July 24, 2002
Blog Entry

Lands' End adds customer service IM function to its Web site

RSS   Free Newsletters  
SUMMARY: No summary available.
According to a story in Forbes.com today, Lands' End's "Ask Us" button which gives shoppers live instant (typed) chat with a customer service rep, "The company says that the average value of an order increases by 6% when a surfer uses its instant message technology. An online visitor who uses Lands' End's IM is 20% more likely to make a purchase than a customer who does not."



The story doesn't give comparative numbers on how much a shopper who calls the site's 800 number for help (versus using the chat/IM function) is worth. I'm betting that 800 callers are worth even more. Having experienced both at the site while using a speedy DSL line, I personally got fed up waiting for the chat to happen and picked up the phone. Then maybe I'm more trigger-happy caffeinated than the average shopper. According to the story, roughly 10% of Lands End operators are trained to use phone or IM, which is somewhat indicative of demand.

Improve Your Marketing

Join our thousands of weekly case study readers.

Enter your email below to receive MarketingSherpa news, updates, and promotions:

Note: Already a subscriber? Want to add a subscription?
Click Here to Manage Subscriptions