Repeat queries reduced - Company Business and Marketing

Communications News, July, 2000 by Sean Kelly

The steady stream of phone and e-mail inquiries--particularly repeat questions and calls--overwhelmed Watlow-Anafaze, a supplier of sophisticated process-control instrumentation in Watsonville, CA. The company did not have the resources nor the time to set up a comprehensive FAQ system to address the problem.

"After several years, we decided to invest in a software program to alleviate this problem," says Mike Sims, Watlow-Anafaze product manager. "We did not want to dole out thousands of dollars to install a program. Nor did we have the technical expertise or personnel on hand to implement and maintain a complex software solution."

The company turned to Software911, a Web-based customer-service solution with a sophisticated FAQ system that could be ready in one or two days. Sims says the program was installed just before he left for a trip to St. Louis. "En route to St. Louis I decided to write out 30 FAQs we regularly get from our customers," he says. "By the time I reached my hotel, I had assembled all of my FAQs. Using my password for the administrative site, I logged on and submitted these into the system. I was actually populating a Web-based knowledge base without doing any programming. In less than a day, I had installed a professional, integrated customer service Web portal for our company."

Following the installation, call and e-mail volume substantially dropped, as customers were increasingly able to find answers to their questions. "FAQs have actually proved to be the fastest method for our customers to retrieve information, surpassing search engines and e-mail. Software911 has helped us add improved self-help service on a 24x7 basis," says Sims. "Software911's service portals have provided us with a simple, cost-effective and extremely manageable product that has greatly enhanced our company's customer service and support."

www.Software911.com Circle 258 for more information from Software911