Name of your website?Live Agent Outsourced Call Handling & Customer Contact
Your name?
Allison Piearce
Your Location (city, etc)
Crewe, Cheshire
Please give us a short summary of your website?
To introduce businesses to the benefits of using a network of high calibre, individually selected home-based agents (who are located throughout the UK); to create a 'virtual' call centre - a proven alternative to using traditional call centres for high quality contact services. A cost effective solution for companies seeking to reduce staff overheads yet retain or improve the quality of their customer contact.
What inspired you to launch your own website?
Set up in response to the demand for companies to fulfil a corporate social responsibility, reduce their carbon footprint and reduce business overheads, Live-Agent is designed to give companies on-demand access to high quality telemarketing, call handling, telemarketing and data cleansing services while eliminating the need to invest in a 'bricks & mortar' call centre to accommodate staff. It is a flexible, on-demand customer contact solution enabling companies to easily respond to changes in their customer demand. It also improves the work life balance for employees with flexible working and no daily commute.
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
The site was launched in June 2008.
How did you decide on a name for your website?
To reflect the 'on-demand' nature of our network of high quality agents, we decided Live Agent was the most appropriate name. It also has some reference to the proven technology that supports the Live Agent system.
What makes your service different from other, similar offerings?
Basically Live Agent ticks all the boxes for any companies looking to reduce their staff overheads yet retain quality customer relations. We know many companies in the UK have recently experimented with off-shoring their customer contact operations (as a cheaper alternative to an in house call centre). However this has resulted in the loss of quality which has led to a rise in customer dissatisfaction. Because at Live Agent we carefully select and vet our agents before matching them to the most appropriate clients, the level of understanding our agents have for the client's customers cannot be surpassed, which in turn leads to a far better customer service experience and improved customer relations. Furthermore the client does not need to invest in a bricks and mortar call centre to accommodate staff or face any of the overheads associated with maintaining a large building.
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
The ultimate goal for Live Agent is to continue delivering such excellent value for money and high quality customer contact solutions to our clients; to improve their customer services and to ultimately become the largest virtual call centre operation in the world.
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
At this launch phase the projection time and money invested so far is expected to reap great rewards, as more and more UK companies are beginning to appreciate the benefits of outsourcing their call handling operations to a network of agents within the UK.
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
The system that supports Live Agent currently drives the most successful outsourced home-based agents operation in the USA. With such a resource on board we are confident that Live Agent can easily keep up with any demand generated.
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
Fortunately there have been no unexpected costs associated with the project.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Our biggest challenge has been educating company bosses to understand that a more cost-effective customer contact solution does not mean they have to compromise on quality. Many companies with a call centre requirement have been badly affected by unhappy 'off shoring' experiences. They now need to feel confident that any solution they employ, when bringing their customer service operations back to the UK, is going to be the right choice. They need to be made aware that there is a high quality alternative to the traditional call centre. Furthermore there are ecological rewards associated with the Live Agent system and an opportunity to fulfil their corporate social responsibility.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
The most successful method for promoting the website has so far been through a planned public relations campaign, search engine optimisation and telemarketing initiatives. Future cost per click advertising will of course feature in the site's future promotion.
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
So far running the website has generally fallen in line with expectations and has not thrown too may surprises.
How long have you run the site already, and how long will you continue to keep it up if you don't enjoy big gains in traffic, income or popularity?
Live-Agent.co.uk is the main shop window for the company which was initially launched in June 2008. Apart from telling customers what customer contact and call handling services the company offers, the website also serves as a link to the extranet system for agents and clients to login to and as a point of contact for online employment application. We therefore anticipate keeping the site for all time.
Sum up what are you hoping to achieve with your website
To introduce UK companies to the world of the 'virtual' call centre, as they no longer need to spend resources on expensive 'bricks & mortar' investment or use inadequate off-shoring solutions - Live Agent delivers a higher quality, more cost effective, reliable, environmentally friendlier, proven alternative to traditional call centre operations.
What is your website address?
Live Agent Outsourced Call Handling & Customer Contact
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