E-commerce: Winning the War

Conclusion #1: Now that Internet sales are up—pushing 10, 15, 20 percent or more at catalogers—it’s time for companies to take a concerted look at their operating costs to determine how one can use the Internet to lower operating costs! Are you staffing your customer care center with the right blend of phone/mail/Web staff? Have you automated customer inquiry response to the extent you can? Are your e-mail customer contacts clear and complete or do most customers have to call to clarify your e-mails? Conversely, look at all those expensive little add-ons to e-care that your Web staffs want to install. How much volume will it take for them to be cost justified?