Customer Engagement 2.0

On the Internet Evolution weblog Rob Geier presents some interesting findings from an Informationweek survey about Rich Internet Applications. According to the survey, the most important reason to use RIAs is improving the Customer Experience. Although management dashboards and customer support are also popular, many companies are already building RIAs for self-service and e-commerce.

Rob’s main RIA example is Home & Abroad, a personalized travel site. If you have a couple of minutes, use the ‘Quick Planner’ to see how they suggest a trip itinerary based on your preferences: pretty cool.

However, when I started editing my itinerary I wasn’t very impressed with the user experience. Until I realized why I wasn’t impressed:

► All travel planning sites need great faceted search!

And that’s what Home & Abroad is missing. I scoured the internet for some other examples. I found some good sites via the excellent Web 2.0 Travel blog and Travel+Leisure’s Top 25 Travel Sites. But let’s first define what we mean with Faceted Search.

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When at the Forrester Financial Marketing event in New York, I had the pleasure to meet with Alyson Clarke, a principal Analyst at Forrester.  We sat together to discuss and share some ideas about Online Advice Tools. We talked about collaborative tools, simple tools like financial calculators, product selectors, and advice tools. She brought her analyst perspective and I shared my perspective as a technology vendor building richer interface solutions to many of the financial institutions.

Alyson’s take is that people are desperate for financial advice and that their needs are not met today. “Firms should focus on delivering a better customer experience starting by giving clients access to financial advice”, she told me. “The need for advice is amplified by new and complex taxes, pension reforms, turbulent markets, and complicated financial products. Most people can’t afford expert advice so most of them are shifting to the Internet in search for advice.” But advice delivery has not caught up.  Sure you can view your accounts, access general information, apply for a credit card or for a mortgage, and do some transactions, but where is the advice - the personal touch that people need – the collaboration?

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In the July 14th issue of DMNews, Dana Kevish, Interactive Marketing Manager for acehardware.com, chats about her most recent collaboration with GSI Commerce—the “choose your location” component using geo-location technology. In layman terms, the “choose your location” component is an Ajax-based Rich Internet Application (RIA) feature that gives visitors the option to search for local Ace stores depending on address or location. By using geo-location technology, the Ace website identifies your approximate location so you don’t have to enter an address. Because the store locator is a mashup, Ace store locations are automatically displayed on Google Maps. There are two benefits for doing this: first, Ace didn’t have to develop their own mapping component; and second, users are greeted with a familiar user experience.

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A colleague recently introduced me to a book about engagement and wedding rings.  You can probably guess that I’m shopping for an engagement ring, and speaking from a guy’s point of view, this is a very daunting task.  I will be the first to admit that I know little about rings and it wasn’t until recently that I could identify the 4 Cs of diamonds. Online stores often offer the best deal, but – until recently – it wasn’t as comforting to buy online as it was to buy in a store. However, the latest Rich Internet Applications greatly improve the online engagement ring shopping experience.

Prior to researching online options, I visited a well-known jewelry store to speak with a “sales professional.”  After all, he professionally attempted to lure me into buying one of their expensive diamond rings.  Granted, the ring looked spectacular but given the price tag, it was way out of my budget!  I wondered if I could find a better deal online for a comparable ring, and while I was certain I could, I wondered if an online retailer could match the in-store experience of a brick-and-mortar.

It didn’t take long before I stumbled upon the bluenile.com website.  The first thing I noticed right away was how easy it was to search for a diamond.  With the use of Ajax, they employ what we call “faceted search”, a rich internet application (RIA) feature that uses criteria sliders to narrow your search results.  This is an intuitive functionality that makes it easier for the user to find a specific diamond they are looking for.

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