Mobile remains a fragmented strategy in many companies. Ownership is not always clear. And customer service is commonly — woefully — overlooked.

The gap between overlooked mobile customer service and innovative mobile customer support will widen. And those innovative eBusiness leaders will increasingly look to mobile chat.

Website chat has revolutionized how customers and eBusinesses engage with one another, and it has quickly grown into one of the most satisfying channels among online customer service options. In the last two years, consumer’s adoption of website chat has nearly doubled; at 62%, it has the highest satisfaction rating among all online customer support channels. In fact, Generations Z and X have higher satisfaction chatting with a live agent than speaking on the telephone with a live agent. (See my the January 23, 2012, "Understanding Customer Service Satisfaction To Inform Your 2012 eBusiness Strategy" report.)

Mobile chat can do the same for mobile offerings.

Today's innovative mobile features offer consumers wide-ranging functionality, such as making access to reviews and product specs as easy as scanning a QR code, turning passive catalogs into interactive style guides, and proactively sending mobile coupons. Mobile chat will increasingly enhance these mobile offerings, making them even more interactive and engaging while also supporting revenue goals.

Take Aveda’s mobile app, for example. Consumers can have a chat session to get product recommendations from an expert. This is a quick, engaging interaction — one that may never inspire a telephone call, but the convenience of a mobile chat could easily support a sale while also extending Aveda’s ability to engage customers.

Savvy eBusiness leaders — particularly those with or considering a website chat implementation — are evaluating where mobile chat fits into their mobile strategy now. Mobile chat will be an engaging differentiator in the short term. It will become a key part of an engagement and support strategy in the future.

I’ve recently published “Evaluating the Potential for Mobile Chat To Drive eBusiness Goals”. This document looks at: the benefits of mobile chat, operational considerations, and weighing key technology considerations against how they will affect the user experience and potential ROI. I hope you find this document helpful and, as always, welcome your comments.