by Richard Snow |
9/18/2008 | Article ID: M08-33 | Article Type: VentanaMonitor
Summary
Although the Web is an increasingly important channel of interaction between companies and their customers or prospects, our benchmark research shows that a majority of companies merely create a site to provide people with information; far fewer use it for customer self-service or electronic commerce. Ventana Research believes that this shortsighted approach hinders many companies in providing customers with the quality of experience they expect in their interactions. One of the factors holding companies back is a lack of information about what people actually attempt to do on their Web sites and what percentage of their efforts is successful. Tealeaf Technology develops products that go beyond standard Web analytics functionality to provide business-related insights into what visitors actually do when on the site. The company has now released upgrades and a new module, enhancing its products’ ability to support companies in learning about their customers and their self-service experiences.
Assessment
Ventana Research’s benchmark research on customer experience management (CEM) shows that companies are coming to understand the importance of managing their customers’ experiences at every touch point. More than half of companies (56 percent) understand that CEM is about managing these interaction processes, and more mature companies (27 percent) go further to recognize that the objective is to influence customers’ behavior during each interaction toward the desired business outcome. Benchmark results from research we carried out in 2007 show that the Web is the fastest-growing channel for interaction. But the new results show that most companies aren’t doing enough to make that Web experience as good as possible; less than half (44 percent) of participants said that their customers are totally satisfied during the majority of their visits.
Tealeaf has enhanced its Customer Behavior Analysis Suite with product upgrades and the release of a new module, Tealeaf cxResults, to help companies identify why customers feel as they do. The suite’s foundation, Tealeaf CX, captures actions customers take during a visit to a Web site. It now can cover multiple international sites that can be centrally managed using an enhanced, easier to set up centralized management capability. The suite’s cxImpact module can turn this information into re-playable and searchable information about each session. Users can apply this information through cxView to produce dashboards, scorecards and analysis to keep interested parties informed about key performance indicators (KPIs) related to the customer experience.
The new module, cxResults, enables users to take the next step in reporting and analysis. It uses information from cxImpact to track and store the actions of customers during multiple visits to the Web site. Companies can use this information to find patterns of behavior and analyze the impacts of these patterns on business outcomes. It includes search capabilities that can combine records of what visitors do with text search, allowing companies to see, for example, all visitors who searched for a particular item but never placed that item in their shopping cart. This level of information can produce insights into customers’ experiences on their sites and lead to actions to take to influence future behavior.
Market Impact
One of the most telling findings of our CEM research was that nearly half (47 percent) of participants didn’t know how many visitors to their Web site give up and call the contact center, or what percent simply abandon entirely what they were trying to do. As the Web becomes a common channel for consumers to transact business, companies will need this sort of meaningful information on which to base decisions and future plans. Traditional Web analytics products focus on efficiency measures such as the number of hits or duration of visits. Tealeaf goes beyond this to look at the effectiveness of the site and the business outcomes it produces. The latest product releases enhance Tealeaf’s ability to do this and should enable it to continue to grow in its market.
Recommendation
Ventana Research believes that companies must do more to realize business value from their Web sites. Participants in our benchmark research said that the keys to a good Web experience for customers are ease of navigation and the look and feel. While these are baseline requirements, people increasingly want answers to their questions and the ability to buy products and services simply and without error. However, for example, one Tealeaf customer told us that a simple customer account code validation error on its site had cost the company millions of pounds’ worth of potential business, yet none of its customers reported the error. For Web sites to work, companies must get this information and be able to act on it. As they strive to do this, we recommend they evaluate the help Tealeaf’s products offer.
Related Research Notes:
Customer Performance Management Research Agenda for 2008
Customer Performance Management
Managing the Customer’s Web Experience
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