Followup of customer service agents

• US 10,110,744 B2
• Filed: 12/18/2015
• Issued: 10/23/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kaufman, Donald L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Shah, Antim G
• Application Number:
  US14/975,686
• Publication Number:
  US 20160105563A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,040 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/00 Automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5191 interacting with the Internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5231 with call back arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5235 Dependent on call type or called number [DNIS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5238 with waiting time or load prediction arrangements

Abstract

A user of a personal computing device may identify an item of interest displayed in a user interface provided by a network-based service and would like to obtain more information. The user may submit an electronic contact requests to an agent continuity service in communication with one or more service agents in order to obtain more information. The agent continuity service may determine whether the user has communicated with an agent previously and, if so, provide the user with the option to communicate with the agent again, should the user desire.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing executable instructions that configure a contact distribution system to:

receive a request for contact with an agent from a customer;

determine an identity of the customer;

identify, based upon a first prioritization parameter, a first agent that has previously participated in a prior contact with the customer;

estimate a first wait time to establish contact between the first identified agent and the customer;

identify, based upon a second prioritization parameter, a second agent that has previously participated in a second prior contact with the customer;

estimate a second wait time to establish contact between the second identified agent and the customer;

transmit a user interface including the first agent, the second agent, the first estimated wait time and the second estimated wait time to the customer, wherein the user interface is configured to enable the customer to select one of the first identified agent or the second identified agent for contact;

receive an agent selection identifying a selected agent after the user interface is transmitted; and

initiate contact between the customer and the selected agent.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the contact comprises one or more of a telephone call, an electronic mail message, a voice-over IP (VOIP) communication, a video conference, an instant message (IM), or a short message service (SMS) text message.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the availability of an agent comprises one of “

Immediately Available,”

“

Available with wait,”

or “

Unavailable.”

4. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the transmitted user interface enables the customer to wait for contact with the selected agent or request that the selected agent contact the customer at a later time.

5. A contact distribution system comprising:

a data store operative to store a record of contacts between a first person and one or more prior contacts; and

a computing device in communication with the data store, wherein the computing device is operative to;

obtain a record of contacts associated with the first person, wherein the record of contacts identifies one or more prior contacts with whom the first person has previously had contact;

identify, from the one or more prior contacts, based on a first prioritization parameter, a first prior contact of the first person;

estimate a first wait time to establish contact between the first person and the first prior contact;

identify, from the one or more prior contacts, based on a second prioritization parameter, a second prior contact of the first person;

estimate a second wait time to establish contact between the first person and the second prior contact;

transmit the estimated first wait time and the estimated second wait time to the first person;

receive a selection identifying one of the first prior contact or the second prior contact; and

initiate contact between the first person and either the first prior contact or the second prior contact in response to the selection.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the first prioritization parameter is based on one of customer feedback, a chronology, a frequency, or a preference.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the first prioritization parameter is selected from the group consisting of an availability, a time duration until a contact may be established, whether a positive review has been provided, a time duration since a previous contact, a frequency of contact, and a total number of contacts.

8. The system of claim 5, wherein the first prioritization parameter is different than the second prioritization parameter.

9. The system of claim 5, wherein the computing device is further operative to identify the first person based on a contact request.

10. The system of claim 5, wherein the computing device is further operative to verify the identified first prior contact of the first person based upon a response received from a user interface provided with the transmitted availability.

11. The system of claim 5, wherein the contact comprises one or more of a telephone call, an electronic mail message, a voice-over IP (VOIP) communication, a video conference, an instant message (IM), or a short message service (SMS) text message.

12. A computer-implemented method of routing a contact between a first person and a prior contact of the first person using a contact distribution system, the method comprising:

under control of one or more configured contact distribution systems;

identifying, based on a first prioritization parameter, a first prior contact that has previously participated in a first prior communication with a first person;

estimating a first wait time to establish contact between the first person and the first prior contact;

identifying, based on a second prioritization parameter, a second prior contact that has previously participated in a second prior communication with the first person;

estimating a second wait time to establish contact between the first person and the second prior contact;

generating a user interface including the estimated first wait time and the estimated second wait time;

receiving a selection indicating whether the first person has an interest to contact the first prior contact or the second prior contact; and

placing the first person into contact with either the first prior contact or the second prior contact based upon the selection.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the first prioritization parameter is selected from the group consisting of an availability, a time duration until a contact may be established, whether a positive review has been provided, a time duration since a previous contact, a frequency of contact, and a total number of contacts.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the first prioritization parameter is different than the second prioritization parameter.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the user interface further enables the first person to wait to contact the first prior contact or request that the first prior contact contact the first person at a later time.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein placing the first person into contact with either the first prior contact or the second prior contact comprises initiating one or more of a telephone call, an electronic mail message, a voice-over IP (VOIP) communication, a video conference, an instant message (IM), or a short message service (SMS) text message.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing executable instructions that configure a contact distribution system to:

obtain a record of contacts associated with a first person, wherein the record of contacts identifies one or more prior contacts with whom the first person has previously had contact;

identify, from the one or more prior contacts, based on a first prioritization parameter, a first prior contact of the first person;

estimate a first wait time to establish contact between the first person and the first prior contact;

identify, from the one or more prior contacts, based on a second prioritization parameter, a second prior contact of the first person;

estimate a second wait time to establish contact between the first person and the second prior contact;

transmit the estimated first wait time and the estimated second wait time to the first person;

receive a selection identifying one of the first prior contact or the second prior contact; and

initiate contact between the first person and either the first prior contact or the second prior contact based upon the selection.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the first prioritization parameter is based on one of customer feedback, a chronology, a frequency, or a preference.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the first prioritization parameter is selected from the group consisting of an availability, a time duration until a contact may be established, whether a positive review has been provided, a time duration since a previous contact, a frequency of contact, and a total number of contacts.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, further comprising instructions that configure the contact distribution system to identify the first person by inferring an identity of the first person from a contact request.