Online brokerage and financial holding company E*Trade Group Inc. enhanced
its customer service operation for the new year, rolling out a new Web-based
interactive channel called Service Now.
The Menlo Park, Calif.-based company said the service allows
online customers to interact in real time with E*Trade service reps (the
company calls them Financial Services Associates) via online chats and Web
collaboration.
E*Trade also said that its “priority
customer households” now get the benefit of preferred call-routing
technology. What that boils down to is that the company can now identify its
more profitable customers and give them a higher level of service – less
waiting on the phone, for instance. Other brokerages, including Fidelity,
have been doing that for some time.
The enhancements “… as a part of our personalized Digital Financial Media
strategy, empower customers to make critical decisions about their money and
further differentiate E*Trade from the competition,” said Jerry Gramaglia,
president and chief customer operations officer at E*Trade Group Inc.
The Service Now technology, first introduced to Power E*Trade brokerage
customers, was obtained through the
acquisition last year of E*Trade Mortgage, formerly known as LoansDirect.
Customers enter their account numbers by phone, and the system flags those
that are the most active –and profitable traders –for faster service.
