System and method for providing customer activities while in queue

• US 20040174980A1
• Filed: 03/06/2003
• Published: 09/09/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: SBC Properties, L.P.
• Inventors: Pasquale, Theodore B., Bushey, Robert R., Knott, Benjamin A., Martin, John M., Joseph, Kurt M., Miller, James T., Mills, Scott H.
• Granted Patent: US 7,418,095 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/266.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/1066 Game playing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2011 Service processing based on information specified by a party before or during a call, e.g. information, tone or routing selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/2218 Call detail recording
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42348 Location-based services which utilize the location information of a target
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4285 Notifying, informing or entertaining a held party while on hold, e.g. Music On Hold
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/493 Interactive information services, e.g. directory enquiries ; Arrangements therefor, e.g. interactive voice response [IVR] systems or voice portals
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5166 in combination with interactive voice response systems or voice portals, e.g. as front-ends
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5238 with waiting time or load prediction arrangements

Abstract

A system and method for providing customer activities while in queue allows for one or more customers to interact with one or more customer activities while waiting to speak with a live agent. The customers engage the customer activities while holding in a queue where the customer activities reduce the boredom, frustration, and perceived hold duration associated with holding to speak to a live agent. The customers are offered one or more options of the customer activities to interact with and the system and method monitors the customers'"'"' selections and interaction with the customer activities. As agents become available, each customer is transferred to an agent along with information regarding the customer'"'"'s interaction with a selected customer activity. Upon completion of the interaction between the agent and the customer, the customer has the option to return to the selected customer activity and continue interacting with the selected customer activity.

Claims

1. A method for providing customer activities to a plurality of customers holding in a queue, the method comprising:

receiving an incoming call from one or more customers;

determining if an agent is available to interact with the customer;

determining an estimated hold time to interact with the agent;

providing the estimated hold time to the customer;

placing the customer in a queue;

providing the customer with an option of one or more customer activities to perform while remaining in the queue, the customer activities provided based on the estimated hold time and one or more customer demographics;

receiving a selection of one of the customer activities from the customer;

connecting the customer to the selected customer activity while the customer remains in the queue;

monitoring the selection of the customer activity and the customer'"'"'s interaction with the selected customer activity in order to create a customer activity history for the customer;

notifying the customer when the agent is available to interact with the customer;

communicating the customer activity history to the agent;

connecting the customer with the agent; and

upon completion of the customer and the agent interaction, providing the customer an option of returning to the selected customer activity based on the customer activity history.

2. A method for providing customer activities while in a queue, the method comprising:

receiving one or more incoming calls from one or more customers;

placing the customer in a queue to interact with an agent;

providing the customer with an option of one or more customer activities to perform while remaining in the queue;

connecting the customer to a selected customer activity while the customer remains in the queue;

monitoring one or more actions taken by the customer when interacting with the selected customer activity thereby creating a customer activity history;

connecting the customer with the agent; and

upon completion of the customer and the agent interaction, providing the customer an option of returning to the selected customer activity utilizing the customer activity history.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising communicating the customer activity history to the agent when the agent becomes available to interact with the customer.

4. The method of claim 2 further comprising notifying the customer when the agent is available to interact with the customer.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein notifying the customer when the agent is available comprises providing the customer an option of interacting with the agent or continuing to interact with the selected customer activity.

6. The method of claim 2 wherein providing the customer with an option of one or more customer activities comprises modifying which of the customer activities are provided as the options to the customer based on an estimated hold time and one or more customer demographics.

7. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

tracking a frequency for which the customers select the customer activities;

determining a frequency of selection for each of the customer activities; and

modifying the customer activities that are provided to the customers as the options based on the frequency of selection.

8. The method of claim 2 further comprising transferring the customer back to the selected customer activity upon the completion of the interaction between the agent and the customer.

9. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

determining an estimated hold time to interact with the agent; and

providing the estimated hold time to the customer before providing the options of customer activities to the customer.

10. The method of claim 2 further comprising waiting until the customer completes an action within the selected customer activity before connecting the customer with the agent.

11. The method of claim 2 further comprising providing no options of the customer activities when an estimated hold time is below a threshold value.

12. A system for providing customer activities while in a queue, the system comprising:

one or more receiving devices operable to receive a plurality of inbound inquiries and place one or more customers in a queue;

an activity engine associated with the receiving device, the action engine operable to provide the customer with an option of one or more customer activities to perform while in the queue and transfer the customer to a selected customer activity;

a track engine associated with the activity engine, the track engine operable to monitor one or more actions taken by the customer when interacting with the selected customer activity; and

a connection engine associated with the activity engine and the track engine, the connection engine operable to connect the customer to an available agent and offer to return the customer to the selected customer activity upon completion of the interaction between the customer and the agent.

13. The system of claim 12 further comprising one or more databases operable to store information regarding the selection of the customer activities and one or more customer actions taken within the selected customer activities.

14. The system of claim 12 further comprising the track engine operable to communicate a plurality of information regarding the customer'"'"'s interaction with the selected customer activity to the agent when the agent becomes available to interact with the customer.

15. The system of claim 12 further comprising the activity engine operable to modify which of the customer activities are provided as the options to the customer based on an estimated hold time and one or more customer demographics.

16. The system of claim 12 further comprising the track engine operable to:

monitor a frequency for which the customers select the customer activities;

determine a frequency of selection for each of the customer activities; and

modify the customer activities that are provided to the customers as the options based on the frequency of selection.

17. The system of claim 12 further comprising the connection engine operable to transfer the customer back to the selected customer activity upon the completion of the interaction between the agent and the customer.

18. The system of claim 12 further comprising the activity engine operable to provide no options of the customer activities when an estimated hold time is below a threshold value.

19. The system of claim 12 wherein the customer activity comprises a voice portal.

20. The system of claim 12 wherein the customer activity comprises a self-service application.