Retail

With the huge growth in Home Shopping Telsolutions has been identifying measures that will help to reduce costs and improve the customer experience during the delivery process.  

Automated Reminder Calls.
As we live in such a fast paced environment it is inevitable that some people will have problems in remembering delivery dates and times. It’s a huge logistical problem if customers are not present at time of delivery, especially for large bulky items. The expense of re-housing and re-distribution is considerable. Retailers and Delivery companies are now embracing new technology in order to combat this unnecessary cost.

Voice messaging reminders – 48 hours prior to delivery

1. An automated pre-recorded voice script is sent to the customers’ home telephone number home or mobile telephone number.
2. Using the latest text-to-speech technology, the call inserts the customer’s name, and reminds them of the delivery time and date. 
3. The call will allow the recipient to confirm someone will be present – ‘press 1 to confirm’
4. Options can be given to connect free of charge to live operator if there’s a requirement to re-arrange the time if this is now inconvenient.
5. Report and log all results in case of dispute.
6. If an answer-phone is detected message can be left.
   

SMS reminders
Like voice message (often used where mobile number is unavailable). We send a text message (max 160) characters, personalised with name, order number, date and time of delivery. Often a customer service telephone number is highlighted in the event of problems.

In addition to home delivery reminders our technology has already proven in the following Retail Applications.

1. Stock updates
2. Order confirmations
3. Event notifications
4. Holiday opening/closing times
5. Sale announcements
6. Customer satisfaction surveys
7. Product recalls
   

Identity Verification
Telsolutions have teamed with the worlds leading Voice Biometric service providers to help retailers tackle online fraud and increase the levels of automated services. With the growth in Internet shopping customers are now expected to remember a vast array of pins and passwords that could have a negative impact on their shopping experience:

• It has been reported that two thirds of people said that they used the same password for everything where they had the option of choosing their own security details (source: RSA Security, quoted by BBC, 20th April 2004);
• With Secured by MasterCard & Visa, many of customers will simply use the same password as their log-in. This therefore is not a huge deterrent for fraudsters and although you are covered to some extent by MasterCard & Visa there is still an annoyance factor for the customer having to reclaim the fraudulent transaction; 
• This experience will also have a detrimental effect on customers' perception of your security, especially as an additional security layer has been introduced; 
• Where the customer enters a different password this increases the likeliness of it being forgotten, especially if they are not regular users. Therefore there is the expense and inconvenience of password reset which needs to be considered;  
• This is something that voice verification can do securely and cost effectively; in fact one customer, Progressive Insurance in the US, uses voice verification for their password reset and has demonstrable saving in excess of $1 million per year; 
• If a customer has to keep resetting their password, it may distract from the buying process and reduce overall sales.
  

Chargeback levels.
By adopting voice verification it is reasonable to reduce your chargeback levels by up to 1% of all transactions:

• The VoiceVault system was accredited in April 2004 as a Certification Service Provider (CSP) to issue both Electronic Signatures and Advanced Electronic Signatures by Certification Europe, in accordance with section 29 of Ireland’s Electronic Commerce Act 2000;
• This provides unique capability to electronically sign transactions over the phone. At the point of transaction the customer’s identity is voice verified and a digital signature is linked to that transaction; 
• This will enable 'cardholder present' rates for all internet and telephone sales to be negotiated as the identity of the customer has been verified; 
• It would be interesting to analyse Maestro, Delta, Amex, Diners and other payments as these fall outside the Mastercard and Visa additional protection layer.
  

Repudiation.
In cases where a transaction is repudiated (where someone disputes they made the transaction), a definite answer can be given as the customer’s physical presence has been established and a legally binding “signature” can be created.

• Voice verification has the advantages of near-ubiquity (the vast majority of people would be able to use it) as well as improving levels of security and reducing costs;
• The increasing demand of your customers for identity protection, coupled with the positive impact on profitability through better quality sales combined with reduced fraud and processing costs mean that voice verification is a viable proposition for you.
  
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Benefits Summary.

• Fast, easy and intuitive - no user training is required;
• Highly secure to reduce fraudulent transactions; 
• Verifies the physical presence of the individual accessing the web site enabling cardholder present rates to be negotiated; 
• Identity protection - taking the customers concerns seriously; 
• Defeats phishing and deters fraudsters; 
• Permanent audit trial of caller verifications to reduce repudiation; 
• Eliminates the costs associated with lost or forgotten passwords; 
• Reduces instances of user lock out associated with failure to remember passwords; 
• Improved customer experience - no more PINS, passwords or memorable information to remember. 
• In fact, the “challenge response” system (where a customer records an obscure question that only they know the answer to) had another unintended consequence. The customers felt that the organization was personalising the experience of shopping just for them, which had a positive effect on customer retention.