Confused about contrast ratio, or the difference between Plasma and LCD? Panasonic’s automated interactive agent has the answers for you.
“Ask Panasonic”, found at www.panasonic.com, addresses the needs of Panasonic customers and others. The service launched last June also guides consumers to the right Panasonic model and tells them where they can actually purchase one.
“Our market research revealed that plasma buyers were confused by inaccuracies about the technology and somewhat overwhelmed with the many choices they find at retail,” says Gerry Eramo, group manger for Panasonic’s interactive media division. “Conversagent’s ASA solution provided us with the ability to allow our customers to ask us not just about our TV line up, but also about the technology before they step into a store or click the “buy now” button on a Web site.”
Conversagent is a developer of online customer service software solutions. The company’s Automated Service Agent system engages customers in typed natural language conversations, delivering answers in real time.
The adoption of “Ask Panasonic” for its plasma line has been what Eramo calls, remarkably successful. Tens of thousands of customers come to Panasonic.com daily seeking product information about the Panasonic line of plasma televisions, and they are receiving help 24/7 –365 days a year, he says.
Every customer session with the ASA is recorded, stored, and available for Panasonic review.
Conversagent’s auditing and reviewing tools are used to sample a couple of hundred calls per week to make sure that AskPanasonic is well tuned and answering the questions that customers are asking.
Panasonic reviews the questions that are asked and uses that to improve the information on its Web site, but it does not collect any personal information through the service.
Although “Ask Panasonic” is deployed as a fully automated channel, there are other channels represented throughout Panasonic.com where customers can get in touch with company representatives. The company has not implemented Conversagent’s ASA-to-call-center escalation features, but it is something that is being studied, says Eramo.
As for the programs success: “By reviewing the questions and the answers that are provided, we can tell if the session is successful,” says Eramo. “We can also see if someone is not getting good results. For example, if they have to repeatedly re-phrase a question and there isn’t a logical match to the response offered. When that happens, we try to update the ASA to be ready for the next customer.”
In addition to the session review, Conversagent’s tools include statistical usage reports that let Panasonic know the number of inquiries to each topic in the Automated Agent’s knowledge base. “This give us a good statistical sense for the type of things that matter to customers who are shopping for Plasma TVs,” says Eramo.
What Panasonic has learned from the usage of “Ask Panasonic” feeds into its importance. “There’s still a need to educate customers about the many options they have for flat panel televisions,” says Eramo. “The number one question, by far, is about the difference between Plasma and LCD. So much so, that we’ve included it as a suggested question on the first Ask Panasonic dialog box so consumers can just click on it.”
Ask Panasonic isn’t only helping the customer. It’s also putting some change back in Panasonic’s pocket.
“We know the cost per session and it is very favorable when compared to speaking to a representative on the phone,” says Eramo who intends to make use of more “Ask Panasonic” customer question centers in the future.
And why not? “Customer feedback has been all positive so far,” he says.
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