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Pablo Ouziel (212) 414 - 9590 Pablo@askit.com |
Customer service is one of six key performance areas that earned ritzcamera.com this prestigious award
NEW YORK, March 3, 2001 - AskIt's customer service solution was an important factor in helping ritzcamera.com earn BizRate.com's "Circle of Excellence Award - an honor presented to the Web's 20 top-performing e-tailers for holiday season 2000."AskIt played a key role in providing our customer service team with the tools necessary to achieve the high standard required to obtain this award," said Vance Brown, chief customer officer for phobo.com.
In order to be admitted to the "Circle of Excellence", BizRate.com e-tailers demonstrated outstanding performance during this past holiday season and achieved a performance rating significantly above the BizRate.com Gold Star average on a variety of service criteria, including: ease of ordering; product selection and availability; on-time delivery; customer support, overall customer satisfaction and repurchase intent. This information was based on feedback from more than one million online buyers.
ritzcamera.com, one of the flagship properties, within the phobo.com network of interactive Web sites, is in its second year of operation. The site represents the e-commerce business of the well-established brick-and-mortar retail chain, Ritz Camera Centers, which has been in business for over 80 years and features more than 1000 stores nationwide.
AskIt.com, an Application Service Provider (ASP) that is a leader in outsourced online customer service solutions, provides ritzcamera.com with online customer service support. When a customer asks a question on the ritzcamera.com Web site (www.ritzcamera.com), AskIt!, an automated expert system searches the database to provide a relevant answer. Most routine questions can be handled in this way. If the questioner does not receive a satisfactory answer, the question is submitted online to an in-house service representative at ritzcamera.com. That expert's answer then becomes part of the database. In this way, AskIt! builds an ever-expanding and more robust database of vital information. AskIt! Works behind the scenes, transparent to the user who poses questions at the ritzcamera.com Web site.
According to Customer Support Management Magazine, AskIt.com is "The easiest to use, quickest to implement, most cost-effective solution for Web-based customer service." The magazine presented AskIt.com with a "User's Choice Gold Award" in phobo.com is an integrated merchant with some of the most popular Internet shopping destinations, including Yahoo!, Disney.com and Family.com. phobo.com previously announced a five-year strategic alliance with America Online, Inc., making all of the phobo.com sites available across several AOL brands, including AOL's Shop@online shopping destinations
For more information on the "Circle of Excellence Awards," or to view a complete list of BizRate.com "Circle of Excellence" award winners, please see the BizRate.com home page (www.BizRate.com).
About phobo.comAskIt.com's solution allows companies to cost-effectively: reduce inbound emails and customer support costs up to 80%; increase customer service levels by offering 24x7 automated support; and gain valuable insight into their businesses. The AskIt! system's functionality includes: self-help; inbound and outbound email management tools; and integration with live-chat. AskIt.com customers include leading financial institutions such as BankOne, Citibank and online brokers Scottrade, as well as major retailers such as Dean & Deluca and Ritz Camera . AskIt.com is a privately held company and is headquartered in New York. For additional information, contact info@askit.com or call (212) 414-9590.