“How am I supposed to control my brand if it is molded by the voice of the consumer?”

One of the primary discussions and concerns of 2009 centered on how the rise in social computing has caused marketers to feel as if they’ve lost control of their brand. It’s 2010, and let’s face it, this is still a big issue for marketers across the country. This presumed loss of control is understandable, but marketers do have some powerful tools available to help them actually strengthen their brand by learning from the “voice of the consumer.”

Live help technologies (those such as click to call or chat services) enable marketers to listen to, respond to, track, and analyze their customers “voices” during the process of providing online customer service on a specific part of the Web site. Applying what is learned through this analysis can ultimately help companies increase online conversation rates, reduce Web site abandonment, reduce service costs and even improve their products and services.

One major U.S. airline used click to call to analyze customer service issues pertaining to its online flight bookings process, and then improved its Web site based on the analysis.

The airline – which uses proactive live help – noticed a rise in call center volume stemming from a particular point in the online booking process. Taking quick action, they listened to a sample of the click to call recordings originating from that point in the bookings process to determine if callers were encountering a common problem.

As it turned out, the rise in click to call use was a result of travelers’ inability to view their seating assignments on a specific page. They were using click to call to find out their seating assignment before continuing the booking process.

With this ”voice of the customer” knowledge, the airline improved its booking process by making the seat assignment more prominent. The result? A drop in click to call activity and direct bottom-line impact (not to mention happier customers).

This is one of those hidden benefits of live help that businesses often don’t consider when evaluating the potential return on investment. Unlike a 1-800 number, click to call and live chat interactions can be tied directly to each customer’s online context, as this example shows.  With live help, companies can capture, listen to and respond to the voice of their customers at the most critical moments of need to drive revenue and customer satisfaction while reducing support costs.

How are you strengthening your brand by capturing and responding to the voice of you customers?  I’d love to hear your stories.