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By trying to convey a sense of human warmth in a very different business, Betty Heirich is also seeking to achieve a competitive edge for her company. She is CEO of three-year-old SkiMall.net, an Internet venture based in Telluride, Colo., that she cofounded with her husband, a former district manager for Wal-Mart. The company is one of several online businesses that provide information about the kind of lodging and equipment that's of particular interest to winter-sports enthusiasts. Such information is available in great and colorful profusion on the 500 pages of SkiMall's Web site.

When Heirich first put the site online, she left it up to users to navigate their way through a blizzard of information. After a year, however, she discovered that the mechanized browsing system was undercutting one of her company's greatest potential assets: the image of SkiMall as the skier's genial friend and tour guide. To alter that image, she embarked on a new strategy. Now people who log on to the site find a "live assistance" button on its pages. Visitors can type in a question, connect with a human being at the company, and receive a reply, often within seconds. "We'll help anyone look for anything," says Heirich, who takes a commission on products that are sold or hotel rooms that are booked on the site.

Although the company's chat system combines the comfort of a physical presence with the speed of E-mail, such setups are still not common. A survey last year by International Customer Service Association and e-Satisfy Ltd. found that just 4% of Web sites used live chats. But there are indications that customers crave human intervention. In a survey two years ago by Forrester Research, 71% of online buyers who requested customer service did so by turning to E-mail, compared with the 11% who sought help from a Web page containing answers to frequently asked questions.

Heirich's commitment to service is so strong she still takes a shift herself, joining her nine employees in answering questions from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. -- or in some cases past midnight. Some people want help finding particular brands of skis. Others ask about the skiing conditions in Telluride or for directions to the resort's hot nightspots, like Fly Me to the Moon Saloon. Heirich's goal is round-the-clock service. For a fledgling company like SkiMall, attempting to staff a 24-7 live-help operation seems brashly ambitious, if not a sure path to wipeout. But Heirich's secret weapon may well be her unique workforce. She employs three people in the office and six stay-at-home moms who work in shifts at the real-chat beat.

Betty Heirich's secret weapon may be her unique workforce. She employs six stay-at-home moms who work in shifts at the real-chat beat.

Heirich uses a service called Human-Click, which is a sophisticated version of a free instant-messenger program. When a visitor arrives at the site, SkiMall's employees hear a doorbell-like ring. They can "approach" the potential customer, much as they would in a real store, by starting an online conversation. Heirich claims that her employees respond immediately about 50% of the time and answer messages within 24 hours. One major exception: when 20 inches of fresh powder fall, it's "understood that nobody works," she says.

The HumanClick software is set up to provide a visitor "footprint" that reveals such things as, say, which site the user has visited immediately before accessing SkiMall's site. Such clues about customers' interests help the company's reps jump-start conversations. Some visitors are shocked to discover they are "conversing" with an actual human being in cyberspace. "I've had people ask me, 'Is this a real person or a bot?" says Heirich, who previously worked in retail jobs in ski-resort towns. She pays nothing for the basic version of HumanClick, although a more advanced version of the program costs $150 a month.

By her company's second holiday season, its business had tripled, she says. The site draws about 100,000 hits a month.

Path Three: Real-Time Feedback
When John and Amy Howard launched Carrot's Ink Cartridges, in Carrollton, Tex., three years ago, they did so with trepidation. They knew their product line, no-name ink-jet cartridges, was a commodity, so service would make or break the business. But today the Howards don't have to wonder if they're doing all right by their customers. They get a real-time report card every day from BizRate, one of a handful of services that survey the customers of online businesses. What's more, the service is free.

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