Understanding Who's On

When referring to websites, we often use terms like "virtual storefront" and "shopping cart" to describe the way customers interact with out sites and our offers. But real bricks and mortar businesses have an advantage over online businesses in that they can see what customers are doing in real as they interact with store displays and products. In these real stores, service people can see when a customer is confused by options, can answer questions and provide advice quickly, and can assist with the final transaction in the "now." Previous, internet businesses have only had analytics to tell them about such interactions in the virtual world. Web analytics—although exceptionally useful—usually only tell you what has happened in the past, perhaps after the customer has already left your site. Who's On has been created to bring the advantages of real-time customer interactions to the online environment.

The Virtual Shop

Think of Who's On as real-time analytics where employees/service agents can "see" a customer's progress through the site—whether that customer is only finding information or proceeding though the sales path to a completed transaction. The Who's On features in SmarterTrack allow you to virtually follow that customer from page to page—seeing where they spend the most time and what pages they go back to. It allows you to notice and report on literally dozens of items about that customer.

Use with Live Chat to Increase Sales

When used with SmarterTrack's included live chat feature, agents can either push or invite an individual site visitor to a live chat. Imagine that an agent notices a customer returning again and again to a specific page on the site—perhaps indicating that they need more information on that topic or are not finding what they are looking for. Agents can "virtually approach" these customers and offer help, additional resources, and advice. If a potential customer is "stuck" on an ordering page, agents can assist in the finalizing of the transaction in a friendly, unobtrusive way.

Visitor Broadcasting

Who's On also keeps track of all site visitors simultaneously and can allow site owners to display broadcast messages to all visitors at the same time. This can be perfect for periodic promotions and for displaying service messages such as site maintenance prior to service interruptions.

Visitor Surveys

When used in conjunction with SmarterTrack's onboard survey system, individual customers can be given surveys based upon the time they spent on your site, the specific pages visited, and whether or not they completed a transaction. This provides a unique and powerful channel to gather real-time customer-related business intelligence about why the decision was made to buy a product or to move on. The possibilities are truly unlimited.

To learn how to incorporate Who's On into your website, refer to the KB article How To -- Configure Who's On to Track Visitors on your Company's Website.