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Renaissance of the avatars: Internet users want to be led by the hand
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Virtual service agents as waypointers - more popular with men than women
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Majority of Internet users could do without conventional navigation
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Hamburg, July 12th 2007 –
Most online shoppers are evidently fed up of websites with complicated navigation structures. Some 60 per cent would be prepared to do without classic navigation elements and rely, for example, on being guided through virtual shopping worlds by a virtual service agent. Men are more open to innovative website navigation options than women here. These are the results of the trend survey "Vernetzte Kunden - Wie Web 2.0 das Online-Shopping verändert" (Online consumers - how Web 2.0 is changing online shopping) conducted by novomind AG in collaboration with wiwo.de and handelsblatt.com.
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Many users are fed up with clicking their way through the many colourful pages of shopping portals and would have nothing against a guide to lead them through the depths of virtual shopping worlds. What may seem surprising at first glance: more than 62 per cent of men are prepared to let themselves be guided by a virtual service agent, an avatar. Only about 45 per cent of women, on the other hand, would trust the services of a virtual assistant. According to this, men are indeed capable of asking the way - at least in online shops.
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Navigation aids are appreciated most by users of between 41 and 50 years of age. Nearly 66 per cent of respondents in this age group can imagine abandoning conventional page navigation methods and instead finding the products they are looking for in dialogue with a virtual agent. However, the majority of younger surfers also value the easy use of avatars. Some 55 per cent of shoppers in that age bracket would be happy to do without the sometimes complicated navigation systems in online shops.
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Virtual sales assistants, such as IQ AgentsTM from novomind, provide real-time responses to customer enquiries and advice on completing online forms. In doing so, they help to prevent transactions from being broken off and so make an important contribution to promoting customer loyalty. The company also profits from cost savings. As virtual sales assistants are equipped with dialogue systems that also understand slang, enquiries can be answered on the website without resorting to other media. This considerably reduces the number of incoming telephone calls and e-mails.
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Users of between 30 and 50 are particularly open to avatars.
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The report on the trend survey "Vernetzte Kunden - Wie Web 2.0 das Online-Shopping verändert" presents the findings of an online survey conducted for novomind AG in collaboration with wiwo.de and handelsblatt.com. The survey investigated where the latest trends lie with Web 2.0 applications and how customers use them. The survey was conducted during the period from 30 January to 28 February 2007. Altogether 374 end consumers took part.
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novomind is a software developer in Hamburg and the fastest-growing company in the field of electronic customer communications and mail management. As the leading provider of innovative solutions for digital customer communications, novomind AG provides software for service-oriented and personalised customer dealings. The software not only optimises efficiency in customer administration significantly, it also gives the user a faster return on investment. The portfolio of the Products division includes the novomind Self-Service Suite™. The software package contains all the communication modules necessary for a customer service centre on a central knowledge basis: e-mail management, virtual customer consulting and systems for interactive, real-time communication. The novomind AG Services division implements complex e-business applications. More than 40 major companies have already decided in favour of novomind technology, among them Citibank, Otto, Yello Strom and the German pension institution Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund. Club Bertelsmann, EnBW and Mexx as well as public-sector users, such as the German Bundestag (parliament) and the German Department of Trade and Industry, have already successfully introduced novomind systems to optimise their customer communications, turnover and PR.
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