August 29 2007

RightNow CRM measures customers' mood

RightNow Technologies has upgraded its on demand CRM solution. RightNow 8.2 adds a number of key enhancements that will enable customers to improve customer experiences and reduce costs across all primary customer interaction channels. New features include an emotion detection tool for gauging a customers' mood from text-based communications.

Press release follows:

RightNow® Technologies today introduced RightNow 8.2, this reflects the company's continuing commitment to delivering the most robust, enterprise-class, on demand CRM solution available on the market today. Whether over the phone, online, via email, web chat or in person, RightNow 8.2 helps consumer-centric organizations deliver excellent customer service by maintaining a single "conversation" with a consumer. To learn more visit: http://www.rightnow.com/products/live-chat-software.html

"Customers communicate with companies in a variety of ways and it's essential to unify these interactions into a single view," said David Vap. "With this quarter's release, we've enhanced our solution by adding new functionality that will improve customer experiences and drive down costs across all the different channels a consumer may use when interacting with an organization."

RightNow 8.2 introduces key enhancements across all the primary customer interaction channels, including:

Feedback channel bolstered with emotion detection- RightNow 8.2 now includes emotion detection features in RightNow Feedback. These features automatically measure how customers feel about an organization by applying an emotional rating to text-based customer communications. With this knowledge, a company can gauge a customer's mood or feelings and personalize the service this customer receives. RightNow 8.2 also includes new reports that analyze customer feedback, giving companies an opportunity to take swift and appropriate action to ensure optimal customer experiences.

Web channel improvements include new sitemap- In RightNow 8.2 companies can ensure they are answering customer questions, even if customers are searching on Google or Yahoo. With the new sitemap feature, it is possible to index a corporate knowledge base in a way that makes it more accessible to search engines. By exposing knowledge base content to external search engines, companies can remain engaged with consumers, feel confident that customers are getting accurate information and drive more consumers back to their Web site.

Voice channel updated with personalized routing- New in RightNow 8.2, personalized routing dynamically routes calls and personalizes the caller experience based on information about them. For example, a "premier" customer could be automatically routed to an agent that can provide highly personalized service.

Chat channel enhanced with new features- New chat features, including multi-agent conferencing, automatic reconnect, integrated incident management, embedded offer advisor, and one-click opportunity creation, allow agents to quickly solve customer issues and drive additional sales by extending offers during customer chat sessions.

Email channel can now help eliminate spam- Proactive customer communication, done effectively, is a great way to improve the level of service to customers. In RightNow 8.2, organizations can avoid spamming and ensure that they are delivering the right information to the right customers at the right time.

"Our customers come to our Web site, they call into our contact centre, and they send emails," said Ken Harris, CIO at Shaklee Corporation. "They expect the same outstanding service regardless of how they contact us. They also expect consistency, so it is important that we have RightNow, which helps us maintain a single conversation with our customers. We use our excellent service as a way to set ourselves apart from competitors. We couldn't do it without RightNow."

Emma Herrod