Creative Virtual Grabs Attention at LivePerson’s Aspire 2011
by Jessica Cody, Marketing Manager
Creative Virtual exhibited their virtual assistant and Live Chat integration at Aspire 2011, the LivePersonCustomer Summit, October 24-26 in New York City’s Chelsea Arts District. The global customer summit focused on intelligent consumer engagement, with numerous keynote speakers from LivePerson, their customers and the partners that have helped develop their applications. The event had a turnout of about 350 attendees, who exchanged ideas of how to better engage their customers and drive sales through the use of Live Chat, along with other web self service products. The event was a meeting of the minds for many professionals in business development, customer relationship management, sales, marketing and beyond. Creative Virtual’s clients O2, Verizon and Intuit attended the conference. Other companies that attended include Capital One, PETCO, Adobe Systems and ICON Health and Fitness.
Creative Virtual, who has a strategic partnership with LivePerson, showcased their seamless virtual assistant and Live Chat integration for O2 at their exhibition booth. When questions are asked to Lucy, O2’s online virtual agent, she provides an automated response. However, if the question may require more personalized assistance, Lucy escalates the user to a customer service advisor, and there is a change in avatar to signify the user is now speaking to a live agent. There was much buzz around the subject after Richard Clarke, Head of Self Service at O2, demonstrated the integration as well in his Tuesday morning presentation, “How to Create Fans and Influence People”. “About two-thirds of people that speak to Lucy on our website do not need to go anywhere else for support,” Clarke stated on Tuesday. He also mentioned that there are approximately the same amount of people that speak to Lucy as those that use LivePerson’s Live Chat.
The integration offers much convenience, because those looking for answers can find them all in one place without having to open any other windows or go to a different place on the website. Also, when the user is passed to Live Chat, a copy of the conversation is provided to the live agent, so no time is wasted rehashing the customer’s issue they are trying to resolve. With Lucy as the first point of contact, the Live Chat agent’s time is utilized more productively.
All in all, the event was a great learning experience. Ideas were generated, and connections were made. There was much positive energy shared around a common goal: making a better experience for the customer. The message gained from Aspire 2011 was that a happier customer and happier company go hand in hand. As Robert LoCascio, CEO of LivePerson, said in his closing statement on Wednesday, “The best customer support is our people being themselves. It’s creating meaning in the world. It goes beyond selling software. It’s something we have to live.” Creative Virtual looks forward to pursuing new opportunities through their partnership with LivePerson.
