Serving the Social Customer: Scaling Your Support For Twitter, Facebook and More

SERVING THE SOCIAL CUSTOMER: SCALING YOUR SUPPORT FOR TWITTER, FACEBOOK AND MORE!November 30, 2010! Dan York!

Dir. of Conversations!twitter.com/danyork!

twitter.com/voxeo!

© Voxeo Corporation © Voxeo Corporation © Voxeo Corporation

Logistics!

  Please ask questions through the GoToWebinar interface.

  Twitter hashtag: #voxeo

  Sample app source code online: •  https://github.com/tropo/tropo-twitter-samples

  Archive will be available at: •  http://blogs.voxeo.com/jamsessions/2010/11/


“Social networking services will replace email as the primary vehicle for communications for 20 percent of business users by 2014” - Gartner Research

Source: ComputerWorld UK, Nov 15, 2010


The Generation Difference!

0.00%

5.00%

10.00%

15.00%

20.00%

25.00%

30.00%

35.00%

40.00%

Strongly Agree Somewhat Agree Neither Agree nor Disagree

Somewhat Disagree

Strongly Disagree

Dont Know / Not Sure

18-24

25-34

35-44

45-54

55+

Prefer to receive SMS alerts when checking order status, delivery updates, etc.!

Source: Opus Research Consumer Preference survey (2010, n=985)


In the past 6 months, when shopping for goods and services, I have consulted with friends on social networks!

Source: Opus Research Consumer Preference survey (2010)



Why Twitter?!

  Stay tuned into the customers voice (CRM)

  Support the communication channels in demand by the masses (CRM)

  Foster loyal and engaged customers (CRM)

  Word-of-mouth / viral marketing (PR, Marketing)

  Negative publicity / damage control (PR)

  Conscious marketing presence so the organization is not viewed as operating in the past (Marketing)


What happens if you are successful?!

HOW DO YOU SCALE YOUR SUPPORT FOR TWITTER?!


Scaling Options!

  Hire a team of tweeters

  Force your existing team into 24x7

  Ignore all tweets outside of “work” hours – or reply later

  Integrate Twitter messages into your existing contact center

  Apply an appropriate level of automation


BEWARE

OF THE

TWITTER-BOT

BACKLASH!


About Voxeo!

  Founded in 1999

  World’s largest hosted VoiceXML and CCXML platform – Over 82,000 hosted ports globally; hundreds of premise deployments

  Over 200,000 developers using Voxeo platforms

  The Voxeo difference: Unlocked Communications, Customer Obsession Teams, Communications Passion


One World, One Platform!

Slough, UK Frankfurt, Germany

Singapore

Las Vegas, NV Atlanta, GA

Orlando, FL

Single View

Voxeo Prophecy Hosting

Hong Kong

Patented multi-tenant, virtualized architecture – 82,000 ports and growing Optimized for real-time communication


Unified Self-Service™!

  One application investment

  Multiple communication channels

  One deployment platform – or use your platform of choice

  Improved, accelerated ROI

  Any tool, programming paradigm or language

  Voxeo compatibility modes for porting existing applications


Design Once – Deploy Anywhere!

Voice Video Text Mobile Web

Account Information

Activity History

User Preferences

Purchase History

Other Information

IM Two-Way SMS

Personalized Dialogs and Visual Display

Real-time caller

preferences, location,

responses


Two Solutions For Twitter!


Voxeo Labs, Unlocking the Path to Innovation


Cloud Communications Service

www.tropo.com


Tropo and Twitter!

  Twitter treated as simply another text channel •  Same app can also use voice, SMS, IM

  Tropo app can be attached to a Twitter account •  Uses the OAuth authentication process, i.e. you need

to be logged into the Twitter account to approve the access for your Tropo app

  Tropo sees both “replies” and “mentions” •  @voxeo This service is very cool!

•  Sitting in an informative @voxeo webinar!

Tropo Scripting!



Tropo Scripting!

  Your app runs in the Tropo cloud. •  Is also typically hosted in the Tropo cloud.

  Similar to Google App Engine.

  Access to most language libraries.

  SIMPLE. EASY.


DEMO TIME!

GET READY TO TWEET!!


Example 1: Simple Reply App!

  Blindly sends back canned response

  Try it out: @tropohello <anytext>

  Sample code (JavaScript):

say ("Hello there, @"+currentCall.callerID+". Thank you! ");


Replies vs Mentions!

  A “reply” has your Twitter ID at the beginning: •  @voxeo Your support team rocks!

  A “mention” includes your Twitter ID: •  Listening to a @Voxeo developer jam session.

  For a reply, Tropo removes your Twitter ID from the beginning of the message •  Allows multi-channel apps to treat tweets as they

would any other IM or SMS message

  To differentiate, you can test for the presence/absence of your Twitter ID


Example 2: Night Service!

  If the tweet: 1) is a reply; and 2) arrives between certain hours, send back a response saying the office is currently closed •  Mentions are ignored because the message was not “to” us.

  Try it out: @stratohelp <anytext>

  Note: Tropo servers are set for UTC – you need to factor that into your hour calculations.

  Sample code (python): •  The final “else” could be left off, in which case the app will take no action.

from datetime import *

if currentCall.initialText.find("@stratohelp") == -1: if datetime.now().hour not in range(12,21) : say("Our offices are currently closed. Please ...") else: say("Our offices are open. We'll reply back to you soon.")


Example 3: Keyword Actions/Alerts!

  Sends out SMS alerts based on keywords or Twitter replies with appropriate links

  Try it out: @tropohelp <text>

  Rules: •  If Twitter account is mentioned in a tweet with the word “fail”, in

either case, send an SMS alert (which goes to my phone)

•  If the message is a reply and includes the word: •  “help” – reply with URL and send an SMS alert

•  “faq” – reply with the URL to the FAQ

•  “documentation” – reply with the URL to the documentation


Example 3: Keyword Actions/Alerts!

  Sends out SMS alerts based on keywords or replies with appropriate links

  Try it out: @tropohelp <text>

  Sample code (python):

text = currentCall.initialText.lower()

if text.find("fail") > -1: message("Whoa! " + currentCall.callerID + " is tweeting a fail", {"to":"tel:+14075551212", "network":"SMS"})

elif text.find("@tropohelp") == -1: #Is it a reply?

if text.find("help") > -1: say("Tropo lets you build apps ...") message("Tropo help request from: " + currentCall.callerID, {"to":"tel:+14075551212", "network":"SMS"})

elif text.find("faq") > -1: say("The Tropo FAQ is at https://www.tropo.com/docs/...")

elif text.find("documentation") > -1: say("Tropo docs are at https://www.tropo.com/docs/")


Example 4: Twitter Contest!

  Perform some action based on “secret password” or other text

  Try it out: @ClubTropo Tropo Rocks!

  Example merely sends back a different response, but could add information to a database or take some other action

  See http://blog.tropo.com/2010/08/13/linking-to-twitter-using-javascript-tropo-scripting/

  Sample code (JavaScript):

message = currentCall.initialText; if(message == "Tropo Rocks!"){ say("You just learned how to make a Twitter bot with @Tropo for free. Welcome to the club."); } else { say ("Say what? Try it again - send us a tweet with the correct password to get on the list."); }


Example 5: Yahoo Weather!

  Tweets back latest weather for US ZIP code

  Try it out: @danweathertest <ZIPcode> •  @danweathertest 32801

•  @danweathertest 90210

  Sample code (python): •  https://github.com/tropo/tropo-twitter-samples/

  Multi-channel application: •  Voice: +1-407-374-3994

•  SMS: +1-407-374-3994

•  Skype Voice: +990009369991438833

•  SIP Voice: sip:[email protected]

•  IM (Jabber): [email protected]


Scenario: Augmenting Human Agents!

  Human agents and Tropo app can share the same Twitter account

  Tropo app could: •  only reply at certain times (ex. night service)

•  reply based on certain keywords

•  gather necessary information so that human agent has all the info he/she needs to reply

  Combination of human and app can get customers their information as fast as possible


Some Notes About Twitter!

  Twitter messages are restricted to 140 characters •  Your application needs to take care of splitting messages that

are longer

  Duplicate tweets are rejected (i.e. containing identical text sent to same Twitter account within a certain timeframe) •  You need to be aware of this in testing. Applies to both:

•  Messages you send to your app

•  Messages your app sends back to you

  Direct Messages, Twitter Search and Public Timeline are not yet supported

  Twitter is... well... not entirely reliable – nor is it realtime.

Tropo WebAPI!


Tropo WebAPI!

  For developers who want more control and/or tighter back-end integration, including reporting and analytics

  Twitter configuration identical to Tropo Scripting

  Tropo connects to your web server


Tropo WebAPI!

  REST API •  Familiar request/response model, using JSON or XML

  Full access to all language libraries, including custom development

  Tropo WebAPI libraries available for: •  Ruby, PHP, Python, C#, Node.js

•  http://github.com/tropo

  Example apps in other languages: •  Go, Scala, Scheme, Erlang, ...

A Different Way...!


What if... !

  you want to build very complex applications?

  you want a solution that will be installed on your premise? behind your firewalls and in your data center?

  you need to tie your social channels into your existing analytics and business intelligence software?

  you have a development team that already uses the industry standard Eclipse IDE?

  Answer.... VoiceObjects!


Application Lifecycle Management!

1

6

VoiceObjects Analyzer

3VoiceObjects Desktop

Design

2

GUI Design

Storyboard Manager

5

Debug Viewer, Trace Viewer

Load Tester

Phone-less testing

4

Project Documentation Storyboard Manager


 Out-of-the-box Data Capture by VoiceObjects Server -  Dimensional Data model optimized for BI analysis -  Integrates with data from ASR, CTI, and CRM

CTI Data

IVR Data

CRM Data

Infostore

VoiceObjects Analyzer

(Business Objects, Cognos,

MicroStrategy)

3rd party Analysis Tools

  Analysis and Reporting -  Based on standard business intelligence tools

-  60+ predefined Reports, based on real-time data -  Extends existing Data Warehouse -  Includes Customer behavior and business analysis

  Highest Rated Analytics Package in the Market

VoiceObjects Infostore and Analyzer!


How to provision a Twitter app!

  Steps to success:

1.  Create a VoiceObjects text application (or add a text layer to an existing voice application)

2.  Deploy it on a VoiceObjects Server

3.  Add an application within your IMified account a)  Configure URL to VoiceObjects Server

b)  Add Twitter account

4.  Send initial message to start Twitter dialog


Step 1+2: Create and Deploy!

  Build normal IVR call flow in VoiceObjects

  Adjust presentation layer: •  Output

•  Input (Grammars)

  ... but keep business logic & backend integration

  Deploy


3: Create Application on IMified!

3. Add to end of URL:

&vsDriver=173&User-Agent=IMified

instructs VoiceObjects Server to activate IMified mode

1. Create (free) IMified account http://www.imified.com/

2. Create new Bot

4. Go through Twitter activation process

Wrapping Up!


What Next For Twitter?!

  Several ideas under consideration

  Direct Messages •  Allow for private communication •  Requires “following” to be successful

  Twitter Search

  Public Timeline

  What would YOU like to be able to do?


On The Horizon - Facebook!

  Facebook Chat is possible today... but basically useless for companies because of FB accounts restrictions

  OpenGraph API now allows interaction with Facebook Pages that wasn’t possible before

  Ideas under consideration: •  Monitor a Page and alert on new postings /

comments or a new Like •  Posting of content to a Page

  What would YOU like to be able to do?


Next Steps!

  Sign up for a free Tropo account:

•  http://www.tropo.com/

  Download a free copy of VoiceObjects:

•  http://developers.voiceobjects.com/


Resources!

  Tropo – http://www.tropo.com/ •  Documentation - https://www.tropo.com/docs/

•  Blog posts: http://blog.tropo.com/tag/twitter/

  VoiceObjects – http://www.voiceobjects.com/ •  Developer site – http://developers.voiceobjects.com/

  Unified Self-Service blog: •  http://blogs.voxeo.com/unifiedselfservice/

  Voxeo Labs •  http://labs.voxeo.com/


Topic: Who you gonna call? Place and Receive Phone Calls from your Web Browser using PhonoSDK

Date: December 16, 2010, 11am US Eastern

Next Developer Jam Session!

Serving the Social Customer: Scaling Your Support For Twitter, Facebook and More

Technology

sms alerts

language libraries

keyword actionsalerts

twitter account

elif text

currentcall

voiceobjects

tropo cloud