Co-browsing technology allows two or more people to surf the web together. The goal is to have a completely interactive session where all participants can browse, scroll, click and type. Unlike screen sharing (where you have to pass control back and forth between people), co-browsing makes the web instantly and easily shareable.
GoInstant’s co-browsing technology doesn’t require any downloads or plugins. It also doesn’t need any of the participants to run Java or Flash. This again is significantly different from screen sharing, where at least a Java applet or Flash will be used.
With GoInstant, a co-browse session shows multiple mouse pointers (one for each person in the session.) Everyone in the session can interact with the web.
So how could your business use co-browsing?
Here’s a list of 7 uses for co-browsing technology:
- Customer support. If you’ve ever done any customer support you know how frustrated a customer becomes when they’re explaining something to you that they see on their screen but you can’t replicate it yourself. Or perhaps you’re trying to give them instructions on what to do and they’re not following properly. It’s a miserable experience. Co-browsing allows you not only see exactly what your customer sees but also work with them to resolve their issues. You can fill forms out, click around, and guide a customer through a process, all the while showing them how to help themselves the next time. Learn more about co-browse for support.
- Completing complex transactions. Sometimes, we ask users to do things that are complicated online. It’s just the way it goes. And in those circumstances, customers abandon frequently out of frustration. Even if they call customer service, it may be a long, drawn out process. A co-browsing application makes it much easier for your support staff to complete complex transactions with customers. This speeds up the process and increases customer satisfaction. Learn more about co-browse for complex transactions.
- Assisted sales. How often do customers visit your e-commerce site, browse around and leave? How often do they get items into their shopping cart and abandon? Co-browsing can reduce abandonment by giving your staff the opportunity to help customers find the products they want and finish the purchasing process. Savvy support staff can also make recommendations for other products, in turn increasing the size of shopping carts. Learn more about co-browse for assisted sales.
- Concierge shopping. More and more e-commerce sites are offering 1-on-1 personal shopping experiences where trained staff (personal shoppers) help customers through the entire shopping experience. Co-browsing makes it possible for your employees to provide an extremely personal experience for customers. Learn more about co-browse for personal shopping.
- Sales. “Show don’t tell” applies as well to sales as it does to customer support. Co-browse technology makes it possible for salespeople to show their web applications in a meaningful, interactive way. Co-browsing works particularly well when converting a customer from free to paying; show them how to maximize the value out of your application with their data and system instead of a generic demo. Learn more about co-browse for sales.
- Training. Training becomes much more interactive and effective when everyone involved is able to easily participate. That’s possible with co-browsing technology. Allow people to learn by watching but also interacting.
- Collaboration. When collaborating on a website or web application, co-browsing makes it a more seamless experience because there’s no passing of control back and forth between participants. Everyone is able to engage in real-time and interact through the co-browse session.
Co-browsing technology at its core is all about making the web shareable.
The applications of co-browsing are broad, providing your business with a new and interactive way to communicate with customers and prospects for sales, support and more.
