “in store.”

Geoff Galat is vice president, worldwide marketing at Tealeaf, a provider of customer experience solutions, helping companies achieve visibility, insight and answers online. He can be reached at geoff_galat@tealeaf.com.