RightNow Buffs Up Retail App

"With this app, retailers can incorporate feedback into chat," Susan Meriwether, VP of product marketing , told CRM Buyer, "to make sure [the customer walks] away from an interaction happy with the service dispensed by the rep."

Receiving and incorporating customer input is becoming increasingly important for retailers, who are often dissatisfied with one-off survey applications that do not allow them to leverage the feedback.

Unless feedback can be integrated into the larger service platform, it is almost not worth having, Meriwether said. "Retailers are focused on processes -- and if an agent isn't able to answer questions, or if shipments aren't getting to a certain locale on time, a company has to be able to pinpoint those problems ASAP."

Voice of the Customer

The feature, called "Voice of the Customer," lets retailers use one of five different customer service surveys to capture and measure feedback. Any survey returned with negative comments can be immediately routed to the appropriate contact in the organization.

Questions in the surveys focus on shopping cart ease of use, express check out, order changes, order-tracking, product quality and sales associates' helpfulness.

Surveys can also invite consumer feedback on general impressions of a company or product, overall satisfaction, likelihood to recommend a retailer, and the importance of price, product selection and service in making a purchase decisions.

A Better Sale

RightNow Offer Advisor, an enhancement to chat functionality, guides agents at the end of a service call to automatically suggest relevant offers or promotions based on the customer's purchase history and demographics.

An e-mail promotion template preconfigured with a printable coupon is another feature upgrade in this release.

RightNow retail is one of five industry-specific applications the vendor now offers. Other verticals are in the telecom, consumer electronics, high-tech and higher education sectors.

RightNow released Retail as its second industry vertical in May 2007. Increasingly, Software as a Service vendors are introducing these preconfigured apps, which were quite popular during the client-server heyday, in response to renewed consumer interest.