ABSTRACT

This chapter focuses on describing applications to enable organizations to effectively build Internet communities, market to their customers, deals with prospects to sell products and services online, and provides efficient customer service and support. It presents an introduction to specific software vendors and to set basic expectations for technical and human resource requirements to implement and maintain interactive forums. Internet-based interactive technology can be used to bring a prospect to a company’s Web site to participate in ongoing discussions and debates over various investment instruments. One easy method to envision Web-based customer interaction is through a description of a customer’s experience on a major financial services site. The agent and customer will have multiple options for live interaction, including text-based conferencing, synchronized browser screens, phone callback, and voice and video conferencing. Actual Web-based customer interaction has been limited to a few basic frequently asked question sections and an occasional “e-mail for more information” link.