Argos is helping online customers make choices about what products are best for them by offering live chat assistance powered by predictive analytics as they shop online.

Working in partnership with intuitive customer experience firm [24]7, the approach is driven by [24]7’s Predictive Sales solution which uses sophisticated predictive technology to identify only those customers who could benefit from additional help to make a buying decision. The approach has been welcomed by customers, who are more satisfied with their eventual purchase, and resulted in improved conversion rates for the company.

Neil Tinegate, Head of Digital Innovation, Argos said: “Our primary concern here is to offer human assistance to customers who need it, at the right time in the shopping cycle for them. We have seen this work in digital stores where colleagues are on hand to help customers get what they want, and this is a natural extension of that. Customers tell us they appreciate the help, so we plan to continue to offer the experience.”

“Partnering with [24]7 enables us to offer intuitive assistance to the right customers at the right time. We want to make sure we offer help that is relevant and timely.”

The partnership with [24]7 includes the introduction of predictive digital assistance on selected product lines. It understands consumers’ online behaviour and uses data-driven insights to predict which customers require help, when to engage and what to offer them.

Nick Mitchell, Managing Director, EMEA, [24]7 said: “We believe in encouraging more contextually relevant conversations with those customers who truly need assistance, accurately predicting when to offer assistance and using real-time cross-channel behaviour to know what to offer. Results from the programme show this is allowing Argos to have smarter interactions with its customers, which in turn is driving measureable increases in incremental revenue.”