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In June 2009, ATG commissioned a consumer survey to examine the relative importance of live online help,
including click to call and click to chat services, and to explore when and why consumers opt for a live voice
or live chat interaction when seeking help online. The online survey polled 1,052 U.S. consumers, ages
18 years and older, and asked them a range of questions about how they prefer to use online customer serv-
ice when browsing, researching, and buying a broad range of products and services. E-commerce sectors in-
cluded retail and consumer goods, financial services and banking, travel and hospitality, telecommunications
services, and cable TV.
1
Executive Summary
Live voice is As a result of evolving consumer habits and expectations, the acceleration and growing ease of buying
online, and challenging macro-economic conditions – consumers increasingly require live help when brows-
still the preferred ing, researching, and buying products and services online. Moreover, data suggests that specific circum-
method of stances and scenarios drive consumers to seek assistance in the form of a live voice interaction or text
chat. Finally, despite broader availability of text chat versus click to call, live voice is still the preferred
communication method of communication for most online buyers in most situations. Online businesses should consider
for most online closing this gap and offering consumers an integrated live voice and text chat solution.
2
Executive Summary continued
Nearly 85% of • A live human voice – without having to call a toll free number and wait
on hold – is the preferred live help option for most consumers in most
consumers who situations. Yet text chat is preferred in specific situations – mainly when
browse, research, questions are more simple and straightforward – indicating a need to
offer both options and allow the consumer to choose.
and buy products
• Demand for click to call outpaces its availability on shopping sites. Nearly
and services twice as many consumers have tried click to chat versus click to call.
online want the These findings indicate a lack of broad availability of click to call options on
consumer Web sites. Businesses offering only a toll-free number that
choice of routes online consumers into their standard interactive voice response (IVR)
click to call or system are potentially losing a substantial number of transactions.
click to chat
to get live sales or
service assistance.
3
Research Highlights
Access to live online help – via live voice or live text chat – is the third most
important feature to online shoppers.
When asked to rank the features most important to them on a Web site:
• 58% of respondents felt that having instant access to live experts, via
click to call or click to chat technologies, was one of the top three features.
• 58% of respondents have used live assistance – either live call or live
chat – compared with 64% that have used a toll-free number.
4
Research Highlights continued
• 58% of respondents would seek out live assistance if there was not
enough information available about a product or service they were
interested in purchasing. This number jumps to 69% for shoppers aged 55+.
• 37% stated they would rely on live help options if a return policy was
not clearly stated on the site.
5
Research Highlights continued
Online shoppers The use of click to call and click to chat services – individually and together
– is considered very/extremely useful by the majority of consumers.
prefer their
When asked to rank the methods which they believed would be the most
questions are useful when seeking assistance from a website, consumers showed a
answered right strong preference for click to call and click to chat.
away, by a real • Overall, 70% of consumers say click to call would be very/extremely
useful when making an online purchase.
person, while they
are browsing, • 52% of consumers say live chat would be very/extremely useful when
making an online purchase.
researching or
buying on a • 67% of the respondents reported that having live help options in the
form of click to call and click to chat together would be very/extremely
Web site. useful when making purchases online.
6
Research Highlights continued
More consumers in more situations prefer a live voice agent or click to call 70
0
• Click to call is strongly preferred as the price of a product rises and $100-500 >$500 Sensitive Info
product information gets more complicated, or as the information Live Call Live Chat
• When seeking assistance with a purchase or a service that costs less The gap between the clear
than $100, respondents found almost equal value in interacting via live preference vs. availability for live
voice help reveals a key opportunity
call (47%) or live chat (53%).
for online businesses to increase
• When considering a purchase or service that costs between $100 and online sales and loyalty by offering
$500, respondents preferred a live call (67%) over a live chat (33%). click to call as a more immediate,
live assistance option to a standard
• When inquiring about products or services that involve sensitive toll-free number, or less personal
information, such as a social security number, consumers preferred a live text chat.
call (78%) over a live chat (22%).
• When consumers had simple queries such as shipping and pick up
options or basic questions about a product or service, there is a clear
preference for live chat (60%) over live call (40%).
7
Research Highlights continued
Nearly twice as many consumers have tried click to chat versus click to call,
indicating a lack of broad availability of click to call, despite its clear preference
among consumers.
Despite the clear preference for a live voice versus live chat for the majority
of live help needs – nearly twice as many respondents have tried click to chat
versus click to call.
• According to the survey, 37% of consumers had used click to chat, whereas
only 21% had used click to call.
• Consumers that would choose a live voice versus live text chat do so
because:
:: They want to make sure the representative understands their questions.
This was especially true with consumers ages 45+.
:: They want a real human being versus canned responses. Again, this was
particularly the case with the 45+ age group.
:: They think voice interaction is faster.
• Consumers that would choose live chat versus live call do so because:
:: They can multitask while they are waiting for a chat response.
:: They think chat is faster and that chat ensures the representative will
understand their questions – the same reasons cited by those consumers
that chose live call versus live chat.
8
Survey Results: Profile of Survey Respondents
1. What is your age? 2. What is your gender?
30%
25%
20%
5%
3. Is English your first language? If no, please explain what your first language 4. How frequently do you browse / research products or services (consumer
is in the space provided. goods, food & beverages, travel options, cell phone plans, credit card and
banking options, insurance plans, etc.) online?
Daily 26%
Weekly 36%
No 3%
Monthly 16%
9
Survey Results: Profile of Survey Respondents
5. How frequently do you make purchases of products or complete applications 6. What is the typical price range or value of orders or transactions you
and forms for services online? have placed online? Ranges may include lower-priced purchases (clothing
or shoes), mid-range purchases (appliances or electronics) and expensive or
valuable transactions (vacation packages or mortgage applications).
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
10
Survey Results: Importance/Usefulness of Online Customer Service Features
7. Rank the features you find to be most important on a Web site, with “1” being most
important and “7” least important.
1200
7
1000
6
5
4
800 3
2
1
600
400
200
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assistance from a Web site, with “1” being most useful and “6” least useful.
8. Please rank the methods which you believe would be most useful when seeking
1
3
5
2
4
Survey Results: Profile of Survey Respondents
Survey Results: Importance/Usefulness of Online Customer Service Features
9. Which of the following methods of customer service have you used when seeking
assistance from a Web site? Choose all that apply.
64%
Calling a customer service 800 number (from a land line or mobile phone)
21%
Clicking a button to have a customer service representative call you directly (no waiting on hold)
37%
Clicking a button to initiate a text chat interaction with customer representatives
53%
Writing an email query to customer service and waiting for a reply back
49%
Online self service (FAQ page)
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
13
Survey Results: Importance/Usefulness of Online Customer Service Features
10. What are some of the factors that would drive you to seek live assistance from a Web site
when making a purchase online? (Pick up to three)
Need more information about the product/service than is on the site 58%
Product/service is complicated and has many steps (e.g. cell phone or cable plan) 25%
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
14
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11. By type of interaction, what is your preference for using live call or live chat
Survey Results: Importance/Usefulness of Online Customer Service Features
Survey Results: Importance/Usefulness of Online Customer Service Features
12. For the scenarios below in which you chose interacting via live call vs. live chat, what
reasons would drive you to initiate a voice interaction?
I don't want pre-written or canned responses - I want a real human being 51%
16
Survey Results: Importance/Usefulness of Online Customer Service Features
13. For the scenarios below in which you chose interacting via live chat vs. live call, what
reasons would drive you to initiate a chat interaction?
I can do other things online while I’m waiting for a text response 47%
17
Survey Results: Importance/Usefulness of Online Customer Service Features
14. Usefulness of live chat options while shopping online 16. Usefulness of having both live call and live chat options together
21% 38%
Extremely useful Extremely useful
31% 29%
Very useful Very useful
32% 27%
Neutral Neutral
9% 3%
Not very useful Not very useful
7% 2%
Not useful at all Not useful at all
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
37%
Extremely useful
33%
Very useful
25%
Neutral
4%
Not very useful
2%
Not useful at all
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
18
Methodology
Responses to ATG’s Live Help survey were generated from a pool of 1,052 respondents, age 18 and older,
living in the continental United States. Survey respondents were selected from a panel of more than
2.5 million individuals, and were profiled across more than 500 attributes, such as demographics, lifestyle,
and behavioral characteristics. Respondents were further differentiated by characteristics such as browsing
and purchasing frequency online, to ensure the sample represented was active on the Web.
The study was commissioned by ATG (Art Technology Group; NASDAQ: ATG), and deployed by independent
online market research firm, MarketTools, during the second quarter of 2009. This survey has an error rate
of +/- 3% for each 1,000 respondents.
19
Worldwide Headquarters
Art Technology Group, Inc.
One Main Street
Cambridge, MA 02142 USA
Tel: +1 617 386 1000
Fax: +1 617 386 1111
www.atg.com
European Headquarters
Art Technology Group (Europe), Ltd.
Apex Plaza, Forbury Road
Reading RG1 1AX UK
Tel: +44 (0) 118 956 5000
Fax: +44 (0) 118 956 5001
www.atg.com