1. 1 Research Presentation Online Customer Service: Is self-service no service at all? Monica L. Perry, School of Business February 17, 2005 Online Customer Service: Is self-service no service at all? Monica L. Perry, School of Business February 17, 2005 Agenda 1.Why is online customer service important? 2.What questions did we hope to answer? 3.What did we find? 4.So What? Agenda 1.Why is online customer service important? 2.What questions did we hope to answer? 3.What did we find? 4.So What?

2. 2 Why is online customer service important? Consider the following scenario in the offline world….. world…..

3. 3 Research Questions and Related Literature 1. What is the range of online customer service in practice? 2. To what degree is online customer service self-service, assisted, and interactive?

4. 4 Related Literature: Service Quality We Focus on 3 Service Quality Dimensions Parasuraman & Ziethaml (1991)  Assurance   Knowledgeable, Basis for Trust  Empathy   Individualized Attention  Responsiveness   Promptness

5. 5 Supporting Literature: Financial Impact Customer Retention  Small  Large Profits (25-100%) (Reicheld, Markey & Hopton 2000) Customization, Personalization Investments to Customize Service Interactions = Indicator of High Service Quality Strategy (Keltner, Finegold, Mason & Wagner 1999) Service-Profit Chain Service Quality  Greater Profitability Service Quality  Greater Profitability (Heskett, Lovemen, Sasser & Schlesinger 1994)

6. 6 Related Literature: Media Richness Media Richness Theory  Characterize Channels of Communication based on “Richness” Continuum (Carlson & Zmud 1999; Daft and Lengel 1984, 1986)  Continuum based on:  Cue Type and Variety  Personalization Capacity  Feedback Immediacy  Ability to Convey Complex Information LeanRich

7. What we developed: categorizing online service Static Interactive Non-interactive Customized Store Locator FAQs Check Order Status

8. 8 What we found: descriptive results Content Analysis of web site for 200 cataloguers

9. 9 So what?  Utility of an empirically grounded process for Classifying, Assessing Online Customer Service  Considerable Room for Possible Advantage Across Fuller Range of Customer Service :  Real-time online customer service  Access, Control, Changes to Orders once Placed

10. 10 Facilitating Service Quality

11. 11 Facilitating Service Quality http://www.coldwatercreek.com/profiles/home.asp Please wait for the next available Coldwater Creek representative. You will be notified when someone is available to assist you. Rachel has arrived to help you! Rachel says, "Good Morning and welcome to Coldwater Creek. My name is Rachel. How may I help you?" You say, "I was just checking out the instant help for my Marketing class!" Rachel says, "So what do you think?" You say, "Thanks for the quick response - I'll use Coldwater Creek as an example of Super responsiveness" Rachel says, "Thanks, that is awesome!"

12. 12 Lastly………..

13. 13