VoIP & CRM Blog TMC

Is It Really Click-to-Call?

April 6, 2006

Yesterday, TMCnet's Anuradha Shukla wrote about LivePerson's new click-to-call product, LiveCall. I was excited to learn about this, as LivePerson has been providing online customer care services and products for many years and has built up an interesting�package called Timpani,�combining contact center, web-based service, knowledge-base, and sales and marketing support.

Upon trying a demo of the product, I was disappointed in one aspect from the perspective of user experience: The click-to-talk feature ... isn't really. I will explain shortly, but let me say that these folks have what looks like a great suite of tools based on their working in this space for a long time with an impressive list of customers.�Below are some interesting screen shots that show something about the Timpani user experience.

Here's a view of the interface from the point of view of a customer care agent:

Here's an end-user view that shows an example of how a customer can enter into a web chat with a sales representative, linking from a web page:

And here's a view of the�chat interface from the point of view of a sales representative conversing with a customer:

Now next is an end-user view of the click-to-talk feature LivePerson began promoting this week. This represents a valuable addition to LivePerson's offerings, but I do see a problem here in terms of user experience, and possibly in terms of marketing as well. Note the popup window with the button that says "Call Me Now!":

But note also that the text instructions say, "Please enter your information below, and an associate will call you right away." In reality, the user can't click to call an agent. The way it actually works is, I click and they call me -- on my landline.

This is an example of what interaction designers call "cognitive friction." When the user enters an interaction with the application, he forms a mental model of the application with assumptions about how it should work. When the actual application doesn't fit the user's mental model, it creates friction, resulting in user confusion, frustration and errors.

Here's the scenario in this case: The user is visiting web sites in front of his personal computer with his VoIP headset plugged in. He comes to a web site with wine for sale. He is interested in ordering the Dom Perignon, but has a question about it. He clicks on what he thinks is a click-to-call button, but which actually is a you-click-and-we-call-you-back button. When he gets to the pop-up window, he�clicks the Call Me Now button. But rather than calling an agent�now, it sends the user's phone number (if he entered it) to the agent, who calls the user back on his landline.

At some point in this process, many users would become confused, as this does not truly represent an end-to-end VoIP-enabled�click-to-call process, which is what many users�nowadays (and many, many more in the very near future)�will expect.

That's not to say there's no value in LiveCall. It does add a beneficial capability, but doesn't go far enough. LivePerson says that they will eventually release an end-to-end solution.

Such an end-to-end solution is possible and doesn't necessarily require an intermediary softphone�client such as Skype. One example is eStara's VoIP-based Click to Call product, which doesn't seem to require any download. Today I tested it and got through to an agent quite quickly.

Here's an end-user view showing what happens if you click the eStara�Click-to-Call button. Note that this popup button does have a "Talk By Phone" button (the you-click-and-we-call type of function). But you also see a "Talk by PC" button:

Here's the dialer popup you get when you click eStara's "Talk by PC" button. It's an interesting interface, which I think might be Java-based:

The reason I'm going through this whole exercise is that it makes some important points about online customer service and about designing the user experience. Over the next couple of years, we are going to see voice capabilities increasingly integrated into the web user experience and e-commerce web sites. Web-based customer service is going to have to get voice-enabled, and companies are already rolling out the tools to make this happen.

At the same time, the companies building these tools need to employ interaction design methods and usability studies to make sure they are easy-to-use, both from the end-user (customer) perspective and from that of the customer care agent in the contact center.

AB -- 4/6/06




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Comments to Is It Really Click-to-Call?

  1. RE: Is It Really Click-to-Call?
    Amit Leibovitz :
    April 6, 2006 3:20 PM

    Hi Al,

    I have been following this market for a while and have a small correction to this article:
    The eStara tool does require a download on the end user side. When you first use it, you are required to install the eStara activeX control on your machine in order to begin the interaction, once you have done this once, you are good to go on all estara customers.
    If you ask me, I would prefer to get the call on the landline than to install an activeX but thats just mesmile

    Amit

  1. RE: Is It Really Click-to-Call?
    Dan :
    April 6, 2006 3:59 PM

    The key is in immediacy. eStara's Talk by PC option launches a very thin applet that requires no installation. While eStara's Talk by Phone option initiates an immediate callback to the consumer, unlike other options which as Al describes, "send the user's phone number (if he entered it) to the agent, who then calls the user back on his landline."

  1. RE: Is It Really Click-to-Call?
    Al Bredenberg :
    April 6, 2006 5:19 PM

    Interesting comments from these readers. Amit might be correct that eStara requires installing an ActiveX control. Another reader told me the same thing. When I tested eStara, it was all a pretty seamless process, and I wasn't aware of downloading an app. That's the kind of user experience developers need to work toward, IMHO. Whether downloading an ActiveX control is a good or bad thing is certainly worth considering, though.

    Al B.

  1. RE: Is It Really Click-to-Call?
    Philippe Lang :
    April 6, 2006 6:18 PM

    I work for LivePerson and wanted to respond to Dan’s previous comment comparing eStara with LivePerson.

    At LivePerson, our focus is on the customer experience.

    What Dan described as a "very thin applet that requires no installation" is actually an ActiveX control. Most browsers will not let you install an ActiveX control without warning you about the risk involved. When a visitor browses a website and receives a warning that someone is trying to install a program on their computer, this can cause the visitor alarm and concern.

    With LiveCall (our voice application), the agent does not call back the user’s phone number via landline as previously suggested. The call request is automatically routed to an agent in LivePerson’s operator console; and as soon as an agent accepts the request, the communication is automatically established via VoIP, connecting the customer and agent instantly.

    Whether a visitor enters a landline, VoIP or wireless number in the click-to-talk window, agents maintain full visibility into the online session throughout the phone call. And if agents are not available immediately, a real-time queue placement indicator displays on the website the accurate wait time, letting the visitor know exactly when to expect the call.

    Al, thanks for starting this conversation and giving us an opportunity to share comments. If anyone has further questions or would like to discuss in more detail, I encourage you to continue the dialogue.

  1. RE: Is It Really Click-to-Call?
    Dan :
    April 7, 2006 10:05 AM

    I think Al said it best when he said "When I tested eStara, it was all a pretty seamless process, and I wasn't aware of downloading an app. That's the kind of user experience developers need to work toward, IMHO."

    That's the kind of experience eStara strives to offer its clients whether it be through their Talk by Phone or Talk by PC function.

  1. RE: Is It Really Click-to-Call?
    tom test :
    April 8, 2006 3:18 AM

    test comment