Leading Online Company Profits with Live Phone Operators

The Client

The Client is a worldwide market leader in online hotel reservations; provider of fast, secure and easy-to-use booking system with access to over 35,000 hotels, inns, B&Bs, and resorts. The Client was losing online sales due to both seasonal and irregular network congestion. They believed that frustrated customers were abandoning the sales process when browsing seemed too slow. Factors beyond their control did not allow them to “fix the internet”.

The Challenge

The Client believed they could save these abandoned sales by making their online reservation system available over the phone, allowing potential customers to talk to a live operator 24/7. They decided to provide a prominently displayed toll-free number on their website believing that live operators could keep the customer on the line until closing the sale during congested periods. By electing to outsource, they hoped to find a single experienced call center could cut costs by managing both incoming phone sales and customer service for cancellations or reservation modifications.

The Results

By boldly choosing to support their online business with live operators, they discovered that far from cannibalize their online channel, they strengthened it, even created a new channel of dedicated phone customers, and simultaneously offloading management of customer service requests to Callbox.

• Customer confidence increased phone channel sales across the board by attracting customers who had not and would not use the online system.
• Repeat sales increased due directly to Callbox agent friendliness. Customers regularly requested the Agent’s name, and requested the Agent by name on subsequent calls.
• New and more customer-oriented sales outlet
• Reduced costs by more than 50% per customer