Case study: PhotoBox sharpens customer focus using IM

PhotoBox's clients were leaving the site when they encountered technical difficulties

Online photo service PhotoBox has deployed a chat application to reduce the number of aborted sales and improve customer service.

The system was introduced two weeks ago, partly in reponse to a number of customers abandoning their accounts after encountering technical difficulties in creating photo albums. PhotoBox estimated that customer abandonments had hit 70 per cent.

With the chat feature, customers can seek real-time help from customer service agents on certain critical parts of the web site, such as the photo uploading screen. Another feature also allows staff to share the customers view of the web site to better guide them through processes.

“The aim is to remove any concerns that may prevent a purchase,” said director of UK operations at PhotoBox, Renaud Besnard.

“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,” said Besnard.

The roll out of the application follows a two-month trial, during which the uptake of the tool was better than expected, said Besnard.

While the use of chat helps staff and clients to overcome difficulties posed by traditional customer service contact methods such as email and phone, and also speeds up the answering of queries, some usage rules had to be implemented.

“We have a very young [customer service] team and they are quite used to that kind of technology anyway, but we had to ensure we were using the right tone when communicating with clients over chat,” said Besnard.

“But on the other hand, chat makes their work a lot more fulfilling, as they can see the resolution of a problem – and hopefully a happy customer – whereas via email, you don’t see the end of the process,” he said.

Future enhancements for the tool include surveys after the chat sessions and the triggering of the customer service chat windows if a customer appears to have been idle on a particular web page.

The deployment has been completed in the UK and the company is now extending the system across its international operations including France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

The chat application is provided by RightNow Technologies.