CN102498707B - System and method for customer contact - Google Patents

Abstract

A user of a personal computing device may identify a product of interest displayed in a user interface provided by a network-based service and intend to obtain more information. The user may submit one or more electronic contact requests to a contact service in communication with the contact distribution system in order to obtain more information. The contact distribution system determines the accurate real-time availability of service agents and enables communications between customers and agents to be established based on user contact information provided by the user.

Description

System and method for customer contact

Background technique

In an increasingly networked society, users frequently use data networks to perform a variety of tasks that were previously performed in person. For example, a user may use his or her computing device to purchase products from a web-based retailer. In yet another example, a user may use banking services to check account balances, pay bills, arrange transfers, and the like. As a result, providers of web-based services face many pre-sales and post-sales contacts with their customers. Systems such as call centers have been developed as centralized scalable organizations to handle high volumes of calls in a variety of contact contexts including, for example, sales and marketing contacts, technical support, and billing. However, call centers have various disadvantages.

For example, the availability of call center agents is typically based on scheduled hours. However, the scheduled hours of contact availability can relatively easily become out of sync or out of date relative to actual agent availability. For example, special events (eg, holidays), time changes, network outages, overstaffing/understaffing, etc. may each affect agent availability in ways that are not reflected in hourly availability. As a result, the availability of the call center agent may be incorrectly reported to the user, potentially discouraging users wishing to contact the call center agent.

Description of drawings

The foregoing aspects and many attendant advantages will be more readily appreciated as they will become better understood by reference to the following detailed description read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

1 is a schematic block diagram of an illustrative contact service in communication with a call distribution system for managing contacts between customers and customer service agents;

2 is a block diagram of the operating environment of FIG. 1 illustrating a contact service providing a contact status to a website in response to a customer client device request for a user interface including an agent status;

3 is an illustrative user interface for display on a customer client device including agent status.

4A is a block diagram of the operating environment of FIG. 1 illustrating a contact service that returns a contact identifier to a website in response to a customer client device contacting a customer service agent;

4B is a block diagram of the operating environment of FIG. 1 showing a website returning a user interface for submitting user contact information to a customer client device and returning a customer service agent interface to a contact service;

5 is an illustrative user interface for display on a customer client device enabling a user to submit customer contact information to a website;

6A is a block diagram of the operating environment of FIG. 1 illustrating a contact distribution service attempting to contact a customer in response to receiving customer contact information;

6B is a block diagram of the operating environment of FIG. 1 illustrating a contact assignment service that returns contact status for display to a user;

7A and 7B are illustrative user interfaces displayed on a customer client device for enabling a user to view contact status;

8A is a block diagram of the operating environment of FIG. 1 showing a proxy client device generating a response to a customer query;

8B is a block diagram of the operating environment of FIG. 1 showing an agent client device returning an agent response to a customer query and a contact status update for display to the customer; and

9 is an illustrative user interface generated on an agent client device for enabling an agent to view contact status and other contact session information.

detailed description

A generally described aspect of the present disclosure relates to providing users of a web-based service (eg, a website) with highly accurate, up-to-date information about the availability of service agents. Additional aspects of the present disclosure relate to facilitating contact between a user and a service agent. Embodiments discussed below may refer to users as customers and service agents as customer service agents. It is to be understood, however, that users are not limited to customers, but may include any user of a web-based service.

In this regard, a contact service is described that receives a customer request for availability of a customer service agent and for contact with a customer service agent (CSA). For example, a customer using a customer computing device such as a personal computer may identify a product of interest offered by a web-based service and may wish to communicate with the CSA regarding the product of interest. This web-based service can be anything that provides goods, services or information of interest to the customer. Thus, web-based services may include web-based retailers, such as those that sell products to customers for purchase, web-based sources of entertainment and/or information (e.g., web-based encyclopedias, media sharing, etc.) ), web-based social networking services that enable users to share content with each other, etc. In one embodiment, a customer may use his or her computing device to request contact agent availability and contact a service agent.

As described in more detail below, these customer requests may be directed to a contact service via a web-based service. The contact service may submit the request to the contact distribution system for generating a response. These responses can be obtained by the contact service and submitted to the web-based service for display to the customer. For example, a web-based service may generate a user interface incorporating these responses for display to the user.

More specifically, the contact distribution system can communicate with one or more CSAs to determine agent availability and to determine agent responses to customer inquiries. The contact assignment system may further establish a contact between the customer and the CSA based on the customer contact information provided to the contact service, and report the status of the contact to the contact service. Because the contact distribution system can determine CSA availability directly from the CSA, there is a low probability that the agent availability information returned by the contact distribution system is out of date or incorrect. Therefore, accurate agent availability information can be provided to customers.

In one non-limiting example, the web-based service may be a web-based retail service via a website, such as a website that sells music and video. Using a personal computing device, a customer may identify a product of interest, such as a movie, that is displayed for display by a web-based retail service. In addition to identifying the product of interest, the customer may also have one or more questions about the movie, such as how the movie was shipped. From his personal computing device, the customer may submit a request to the retailer service's website for a user interface (eg, a web page) that includes information about contact with the CSA. For example, a customer may submit a request for a user interface that displays an agent's status.

This request can in turn be sent from the website to the contact service for a response. The contact service can communicate with the contact distribution system to obtain real-time agent status, which is returned to the website. Based on the returned proxy status, the website can generate the requested web page for display to the customer via the customer's computing device.

The agent status may further be stored or cached by the contact service for a limited time in order to reduce the frequency with which requests for agent status are directed to the contact distribution system. For example, if another customer requests help with the same movie within a limited time period, the contact service may return to the previously determined agent status rather than submitting a new request to the contact distribution system.

In another non-limiting embodiment, a customer may submit customer contact information to the website. The customer contact information, when provided to the content distribution service, may enable the contact distribution service to initiate communications between the customer service agent and the customer. Customer contact information may include information about any means of communication available to the customer.

A contact request - including customer contact information - may be submitted to a contact service. The contact service may in turn submit customer contact information to the contact distribution system. The contact distribution system may attempt to contact the customer using the contact information and return the corresponding contact status to the contact service. The returned contact status can be provided by the contact service to the website, enabling the preparation of another user interface including the contact status for display to the customer. In an additional non-limiting embodiment, once a connection is established between the customer and the service agent, the contact service can relay the customer query and agent response between the service agent and the customer.

In further embodiments, the contact service and contact distribution system may generate and/or use additional information in order to coordinate the receipt and sending of user contact requests and responses between the website and the contact distribution system. In one example, a unique identifier called a contact identifier (contact ID) may be generated by a contact service used to identify a customer contact request and shared with the website and the customer client device.

In another example, the contact distribution service may generate and store one or more identifiers that uniquely identify those generated by the contact distribution system. The contact distribution service may generate a first identifier called a contact leg identifier (contact leg ID) to identify a contact made between the contact distribution system and the customer. The contact distribution service may also generate a second identifier called an agent branch identifier (agent branch ID) to identify contacts made between the contact distribution system and the agent in response to contacts made between the contact distribution system and the customer . These identifiers may be provided by the contact assignment service to the contact service, which may further correlate the contact leg ID and the agent leg ID with the contact ID and store the contact leg ID, agent leg ID and correlation.

The contact service may further correlate these identifiers with other selected generated information at the time of establishing a connection and further store these identifiers and correlations when establishing a connection between the CSA and the customer. In this manner, requests from customers can be associated with the correct contacts through the contact service and contact distribution system, enabling responses generated by the contact service and contact distribution system to be properly routed to the web site in use by the customer.

Referring to FIG. 1, an embodiment of an operating environment 100 for automatically assigning contacts from customers to customer service agents (CSAs) is shown. In operating environment 100 , customers may use customer client devices 160 to communicate with web-based services implemented via website 154 . Website 154 may maintain or generate one or more user interfaces that can be displayed by customer client devices 160 . In case a customer has a question or query about the information displayed in one or more user interfaces 156 provided by the website 154, the customer can use the user interface 156 to request information about a customer service agent and, if necessary, contact customer service. Agent Communications. Requests for CSA information and contacts with CSAs may be directed to contact service 150 in communication with contact distribution system 120, as discussed in more detail below.

It will be appreciated that many of the components described below are optional, and that embodiments of system 100 may or may not incorporate components. The components need not be distinct or discrete. Components may be reorganized in system 100 . System 100 may be represented in a single physical server containing all subsystems described below, or alternatively, the system may be divided into multiple physical servers.

Contact service 150 and website 154 may each be embodied in multiple components, each component executing an instance of a corresponding contact service 150 or website 154 . A server or other computing component implementing contact service 150 or website 154 may include a network interface, memory, processing unit, and computer readable media drive, where all components may communicate with each other through a communication bus. A network interface may provide connectivity through network 110 and/or other networks or computer systems. The processing unit may be in communication to and from memory containing program instructions for execution by the processing unit in order to operate contact service 150 or website 154 . Memory typically includes RAM, ROM, and/or persistent and secondary storage.

Customer client devices may include any communication device capable of displaying a user interface from the website 154, such as PCs, kiosks, thin clients, home computers, and dedicated or embedded machines. Additional examples may include desktop or tablet computers, personal computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), hybrid PDA/mobile phones, mobile phones, e-book readers, set-top boxes, and the like.

Website 154 may communicate with customer client device 160 to transmit customer requests for contact with the CSA. A request may include a request for CSA information, including but not limited to an agent status indicating the current availability of the CSA to communicate with the customer, a contact status indicating the status of the contact between the customer and the customer service agent in response to a request for contact, and Agent responses to customer inquiries.

Responses to customer requests may take the form of user interface (UI) 156 generated by website 154 in some embodiments. The user interface 156 may be generated using the CSA information obtained from the contact service 150 . User interface 156 may further be generated from a template user interface in certain embodiments. Such a template user interface may be maintained by the website 154 and/or the contact service 150, a data store in communication with the website 154, and combinations thereof. In other embodiments, website 154 and/or contact service 150 may also generate agent user interface 111 for use by the SCA, as discussed in more detail below.

Website 154 may further communicate with contact service 150 to obtain CSA information. As discussed in more detail below, contact service 150 submits contact requests received from website 154 to contact distribution system 120 and returns responses to website 154 . Contact service 150 may further store at least a portion of the CSA information and other information generated when responding to customer requests in storage service 152 .

A description of an illustrative embodiment of the contact distribution system 120 can be found in US Patent Application Serial No. 12/192,067, entitled "SYSTEMANDMETHODFORAUTOMATEDCALLDISTRIBUTION," which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. System 120 may include Customer Contact Module (CRM) 101, Contact Controller Service 102, Connection Controller 103, and Metrics Service 104, each of which may be represented in hardware, software, or a combination thereof. The system is responsible for allocating, routing and maintaining connections between customer client devices 160 and the CSA. As described below, a connection may be established between the customer phone 105, the CSA phone 106, and the agent client device 107. System 100 is connectable to customers and agents via telephony carriers 108 and 109 and data carrier 110 .

In alternative embodiments, the telephones 105, 106 may be supplemented with and/or replaced by other communication mechanisms. Examples may include, but are not limited to, computing devices capable of sending and receiving email, SMS messages, instant messages, electronic messages that are published or posted for viewing by others, and video messages. Contact distribution system 120 may connect user client devices 160 and proxy client devices 107 over one or more networks 110, as known to those skilled in the art.

In one embodiment, CRM 101 enables contact distribution system 120 to manage contacts and relationships with its customers. CRM 101 may consist of several databases (not shown) and may have links (not shown) to other systems directly and indirectly related to customer contact management. For example, as described below, CRM 101 may maintain and/or contain customer information used by the CSA.

Contact controller service 102 handles incoming customer calls and other functions including, but not limited to: tracking agent status/availability (i.e., whose agents are available to handle incoming customer calls); (possibly out of order) logical query (not shown) (although pending customers may connect to media service 112); route calls, i.e., match available agents with incoming customer calls; The information resulting from the operation of the component) is forwarded to the metrics service 104.

The metrics service 104 is generally connected to the contact controller service 102 . This service stores information about customer contacts and CSAs. In addition, it can create reports (such as SL reports) based on real-time and historical data. The metrics service may provide information to the contact controller service 102 .

Connection controller 103 may use SIP signaling (Voice over IP technology) to handle the structure of handling phone calls, expose functionality that allows other systems (eg, Contact Controller Services) to handle calls, and propagate phone events through system 100 . A connection controller 103 may connect 105 a customer phone to an agent phone 106 . Connection controller 103 may utilize the following subsystems: media server 112 , interactive voice response (IVR) system 113 , and call recorder system 114 .

The media server 112 can handle the structure of playing announcements and storing music in many different contexts in the system. Customers can connect to this server when they are placed on hold. The system can play a "whisper" (ie, an informative introductory message) to the CSA just before the CSA connects to the customer.

The interactive voice response system 113 may be a "robot" that sometimes handles customer contacts before the customer is transferred to an active CSA. The IVR may obtain preliminary information for routing calls and/or classifying call types.

Contact recorder system 114 may record customer contacts. A contact recorder may provide a common interface to record contacts that occur or have occurred anywhere in the system 100 in the past.

The CSA will generally have two connections to the system: a proxy client device shown at 107 and a telephone connection shown at 106 . Proxy client device 107 is capable of displaying user interface 111 to system 100 and may be any computing device. Those skilled in the art will recognize that one or more CSAs may be located in a conventional monolithic call center (where the CSA and system 100 are in close physical proximity). Alternatively, CSAs may be located in close proximity to other CSAs (as in a "call center"), but away from the system (which would then be housed in a "data center"). As another alternative, one or more CSAs may be remote from the system data center and other CSAs. The proxy client device may include any type of communication device capable of displaying information from the contact distribution system 120 such as a PC, kiosk, thin client, home computer, dedicated or embedded machine. Additional examples may include desktop or tablet computers, personal computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), hybrid PDA/mobile phones, mobile phones, e-book readers, set-top boxes, and the like.

Similarly, agent phone system 106 may include proprietary phone equipment, VoIP equipment, complex PBX systems, live phones on traditional phone lines, and the like. In some embodiments, agent telephone system 106 need not be connected via a PBX or other telephone switching system. Also, for the purposes of this disclosure, a group of one or more CSAs may be referred to as a proxy node, whether physically in a monolithic call center or data center or logically, eg, not in close physical proximity to each other.

The CSA user interface 111 displays content from the contact controller service 102 or the CRM 101 . Such an interface may be a suitable application running on a computer. Alternatively, it may display web pages, browsers, widgets, applets, etc. generated or otherwise provided by Contact Controller Service 102 or CRM 101 . In further embodiments, the CSA user interface 111 may display a web page, browser, widget, applet, etc. generated or otherwise provided by a web-based service. The link between content distribution system 120 and user interface 111 may be mediated by any of a number of data carriers and protocols, including HTTP protocol, HTTPS, instant messaging, distributed storage, or suitable protocols or combinations of these.

The customer and the customer telephone system shown at 105 respectively call the end user of the system 100 . Such customers may connect to content distribution system 120 via one of many telephony carriers 108 . Such connections may also be established through newer non-traditional protocols such as SIP, HTTP, IRC, other instant messaging protocols, and the like. Customers can connect to the system using inexpensive telephone equipment, complex PBX systems, or any other communication mechanism.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the operating environment of FIG. 1 showing a customer requesting a user interface from a website 154 including the status of the website's CSA. A customer may communicate with the website 154 via the user interface 156 displayed by the customer client device 160 to access any web-based services offered by the website 154 . When a customer has a question or question that is displayed in one or more user interfaces 156 provided by the website 154, the customer may use the user interface 156 to request the status of the website's customer service agents. In this manner, the customer can identify whether a CSA is available for assistance. As shown in FIG. 2, a customer may use a customer client device 160 to submit a request for a user interface that includes an agent status.

For example, the request may include a request for a web page containing the proxy status. The request may be transmitted to the website 154 which detects the agent status required to respond to the customer request and submits the agent status to the contact service 150 .

The contact service 150 in turn submits a request for the agent status to the contact assignment service 120 which generates and returns the agent status. In one embodiment, the real-time availability of the CSA may be generated by the contact distribution system 120 through communication with the CSA. For example, to signal availability to the system, the CSA may press a key or select a user interface control from the CRM user interface 111 on the computer 107 . The contact controller service 102 may then initiate a call to the CSA via the connection controller 103 , for example through the CSA's phone system 106 . The CSA can answer the call to signal to the system that he or she is ready and able to accept calls from customers.

If there are no customers waiting for service, the CSA may maintain a connection to the system that is a statically open (ie, ready-made) connection. To signal a transition from availability to unavailability (eg, to have lunch or coffee), the CSA may simply hang up the phone. A severed connection or selected unavailable state to connection controller 103 may signal to contact controller service 102 and CRM 101 that the CSA is indicating that he or she is no longer available for customer contact (or the CSA is down due to, for example, a failure in the network) unintentionally disconnected from the system).

If the CRM system 101 fails, the CSA may not be able to press or click the user interface control to signal availability to the system, or when the CSA does not click the user interface control, the CSA may not enter the available state and therefore not receive calls. Some embodiments may include a phone system based interactive voice application that will allow the CSA to signal its availability through its phone system 106 .

It will be appreciated that silently opened connections are not necessary to the operation of the system. In an alternative embodiment, the CSA may signal availability by accessing controls on the user interface 111 or another device. When the contact controller 102 has a customer connected to the CSA, the contact controller 102 may then instruct the connection controller 103 to connect to it, for example by calling the CSA's telephone device 106 .

Advantageously, by placing the burden of signaling availability on the CSA, the contact distribution system maintains a highly accurate real-time indication of CSA availability at all times. This real-time availability is highly adaptive to changes in agent availability and provides nearly instant updates to agent status, as opposed to static mechanisms such as operating hours that determine agent status. Therefore, there is a low probability that the agent status will be out of date by the time it is provided to the customer, helping to ensure that customer expectations are met during any subsequent contact between the customer and the CSA (e.g., low latency, and the CAS has the appropriate skills to help customers, etc.).

The agent status returned to the contact service 150 may be further submitted to the website 154 for eventual display to the customer. Upon receiving the agent status, the website 154 may generate a user interface of the agent status requested by the customer. The generated user interface may then be provided to a client device including the customer 160 for display to the customer.

FIG. 3 illustrates one embodiment of a user interface 300 displayed on a customer client device 160 including agent status. The user interface 300 is generated by the website www.xyz.com and includes products for sale in the first window 302 and assists with information in the second window 320 . User interface 300 may also include biographical information 304 about the customer (if available from website 154), such as the customer's name. User interface 300 may also include an image 306 of the product of interest (eg, object D), as well as additional purchase details about the object available from website 154 . For example, purchase details may include the name of the object 310, price 312, rating 314, description, and an indication 316 of available listings for the product of interest. Those skilled in the art will recognize that the purchase details shown in FIG. 3 are illustrative and that additional or different purchase details may be included in the user interface 300 .

Help window 320 of user interface 300 may also include greeting 322 indicating agent status, contact information for CSA 324 , and contact user interface control 326 . In one example, an agent status may be indicated as "available" or "unavailable." When the agent status is "available," the customer can use the contact user interface control 326 to contact the CSA. Selection of the contact user interface control 326 may submit a contact request to the website 154 enabling a contact to be established within a short period of time. Such contact user interface controls are often referred to as "click-to-call" controls.

In some embodiments, contact user interface control 326 may not be present in user interface 300 when the agent status is "unavailable." Accordingly, user interface 300 may be provided by website 154 to indicate to the customer that no CSA is available for communications at the current time and that no communications may be accepted. A contact user interface control 326 may also be provided in the user interface 300 to enable the customer to provide contact information that can be used by the CSA to contact the customer at a later time. Selecting the contact user interface control 326 may submit a contact request to the website 154, which enables the contact to be established at a later time when the CSA is available.

FIG. 4A shows a block diagram of the operating environment 100 of FIG. 1 showing a contact request being submitted to the website 154 . A customer may decide that she wishes to communicate with a CSA upon receiving an agent status in a user interface such as that shown in FIG. 2 . A request to contact a CSA may be submitted, for example, by a customer selecting contact control 326 in user interface 300 . The website 154 submits a request to the contact service 150 for a contact identifier (contact ID) when a continuation request is received. A contact identifier is an identifier that uniquely identifies a requested user contact to a contact service. As discussed in more detail below, information generated during the process of establishing a connection between a customer and a CSA may be associated with a connection identifier. This correlation enables the contact service 150 to correctly identify the information relevant to the contact request so that a response appropriate to the contact request is returned to the website 154 . When a contact ID request is received, the contact service 150 generates a contact ID and returns the contact ID to the website 154 .

After the website 154 receives the contact ID, the website 154 proceeds to generate and distribute one or more user interfaces in response. FIG. 4B shows a block diagram of the operating environment 100 of FIG. 1 showing a website response to receipt of a contact ID. In one aspect, website 154 may generate agent user interface 111 for use by the CSA. Website 154 may further correlate agent user interface 111 with a contact ID and provide each to contact service 150 . When a contact is established between a customer and a CSA, the contact service 150 may store the agent user interface and contact ID for later use.

In another aspect, the website 154 may generate a user interface used by the customer to submit customer contact information for establishing contact with the CSA. The website 154 can further correlate this user interface with contact IDs and provide each to the customer client device 160. In this manner, contact information subsequently submitted by the customer can be correlated with the contact ID, ensuring that the contact service 150 properly responds to contact requests from the customer client device 160 .

FIG. 5 is a user interface 500 displayed on a customer client device 160 enabling a customer to submit contact information to the website 154 . User interface 500 may include an identifier associated with website 154 . For example, identifier 502 may include a graphic, a logo, or the like. User interface 500 may also include instructions 504 for the customer to enter contact information, such as "Please enter your contact information below." Contact information may include one or more of the customer's country 506, phone number 510, and time 512 of contacting the customer.

The time 512 provided in the user interface 500 may vary according to the state of the agent. When the agent status is "Available", the customer may enter any contact time, reflecting the current availability of the CSA. Customers can be restricted to selected times when the agent status is "unavailable". For example, selection options for time 512 in these cases may include a "first available" time range or proposed time. The time frame or proposed time may in one embodiment be offset from the current time by a selected amount, reflecting the current lack of availability of the CSA.

It will be appreciated that other customer contact information may be submitted instead of or in addition to those discussed above such as an email address, an instant message address, and a user account for another web-based service. The customer may submit contact information through selection of user interface control 514 .

When displayed, a user interface enabling entry of customer contact information such as that shown in FIG. 5 may be used by the customer to enter his or her contact information to continue the process of contacting the CSA. 6A is a block diagram of the operating environment 100 of FIG. 1 showing the website 154 submitting customer contact information to the website 154 for contacting a CSA. As shown in FIG. 6A, the submission may also include a contact ID previously generated by the contact service 150 for the contact. The website 154 further submits the contact information and contact ID to the contact service 150 , which in turn passes this information on to the contact distribution service 120 .

Contact distribution service 120 may also attempt to contact the customer using the customer contact information received from contact service 150 . In one embodiment, the contact distribution service 120 may not be able to establish a contact with the customer. For example, the contact information provided to the contact distribution service 120 may be invalid, or network problems may prohibit establishing a contact. In other embodiments, the contact distribution service may successfully establish a contact with the customer. Examples of successful contact may include the phone ringing when an attempt is made to call the customer and the customer answering the call attempt. In other embodiments where the phone does not perform the contact, examples of successful contact may include confirmation that an instant message, SMS message, video message, or other form of electronic message was successfully received.

When a contact attempt is made, the contact distribution service 120 may return the status of the contact to the contact service 150 . FIG. 6B is a block diagram of the operating environment 100 of FIG. 1 showing the contact assignment service 120 returning the contact status to the contact service 150 . The contact status indicates the status of the contact between the customer and the customer service agent in response to the request for contact. The contact assignment service 120 may also generate a contact leg identifier (contact leg ID) and return the contact leg identifier to the contact service 150 when a successful contact is made. The contact leg ID may represent an identifier that uniquely identifies a successful contact to the contact distribution system 120 . The contact distribution service 120 may also generate an agent leg identifier (agent leg ID) when a successful contact is made. The agent branch ID may be returned to the contact service 150 and the agent client device 107 . The contact branch ID may represent an identifier that uniquely identifies a contact between an agent and a contact distribution service.

Upon receiving a contact leg ID, an agent leg ID, and a contact status, the contact service 150 can correlate this information with the contact ID and the agent user interface and store each in the storage service 152 . In this manner, contact service 150 may correlate the information received for transmission to contact distribution system 120 with the appropriate contact. For example, as described below, customer inquiries generated by customers using customer client devices 160 may be identified using specific contacts maintained by contact distribution system 120 .

The contact status may be further transmitted to the website 154 as also shown in FIG. 6B . At the website 154, a user interface including contact status can be generated. As noted above, a reconfigured user interface can be generated with or without the use of a user interface template. Once generated, the user interface including the contact status may be transmitted to the customer client device 160 for display to the customer.

Contact status may also change dynamically during the communication process between the customer and the CSA. In the event of a status change, the contact distribution system 120 may update the contact status associated with the contact branch ID and provide the updated contact status to the contact service 150 . When the contact service 150 previously correlated the contact branch ID with the contact ID, the contact service 150 can identify the contact status to be updated with the appropriate contact. The contact service 150 may further store the updated contact status and provide the updated contact status to the website 154 . The website 154 may in turn generate an updated user interface including the updated contact status for display by the customer client device 160 .

Various contact statuses may be displayed to the customer to reflect the changing contact status. Examples of contact states may include, but are not limited to, connected, connected, on hold, and ended. The connection status may be indicated when the contact distribution service is attempting to make contact with the user. For example, the connection status may be displayed to the customer after dialing the customer's phone number but before the customer picks up the phone. Connected status may be indicated after the customer phone number is dialed and the customer picks up the phone. The hold status may be indicated after the customer picks up the phone but the CSA or contact distribution service 120 places the customer on hold. An end status may be indicated after an established connection has been terminated, for example by a customer or a CSA. It is understood that these contact statuses are discussed as examples and that other statuses may be returned by the contact distribution system 120 without limitation.

In another embodiment, the contact between the customer and the CSA may be re-initiated at a later period (eg, the customer may be called back) instead or after the customer is placed on hold. In one example, the customer may be returned with the option to re-initiate the contact instead of being placed in a suspended user interface. In another example, after the customer is placed on hold for a selected duration, the customer may be provided with a user interface displaying reinitiated contact. In yet another example, instead of placing the customer on hold, or after the customer is placed on hold for a selected duration, contact with the customer may be automatically reinitiated at a later period.

The time at which the contact with the customer is reinitiated can be determined by a variety of different mechanisms. In one example, a contact can be retriggered by the contact distribution service 120 and/or the CSA at any time (e.g., the first available CSA) or a scheduled time window (e.g., within 24 hours from the time of the first contact). initiated. In another example, the time to re-initiate contact can be scheduled by the customer (eg, via a user interface). Where a contact re-initiation time is specified (eg, automatically) for the customer, the customer may be provided with an estimate of when the contact may be re-initiated.

7A and 7B present user interfaces 700, 712 displayed on a customer client device 160 displaying a contact status to the customer. FIG. 7A shows a user interface 700 generated to display a "connected status" to a customer, while Fig. 7B shows a user interface 712 generated to display a "connected status" to a customer. As discussed above with respect to FIG. 5 , the user interface 700 , 712 may include the selected identifier 502 associated with the website 154 . For example, identifier 502 may include a graphic, a logo, or the like. The user interface 700, 712 may also include instructions 704, 714 to the customer informing the customer of any action they should or should not take. The user interface 700 , 712 may additionally include a contact status 706 , 716 . The user interface 700, 712 may also include a user interface control such as 710, 712 that allows the customer to end the contact with the CSA.

The user interface 700, 712 may also display other contact statuses that may be of interest to the customer regarding their communications with the CSA. In one example, if the customer communicates with the CSA, a contact status indicating the duration of the communication between the user and the CSA may be displayed to the customer. In another example, if the customer is connected to the contact distribution service 150 but has not yet communicated with the CSA, a contact status may be displayed indicating the duration the customer waited to communicate with the CSA and/or the estimated time to communicate with the CSA.

Once a connection has been successfully established between the customer and the CSA, the customer can continue to communicate with the CSA. For example, a customer may wish to request one or more inquiries from the CSA. FIG. 8A is a block diagram of the operating environment 100 of FIG. 1 illustrating a customer query being submitted by a customer. For example, a user interface may be displayed to the user that enables the submission of customer inquiries using text, voice, and video. For example, user interfaces such as 700, 712 may be further modified to enable submission of text, voice and/or video input. In some embodiments, the contact ID may be further submitted using a customer query. Customer inquiries and contact IDs can be submitted to website 154 where they are then submitted to contact service 150 .

Contact service 150 may receive a customer query and identify a previously generated agent user interface based on the contact ID stored in storage service 152 . The agent user interface as well as the contact ID and agent branch ID can be retrieved from the storage service 152 and provided to the contact distribution service 120 to facilitate agent responses to customer queries. The customer query, agent user interface, and agent branch ID may also be forwarded to the agent client device 107 via the contact distribution service 120 . The agent branch ID can help the agent identify the contact to which the customer query belongs, facilitating the generation of the return agent response.

The agent response may include any type of response suitable for the customer query. In one embodiment, the proxy response may be provided with the same contact type as the query. For example, if a customer inquires about the shipment of a product, an agent response can be transmitted on the phone call. The proxy response may further be provided using a different contact type than the query. For example, assuming further that a customer inquiry regarding shipment of a product is submitted in a telephone call, an agent response may be communicated in the telephone call, and additional instructions may be electronically mailed to the customer's email address of choice.

After the CSA submits its response to the customer query, the proxy response may be returned to the customer. FIG. 8B is a block diagram of the operating environment of FIG. 1 showing the proxy response returned to the customer client device 160 . Agent responses can be used to provide contact status updates when necessary. For example, a customer may submit an inquiry that requires the CSA to obtain additional information for a response. In such a case, the CSA can be responsive, more information must be responsive, and the contact status can be changed from "connected" to "on hold" to reflect that the contact is still active, but the CSA will not be responsive until additional information is obtained. In another example, the proxy response may end the contact. In such a case, the CSA may provide its final response and the contact status may change from "connected" to "closed". The proxy response can further be used to provide a proxy branch ID to identify the link associated with the proxy's response.

Agent responses and status updates are returned to the contact service 150 . As described above, when proxy responses and status updates are received, contact service 150 may update the contact status and store the updated contact status in storage service 152 . Contact service 150 may further provide agent responses and status updates to website 154 . As described above, user interfaces including proxy responses and status updates can be generated with or without the use of user interface templates. Once generated, the user interface including agent responses and status updates may be transmitted to the customer client device 160 for display to the customer.

FIG. 9 shows an illustrative agent user interface 900 that may be displayed to a CSA with a customer query. In one embodiment, the user interface 900 may include a session information window 902 and a contact status window 906 . Session information window 906 may include information about the customer, including customer profile, browsing history, and page views. A customer profile can include any information about the customer that can help the CSA contact the customer. As noted above, this information may be maintained by the CRM 101 , determined by the IVR during the initial period of contact with the customer prior to communicating with the CSA, and/or may be provided by the website 154 . Examples of customer profiles may include, but are not limited to, customer biographical information (e.g., name, age, location, etc.) and history of the website 154 (e.g., browsing history, purchase history, etc.) or contact distribution services (e.g., previous contact history ). The browsing history may include products viewed by the customer on the website 154 for a selected duration (eg, a day, a week, a month, etc.) from the time of contact. The illustrative page view 904 of the user interface 900 shown in FIG. 9 may include a view of the user interface from which customers submit their contact requests. For example, the page view 904 may include biographical information 304, an image 306 of the product of interest, a name of the object 310, a price 312, a rating 314, a description, and an indication 316 of available listings for the product of interest.

The contact status window 906 may include a contact status display 322 and controls 912, 914 for managing contacts. In one example, the contact status display 322 may display the same contact information displayed to the customer so that the CSA knows the contact information about the customer. Controls 912 , 914 may include hold control 912 and end control 914 . As noted above, these controls may be used by the CSA in conjunction with its responses when necessary.

Clause 1. A system for facilitating communication between a user of a web-based service and a service agent of the web-based service, comprising:

a contact service in communication with a customer service agent providing an agent status indicating the current availability of the service agent for communication with the user and a contact status indicating the status of the contact between the user and the service agent; and

a computing device in communication with the contact service, the computing device operative to:

generating a first user interface in response to a user request, wherein the first user interface includes an agent status and enables submission of a request for contact between the user and the service agent to the computing device, and wherein the agent status is obtained from the contact service;

generating a second user interface in response to the user request for contact, wherein the second user interface includes enabling submission of user contact information to the computing device;

submit received user contact information to the contact service; and

A third user interface is generated, wherein the third user interface includes a contact status obtained from the contact service in response to the submitted user contact information.

Clause 2. The system of clause 1, wherein the first, second and third user interfaces are configured to be displayed to the user.

Clause 3. The system of clause 1, wherein the contact information includes one or more of a phone number, an email address, an instant message address, and a user account for another web-based service.

Clause 4. The system of Clause 1, wherein the contact between the user and the service agent is by one of a phone number, email, SMS message, instant message, electronic message published or posted for viewing by others, and video message one or more executions.

Clause 5. The system of clause 1, wherein the first user interface further comprises a contact user interface control for submitting a request for contact between the user and the service agent to the computing device.

Clause 6. A system for communicating between a user and a service agent, comprising:

maintaining a data store for one or more user interface templates; and

A computing device in communication with the data store, the computing device operative to:

obtaining a first request from a user for a first user interface, the first user interface including an agent status, wherein the agent status represents a current availability of one or more service agents to contact the user;

obtaining a first user interface template from a data store; generating a first user interface including the first user interface template and an agent state, wherein the agent state is obtained from a contact service communicating with one or more service agents; and

A first user interface is provided to a user for display.

Clause 7. The system of clause 6, wherein the computing device is further operable to:

receiving a second request from the user for contact with the service agent;

obtaining a second user interface template from a data store;

generating a second user interface comprising a second user interface template, wherein the second user interface causes user contact information to be submitted to the computing device; and

A second user interface is provided to the user for display.

Clause 8. The system of clause 7, wherein the computing device is further operable to:

submit user contact information to the contact service;

receiving a contact status from the contact service in response to submission of the user's contact information, the contact status representing the user's contact with a service agent based on the user's contact information;

generating a third user interface including contact status; and

A third user interface is provided to the user for display.

Clause 9. The system of clause 6, wherein the first user interface further comprises a contact user interface control for submitting a request for contact between the user and the service agent to the computing device.

Clause 10. The system of clause 8, wherein the computing device is further operative to generate an agent user interface for display to the service agent during contact with the user.

Clause 11. The system of clause 6, wherein the agent status is based on availability feedback from the service agent.

Clause 12. The system of clause 6, wherein the web-based service comprises a web-based retailer.

Clause 13. The system of clause 6, wherein the contact information includes one or more of a phone number, an email address, an instant message address, and a user account for another web-based service.

Clause 14. The system of Clause 6, wherein the contact between the user and the service agent is made by one of a phone number, email, SMS message, instant message, electronic message published or posted for viewing by others, and video message one or more executions.

Clause 15. A computer-implemented method for facilitating communication between a user and a service agent, comprising:

Under the control of one or more configured computer systems:

requesting an agent status from a contact service in communication with one or more service agents, the agent status representing the current availability of the service agent in communication with the user;

Provide the agent status received from the contact service to the user;

request contact with a service agent, the contact request including user contact information; and

The contact status received from the contact service is provided to the user in response to the user contact information submitted to the contact service.

Clause 16. The computer-implemented method of clause 15, further comprising providing a service agent to the user in response to the user query.

Clause 17. The computer-implemented method of clause 15, wherein the agent status is based at least in part on the availability feedback from the service agent.

Clause 18. The computer-implemented method of clause 15, wherein the contact information includes one or more of a phone number, an email address, an instant message address, and a user account for another web-based service.

Clause 19. The computer-implemented method of Clause 15, wherein the contact between the user and the service agent consists of phone numbers, emails, SMS messages, instant messages, electronic messages that are published or posted for viewing by others, and video messages One or more of the execution.

Clause 20. A computer-readable medium encoded with instructions to display service agent information to a user, wherein the instructions, when executed by the computing device, cause the computing device to:

requesting an agent status from a contact service in communication with one or more service agents, the agent status representing the current availability of the service agent in communication with the user;

Provide the agent status received from the contact service to the user;

receiving a request for contact with a service agent, the contact request including user contact information;

obtaining a contact status from the contact service, wherein the contact status represents the status of the contact between the user and the service agent; and

Provides the proxy status to the user.

Clause 21. The computer-readable medium of clause 20, further comprising providing a service agent to the user in response to the user query.

Clause 22. The computer-readable medium of clause 20, wherein the agent status is based at least in part on the availability feedback from the service agent.

Clause 23. The computer-readable medium of clause 20, wherein the contact information includes one or more of a phone number, an email address, an instant message address, and a user account for another web-based service.

Clause 24. The computer-readable medium of Clause 20, wherein the contact between the user and the service agent is by phone number, email, SMS message, instant message, electronic message published or posted for viewing by others, and video message One or more of the execution.

Clause 25. A system for coordinating contact between a user and a service agent, the system comprising:

generating a web-based service for displaying a user interface to a user, the user interface including service proxy information;

a data store storing service agent information; and

A contact service that communicates with a web-based service, the contact service operates to:

Receive electronic requests for service proxy information from web-based services;

obtaining service agent information from a contact distribution system, wherein the contact distribution system generates service agent information by communicating with one or more service agents and determining service agent information from one or more agent responses;

provide the obtained service proxy information to the web-based service; and

At least a portion of the received service agent information is stored in a data store.

Clause 26. The system of clause 25, wherein the request for service agent information includes a request for an agent status, the agent status indicating a current availability of the service agent for communication with the user.

Clause 27. The system of clause 25, wherein the request for service agent information includes a request for a contact status, the contact status indicating a status of the contact between the user and the service agent.

Clause 28. The system of clause 25, wherein the contact service is further operative to generate a contact identifier, wherein the contact service identifies the request from the network-service agent to the contact service.

Clause 29. The system of clause 27, wherein the contact service is further operative to obtain a contact leg identifier from the contact distribution service, the contact leg identifier uniquely identifying the contact status of the contact distribution service.

Clause 30. The system of clause 25, wherein the contact service is further operative to obtain an agent branch identifier from the contact distribution service, the agent branch identifier uniquely identifying the connection between the agent and the content distribution service.

Clause 31. A system for coordinating contact between a user and a service agent, the system comprising:

data storage;

A contact service in communication with the data store, wherein the contact service operates to:

Obtain a request for service agent information; and

The request for service agent information is responded to using responses from the contact distribution system, wherein the contact distribution system generates service agent information by communicating with one or more service agents and determining service agent information from one or more agent responses.

Clause 32. The system of clause 31, wherein the service agent information includes an agent status indicating a current availability of the service agent for communication with the user.

Clause 33. The system of clause 32, wherein the agent status is based on availability signaled to the contact distribution system by the one or more service agents using an agent user interface to the contact distribution system.

Clause 34. The system of clause 31, wherein the service agent information includes a contact status indicating a status of the contact between the user and the service agent.

Clause 35. The system of clause 34, wherein the contact service is operative to receive a request for service agent information including user contact information, and wherein the contact status is based at least in part on a status of a contact between the user and the service agent using the user contact information .

Clause 36. The system of clause 25, wherein the service agent information includes a service agent response to a user query after the connection between the user and the service agent is established.

Clause 37. The system of clause 31, wherein the contact service is further operative to obtain an identifier that uniquely identifies the request for service agent information and the response to the request.

Clause 38. The system of clause 37, wherein the contact service is further operative to generate a contact identifier that uniquely identifies the request for service agent information and the response to the request.

Clause 39. The system of clause 38, wherein the contact service is further operative to obtain a contact leg identifier from a contact assignment service, the contact leg identifier uniquely identifying a response to the request for service agent information.

Clause 40. The system of clause 37, wherein the contact service is further operative to obtain a contact leg identifier from the contact distribution service, the contact leg identifier uniquely identifying the contact between the agent and the content distribution service.

Clause 41. The system of clause 38, wherein the contact service is further operative to correlate the contact identifier and the contact branch identifier with each other to facilitate responding to the request for service agent information with a corresponding response.

Clause 42. The system of clause 37, wherein the contact service is further operative to store at least one of the identifier and the received user information in response to the request for service agent information.

Clause 43. The system of Clause 35, wherein the contact distribution system is implemented through one or more of phone numbers, emails, SMS messages, instant messages, electronic messages that are published or posted for viewing by others, and video messages The link between the user and the service agent.

Clause 44. The system of clause 43, wherein the contact status includes a duration that the user waits to communicate with the service agent.

Clause 45. The system of clause 43, wherein the contact status includes at least one of a connected status, a connected status, and a suspended status.

Clause 46. The system of clause 43, wherein the contact between the user and the service agent can be re-initiated at a later time.

Clause 47. A computer-implemented method for coordinating contact between a user and a service agent, the method comprising:

Under the control of one or more configured computer systems:

Obtain requests for service agent information;

generating service agent information by communicating with one or more service agents and determining service agent information from one or more agent responses;

correlating the generated service proxy information with the request for the service proxy information; and

Respond to the request using the generated service proxy information.

Clause 48. The computer-implemented method of clause 47, wherein the service agent information includes an agent status indicating a current availability of the service agent for communicating with the user.

Clause 49. The computer-implemented method of clause 48, wherein the agent state is based on an availability signal received from the service agent.

Clause 50. The computer-implemented method of clause 47, wherein the service agent information includes a contact status indicating a status of the contact between the user and the service agent.

Clause 51. The computer-implemented method of clause 47, wherein the service agent information includes a service agent response to a user query after the connection between the user and the service agent is established.

Clause 52. The computer-implemented method of clause 47, wherein the service proxy information is related to the request for service proxy information by correlating identifiers that uniquely identify each of the service proxy information and the request for service proxy information with each other.

Clause 53. The computer-implemented method of clause 52, further comprising storing one or more of the service agent information, the identifier, and the correlation between the identifiers.

Clause 54. A computer-readable medium encoded with instructions to coordinate contact between a user and a service agent, wherein the instructions, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to:

Obtain requests for service agent information;

generating service agent information by communicating with one or more service agents and determining service agent information from one or more agent responses;

correlating the generated service proxy information with the request for the service proxy information; and

Respond to the request using the generated service proxy information.

Clause 55. The computer-readable medium of clause 54, wherein the service agent information includes an agent status indicating a current availability of the service agent for communication with the user.

Clause 56. The computer-readable medium of clause 55, wherein the agent state is based on the availability signal received from the service agent.

Clause 57. The computer-readable medium of clause 54, wherein the service agent information includes a contact status indicating a status of the contact between the user and the service agent.

Clause 58. The computer-readable medium of clause 54, wherein the service agent information includes a service agent response to a user query after the connection between the user and the service agent is established.

Clause 59. The computer-readable medium of clause 54, wherein the service proxy information is related to the request for service proxy information by correlating identifiers that uniquely identify each of the service proxy information and the request for service proxy information with each other.

Clause 60. The computer-readable medium of clause 59, further comprising one or more of storing service agent information, identifiers, and correlations between identifiers.

All processes described herein can be embodied in, or fully automated via, software code modules executed by one or more general purpose computers or processors. Code modules may be stored on any type of computer readable medium or other computer storage device. Some or all of the methods may optionally be embodied in special purpose computer hardware. Furthermore, components referred to herein may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware or a combination thereof.

Conditional language such as "can," "could," "might," "may," among others, is to be understood as being used as commonly context to convey that certain embodiments include and other embodiments do not include certain features, elements and/or steps. Thus, such conditional language is generally not intended to imply that the features, elements and/or steps are in any way required for one or more embodiments, or that one or more embodiments must be included with or without user input or prompting. The logic used in the decision regardless of whether such features, elements and/or steps are included or will be implemented in any particular implementation.

Any process descriptions, elements or blocks in the flow charts described herein and/or shown in the accompanying drawings should be understood as potentially representing modules, segments or portions of code that include logic for implementing particular logic in the process One or more executable instructions for a function or element. Alternative implementations may be included within the scope of the embodiments described herein in which elements or functions may be deleted, performed out of the order shown or discussed, including substantially simultaneously or in the reverse order, depending on the order involved. function, as will be understood by those skilled in the art.

It should be emphasized that many changes and modifications may be made to the above-described embodiments, elements thereof being understood to be among other acceptable examples. All such modifications and changes are intended herein to be included within the scope of this disclosure and protected by the following claims.

Claims (9)

1. A system for coordinating contact between a user and a service agent, said system comprising: a web-based module that generates a user interface for display to a user, the user interface including service agent information; a data store storing said service agent information for a first period of time; and a contact module in communication with the web-based module, the contact module operative to: receiving an electronic request for service agent information from the web-based module; obtaining said service agent information from said data store when said electronic request is received within said first time period; The service agent information is obtained from a contact distribution system when the electronic request is received after the first time period, wherein the contact distribution system communicates with one or more service agents and determines generating the service proxy information in response to the service proxy information, and wherein the contact module is further configured to temporarily store at least a portion of the obtained service proxy information in the data store during the first period of time ;as well as The obtained service agent information is provided to the web-based module. 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the request for service agent information includes a request for agent status, the agent status indicating the current availability of the service agent for communication with the user. 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the request for service agent information includes a request for contact status, the contact status indicating the status of the contact between the user and the service agent. 4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the contact module is further operative to obtain an agent affiliate identifier from the contact distribution system, the agent affiliate identifier uniquely identifying the service agent and the contact distribution system the relationship between. 5. A system for coordinating contact between a user and a service agent, said system comprising: a data store configured to temporarily store service agent information for a first period of time; a contact module in communication with the data store, wherein the contact module is operative to: Receive a request for service proxy information from a user; obtaining said service agent information from said data store when said request is received within said first time period; and Respond to the request for service agent information with a response from the contact distribution system when the request is received after the first time period, and provide the user with a response to the request for service agent information, wherein the contact The distribution system generates service agent information by communicating with one or more service agents and determining said service agent information from one or more agent responses. 6. The system of claim 5, wherein the agent status is based on availability signaled to the contact distribution system by one or more service agents using an agent user interface to the contact distribution system. 7. A computer-implemented method for coordinating contact between a user and a service agent, the method comprising: Under the control of one or more configured computer systems: Receive a request for service proxy information from a user; obtaining said service agent information from a data store when said request is received within a first period of time, wherein said data store is configured to temporarily store service agent information during said first period of time; generating said service agent information by communicating with one or more service agents when said request is received after said first period of time, wherein said service agent information is determined from one or more agent responses; correlating the generated service proxy information with said request for service proxy information; and Respond to the request by providing the generated service proxy information to the user. 8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein the service agent information includes an agent status indicating a current availability of the service agent for communication with the user. 9. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein the service proxy information is related to each other by correlating identifiers that uniquely identify each of the service proxy information and the request for service proxy information The request for service proxy information is related.