Bricks and mortars fail to look after online customers

NEWS According to Jupiter analyst Nick Jones, European companies may be coming to terms with CRM in the real world, but they are failing to exploit it properly online. He added that old economy companies see an online presence as a necessary measure to fend off competition from dot-com start-ups, but fail to use it as an important and interactive customer channel. "Traditional companies have different expectations of customer service levels. Offline customer service is about giving set answers to set questions that have been pre-guessed. It is difficult for customer service representatives to use their initiative. There is a culture clash between offline and online," he said. Jones considers the biggest problem to be that many companies regard their internet site as a shop front - a cost effective way of advertising services and generating sales - rather than a way of retaining existing customers. Figures from Jupiter suggest that 39 per cent of internet users will also be e-consumers by 2003. Increased online penetration coupled with higher numbers of less IT-savvy users means more customers asking more questions. "Companies can eliminate a lot of enquiries through the design of the site. Certain questions will come up a lot, so they can be answered in the 'Help' section of the site. Prior planning is important. Companies need to train call centre staff so that they are very savvy with the website," said Jones. Martin Brampton, analyst with Bloor Research, disagreed that online customer service is in such dire straits. He said: "There are any amount of examples of companies looking to exploit advantages of the internet. We're seeing a lot of integration now. Companies might start the CRM process on the internet and complete it through a call centre. On the whole, they are embracing it on both levels. "By and large, companies are looking to CRM for increased revenue, not just as a cost-cutting measure," said Brampton. "To achieve this, companies are increasingly moving to a customer-oriented view and formulating products to suit the consumer."