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Event Summary
A surfer
has a problem with a website. By the time an e-mail can be sent and responded
to, the sale is long gone. For effective customer service, websites need
to be able to help that potential buyer when interest is highest (and
the possibilities of turning frustration into gratitude are most immediate).
MATRAnet
had previously introduced live chat between the customer and the customer
service agent in version 2.0 of its M>WebTouch product. With version 3.0,
it also adds collaborative browsing, which gives the customer service
agent the ability to directly control the user's screen. The agent can
instruct the user and navigate through the website for the user, making
sales much more likely and very likely creating a positive experience
that will lead to repeat visits. M>WebTouch 3.0 also offers form-based
and direct e-mail capabilities, as well as escalation and call forwarding,
so that the customer can be placed in the hands of the agent(s) best able
to provide assistance.
The
company promotes the product as more than just a CRM tool. In the world
of e-commerce, MATRAnet believes that the line between CRM and sales support
is blurring. To take advantage of this fuzziness, MATRAnet has put features
into the product that accomplish both functions. When a user contacts
an agent, the agent immediately sees information about the user, including
stored profile information and the user's clickstream history. This is
useful for solving problems, but also lets the agent see whether there
are products that the user tried to purchase but could not. The agent
can also tailor the next screen that the customer sees to maximize the
possibilities of a sale.
Market
Impact
The
marriage of CRM and e-commerce has created an extremely fragmented marketplace,
with many vendors such as MATRAnet scurrying to find secure niches as
the huge CRM predators like Vantive and Siebel adapt their powerful existing
applications to the Web.
MATRAnet,
which also has products for building storefronts, controlling Internet
access by employees, traffic analysis, and security functions, is leveraging
the resources of its parent company Aerospaciale MATRA to establish itself
as a significant player in both CRM in particular and e-commerce in general.
As a four-year-old company that has grown to 80 employees, it has developed
a product suite that has something for everyone, and should be able to
turn satisfied customers into repeat sales. At the rate at which the market
moves it will need to establish itself firmly over the next twelve months
with a strong marketing presence and some significant customer sales.
User
Recommendations
At first glance MATRAnet's CRM product offers good functionality. Web-based
customer service can be a very complex task, and we believe that small
differences in capabilities on the agent side can lead to large differences
in agent productivity.
We
think that user interface, more than features, may be the factor that
most determines success or failure for products like M>WebTouch 3.0. So
we advise that when evaluating any product like this it is very important
to arrange a trial run, even if only a simulation, with some of your actual
customer service agents. Only they, perhaps taking the roles of customers
and agents, will be able to tell if a product like this really helps them
convert those befuddled surfers into satisfied buyers .