“Yes, I am human:” learnings from fast customer service via live chat

Post by alanfalcon » Fri, Jan 21, 2011, 5:02 AM UTC

manoloe wrote: post #9

alanfalcon wrote: post #6

I worked customer service for "a" major MMO for a while. People who got asked if they were robots were generally behaving like robots: using macros (pre-written responses) to respond to questions even when the answer didn't properly fit, sending responses (even proper responses) to questions faster than people generally type, or abusing the auto-name-fill-in shortcut to fill in the character name in every sentence. I…

Not exactly. As you see in the transcript on the blog, we responded with a simple "Hi, how can I help you?" and then we're asked if we were a robot. We don't use pre-written responses, nor do anything else like you suggest. We're just online, working away.

Post by nostromo » Fri, Jan 21, 2011, 5:29 AM UTC

manoloe wrote: post #10

nostromo wrote: post #3

I used to work for a competitor of Olark's and I can confirm this happens all the time. What's funny is that there are two types of companies: 1) Trusts their well-paid chat operators and allows them to type freely. 2) Force-feeds their operators 'canned responses' (as are used in email support) and doesn't encourage them to move off script. #2 is always what marketing departments want, but it was always worse for th…

Our development team at IndexTank handles our customer questions. The training they've received comes from working alongside client development teams for years (our team has been together for 4+ years handling search problems for many companies). So we trust each other to type freely. The misspellings is an interesting suggestion. Since our team originates from Argentina, English is our second language, and we do mak…

Post by manoloe » Fri, Jan 21, 2011, 5:30 AM UTC

mceachen wrote: post #11

AdGrok's seen this a number of times: ----------------- USA (Philadelphia,PA) #4859: wow USA (Philadelphia,PA) #4859: so you are not a bot? Matthew: Only on the dance floor, man. ----------------- USA (New York,NY) #664: haha never chatted on olark, this is fun antonio: yeah, it's quite the app USA (New York,NY) #664: didn't think there would be ppl behind it USA (New York,NY) #664: :) antonio: there isn't, this is a…

Post by manoloe » Fri, Jan 21, 2011, 5:33 AM UTC

alanfalcon wrote: post #12

manoloe wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not exactly. As you see in the transcript on the blog, we responded with a simple "Hi, how can I help you?" and then we're asked if we were a robot. We don't use pre-written responses, nor do anything else like you suggest. We're just online, working away.

And you'd be much more likely to be seen as a person if you opened with, "Hi, this is Jorge. How can I help you?"

Post by manoloe » Fri, Jan 21, 2011, 5:41 AM UTC

nostromo wrote: post #14

manoloe wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Our development team at IndexTank handles our customer questions. The training they've received comes from working alongside client development teams for years (our team has been together for 4+ years handling search problems for many companies). So we trust each other to type freely. The misspellings is an interesting suggestion. Since our team originates from Argentina, English is our second language, and we do mak…

Most people will take thoughtful typing with mis-spellings over a 'canned response' any day - especially younger users. A bit more advice since you're abroad. If people ask, I wouldn't lie about your location. We had some customers who would ask Indian reps to pick an American name (lots of Bobs) - but sometimes people make chit-chat about weather and the like while waiting - and getting caught in a lie can destroy t…