Businesses operating online can have hundreds or thousands of customers navigating their Website in a given day, in most cases slipping by without the business owner acknowledging them or necessarily even knowing anything about them.
A web app called Intercom is the latest in a growing selection of customer relationship management and engagement products that aims to change that, for better or worse.
By dropping a line of JavaScript into their sites, business owners can pull in more social data about their registered site users and engage them with targeted messages. Intercom automatically pulls in links to users’ social profile, their general location and how long they’ve been active on the business’s site.
Businesses can then reach out to site visitors with specific messages. For example, you could ask users if they need help or have any feedback, which many will appreciate.
Of course, not all users will go for this kind of thing, as some are perfectly content to browse a Website, make a purchase (or not) and leave without interacting with anybody. This being the case, these types of tools should probably be used with caution and moderation, but that isn’t to say they can’t be of enormous value to companies.
Intercom also lets you track those customer relationships over time so you can get an idea of which relationships are some of your most valuable online.
The app is currently in private beta, which you can sign up for here.
