Last week, I had the opportunity to participate in a Webinar called “Right Channeling Customer Service: A Practical Guide Webinar” sponsored by ATG and IntelliResponse. The Webinar focused on aligning the right customer with the right channel at the right time.

There were a lot of good questions at the end of the Webinar, and one in particular struck my attention. The question was, “What is the cost per contact for click-to-call compared to a call originated by a customer?”

Ryan Hoppe, director of product marketing at ATG, answered the question. I thought his comments were insightful and wanted to share them.

According to Ryan, click-to-call sessions pass context from the session to the telephone rep. As a result, there is less discovery time required. This can reduce interaction time by about 10%.

 Ryan also advised that contact resolution time isn’t the only key metric. In fact, click-to-call sessions may take a bit longer depending on the nature of the call. He said ATG has a client that found click-to-call transactions were a bit longer, but the client experienced a significant reduction in subsequent calls. This occurred because click-to-call was employed to help customers manage their accounts online. Having a live rep help customers get started meant they didn’t need repeated calls.  Ryan recommended looking at First Contact Resolution (FCR) rates when assessing the value of click-to-call.

Here is a link to the Webinar in case you’d like to listen to the recording or download its slides. I hope you’ll find the content relevant and thought-provoking.