Royal Mail online services drive web traffic surge

Royal Mail customers can get more detailed information on posted items with the new service

Royal Mail web-based self-services have raised web site hits from 3.5 million in 2007 to 4.5 million in the first half of this year.

The latest launch is “Ask Sarah”, which went live in June. The service is part of a range of initiatives to provide faster access to information on items in transit. The system is integrated with Royal Mail’s online services and recognises parcel tracking reference numbers by linking automatically to Royal Mail’s parcel tracking system and displaying current delivery status.

“It is a brand new concept and people may take a while to get their heads around it, but we are working hard to make the service as user-friendly as possible. User groups are also in place to help the postal service address issues related to usability, which was one of the challenging aspects of the project,” digital operations manager at Royal Mail Stephen Mitchell told Computing.

Design, development and testing took six months. The service is supported by vendor Transversal. It is claimed that the tool has so far reduced overall email enquiries by 50 per cent and that calls to its contact centre have also been “significantly reduced”.