posted on June 8, 2001 10:10:59 AM new
Hello guys. I ran across something interesting a while back which explains why the responses from eBay Support don't always match up with our query. Have you ever received an answer via email from eBay that didn't pertain to your original question? Well. here's the reason. They're using an automated artificial intelligence module to handle their standard email responses. Our replies are from a ROBOT. LOL
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To handle this rapidly growing load of online customer interactions, the company has built a customer service and support staff of 200 employees and 60 independent contractors. To create leverage, they invested in an electronic mail response management system (MRM) by Kana Communications that provides e-mail routing and tracking and also helped the company build a knowledgebase of sales and support content. The system reportedly improved customer service representatives' productivity by more than 50% by routing messages to appropriate specialists and dealing with routine inquiries by invoking the company knowledgebase.
In addition, the knowledge base has allowed eBay to provide customers a self-service alternative with a searchable online frequently asked questions. This system currently answers 200 questions every 20 minutes without assistance from a service representative.
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http://www.crmproject.com/wp/diorio.html
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Kana Response consists of multiple individual modules designed to assist e-businesses in the handling of their E-Mail and Web-based communications. Included are modules allowing for automatic queueing and prioritization of inbound queries, mail-merge features to allow for personalized E-Mail delivery utilizing existing database information, and a link module for connecting external systems into the Kana platform. Additional features of Kana Response include improvements to the artificial intelligence module Kana Classify, which attempts to automatically respond to or suggest reponses to incoming customer E-Mails based on their content, and Kana Conduits, allowing the suite to interface with existing CRM applications.
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http://ipw.internet.com/e-business/customer_relationship_management/916161115.html
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A recent spot survey by Business 2.0 magazine found that 40% of automated responses didn't even answer the customer's question. Smart e-businesses will deploy a customer service solution that uses the best in online artificial intelligence to offer more efficient, accurate and timesaving responses. The ideal online customer communications solution will manage incoming messages efficiently and also be flexible enough to provide the option for a live customer service agent to review responses before sending.[/quote]
http://www.realmarket.com/news/kana102599.html
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I always suspected this when they used to have so-called live support on their Question and Answer Board but I never really knew for sure. At least we can't blame the brain fart eBay response emails on incompetent support personnel - it's an incompetent ROBOT.
posted on June 8, 2001 10:42:26 AM new
I wonder if we'll notice. Considering the number of times I've had to write two emails to get an answer because the first one addressed a keyword, but not my question, I doubt it.
No robot could be as dimwitted as half their service reps seem to be in email; maybe the responses will improve.
How about: SnotBot, NottaClueBot, GotBot?, and for those really warm and fuzzy responses, MomBot.
posted on June 8, 2001 10:49:50 AM new
I've been to eBay Support's office and watched the reps answer the mail - somebody looks at every one and replies, sometimes pulling out pre-written responses, sometimes answering from scratch.
invested in an electronic mail response management system provides e-mail routing and tracking
That's the online webforms, where you choose a topic - that topic becomes a subject line that allows the question to be routed to the appropriate staff.
a self-service alternative with a searchable online frequently asked questions
Again, that's the webforms - choose the topic, then search for the answer; if you don't find the answer, send an email.
automatically respond to or suggest reponses to incoming customer E-Mails based on their content
When we were there, Kana wasn't suggesting responses, but, as I said above, there is - and always has been - a database of pre-written responses. According to a thread on one of the eBay boards started by Griff, some of the responses were originally written by Pierre, if I remember right.
posted on June 8, 2001 01:19:44 PM new
Someone may look at every e-mail that sent to EBAY, but based on the half-baked replies I've gotten, I seriously doubt they actually "read" them. They adept at using a randomized gennerally inane pre-written rsponse which contains one keyword of the e-mail to which they are responding.
Either that, or if the responses I've seen are their best effort at a thought-out reply, they're even dumber than I thought.
posted on June 8, 2001 03:20:33 PM new
I think someone is in charge of watching over the bot but I believe this thing is perfectly capable of answering the standard questions without ANY help. That doesn't mean we should be discouraged about sending eBay emails because I know, from what I read about this system, that it keeps logs and records of all the correspondence and I'm sure a REAL person looks at them. There are also some emails that the robot can't answer and these most likely are spit out of the automated system in order to wait for the attention of a REAL person.
It appears that the best way to get a REAL person to answer your question is to ask it in a way that the robot won't understand. However, the REAL person may not understand it either. LOL
The bad news is the part about keeping records and logs. I'm not real thrilled about THAT feature.
The good news is not having to worry about your spelling because I doubt that the bot really cares.
posted on June 8, 2001 07:03:35 PM new
Most of us figured THAT out a long time ago since the answers bear no relation to the questions asked. Finally stopped asking any questions. Another reason I refuse to be a member of the ebay police and police their site for them!
posted on June 8, 2001 07:33:46 PM new
On the flip side, if you gripe often you get to fill out surveys and tell them how nice the other sites are! These probably just get canned into statistics, but what the hey.
