Co-Browsing
Definition: Co-browsing is a digital collaboration technology that allows a customer and an authorized employee, agent, or advisor to view and interact with the same digital experience in real time. It helps organizations provide guided assistance during complex customer journeys without requiring customers to abandon the digital process.
What is co-browsing?
Co-browsing, short for collaborative browsing, allows a customer and an authorized representative to interact with the same web-based experience during a live session. Instead of explaining where to click or what information is required over the phone, the representative can guide the customer directly within the digital journey.
Co-browsing is commonly used in insurance, banking, lending, healthcare, financial services, and other industries where customers need to complete complex applications, claims, onboarding processes, agreements, or servicing requests.
The objective is to combine the convenience of digital self-service with human assistance when it is needed. Customers can begin a process independently and receive support without restarting the transaction in another channel.
How does co-browsing work?
A co-browsing session connects the customer and representative within the same digital interaction. Depending on the implementation and permissions, the representative can see the relevant journey state and help the customer navigate through the process.
The representative may be able to highlight fields, explain requirements, navigate between steps, or assist with selected interactions. Sensitive information can be protected according to the security and privacy controls configured for the experience.
When the assistance is complete, the customer can continue independently. This makes co-browsing particularly useful for processes where most customers can self-serve but some need help at specific stages.
What is the difference between co-browsing and screen sharing?
Screen sharing transmits some or all of a user's screen to another participant. Depending on the tool, this can expose unrelated browser tabs, applications, notifications, or other information visible on the device.
Co-browsing is typically limited to a specific digital experience. The representative interacts with the relevant application or journey rather than viewing the customer's entire desktop.
This distinction can make co-browsing more appropriate for structured customer processes where privacy, permissions, and control over the shared interaction are important.
What is the difference between co-browsing and remote desktop access?
Remote desktop software gives another participant substantial control over a computer or device. It is commonly used for technical support and IT administration.
Co-browsing is designed for a narrower customer-service use case. The representative assists within a specific web experience rather than controlling the customer's device.
For customer applications, onboarding, claims, and servicing processes, this narrower scope can provide the required assistance without introducing the broader access associated with remote desktop tools.
What is the difference between co-browsing and video chat?
Video chat allows customers and representatives to communicate face to face, but it does not necessarily give the representative visibility into the digital process the customer is trying to complete.
Co-browsing focuses directly on the transaction. The representative can help the customer navigate the relevant digital experience while communicating through an accompanying channel such as phone, chat, or video.
The two technologies can also complement one another. Video provides a human communication channel, while co-browsing provides contextual assistance within the actual process.
How does co-browsing support a digital customer journey?
A digital customer journey guides customers through a structured process such as an insurance application, claim, loan application, onboarding workflow, or policy change.
Most customers may be able to complete the journey independently. However, complex questions, document requirements, unfamiliar terminology, or exceptional circumstances can create points where additional assistance is valuable.
Co-browsing allows an employee, agent, or advisor to enter the interaction at these moments. Instead of moving the customer into a separate offline process, human assistance becomes part of the digital journey itself.
Why is co-browsing useful for complex customer journeys?
Complex journeys can involve conditional questions, supporting documents, disclosures, multiple participants, signatures, and unfamiliar terminology. Even when the digital experience is well designed, some customers will encounter situations that require explanation.
Without contextual assistance, customers may call a contact center and attempt to describe what they see. The employee may then need to determine which page, question, or error the customer is referring to.
Co-browsing creates shared context. Both participants can focus on the same journey, making it easier to identify the issue and help the customer continue.
Can co-browsing reduce customer drop-off?
Co-browsing can help address some causes of customer drop-off by providing assistance at points where a customer might otherwise stop the process.
For example, a customer may be unsure how to answer an insurance application question or which document is required for a financial application. Immediate guidance can help resolve the issue without requiring the customer to leave and return later.
Co-browsing should not be treated as a substitute for good journey design. Persistent drop-off at the same stage can indicate that the underlying questions, instructions, or process should be redesigned.
Why does customer intake matter for co-browsing?
The effectiveness of human assistance depends heavily on the quality of the process the customer is completing. As explored in why your customer experience is only as good as your intake process, poor intake design creates friction that customer-service teams are then forced to resolve manually.
Customers may encounter confusing questions, duplicate data entry, unclear document requirements, or validation problems. Co-browsing can help resolve individual cases, but redesigning the intake process addresses the underlying source of repeated friction.
The strongest approach combines structured digital intake with contextual human assistance. Customers self-serve where possible, while employees intervene when their expertise or guidance adds value.
How does co-browsing connect with Customer Communications Management?
Customer Communications Management focuses on creating, personalizing, and delivering customer communications across channels such as email, SMS, web, mobile, and documents.
Co-browsing addresses a different part of the customer interaction. Instead of primarily sending information to the customer, it allows an employee and customer to work together inside an active digital process.
The technologies can complement one another. A communication can direct a customer to a digital journey, and co-browsing can provide contextual support if the customer needs help completing it.
What is the difference between co-browsing and live chat?
Live chat allows a customer to exchange text messages with an employee or automated assistant. It can be effective for questions that can be resolved through conversation.
However, customers sometimes struggle to describe exactly what they are seeing or where they are experiencing difficulty. This becomes more challenging in long or conditional customer journeys where different users can see different questions.
Co-browsing provides visual and process context alongside communication. The representative can understand where the customer is in the journey rather than relying entirely on a written description.
What is assisted digital service?
Assisted digital service combines digital self-service with access to human support. Instead of dividing customer experiences into purely digital and purely employee-assisted channels, customers can move between them according to their needs.
Co-browsing is one way to provide assisted digital service. A customer can begin a process independently and request assistance without abandoning the journey.
This model is particularly useful for organizations serving customers with different levels of digital confidence or processes with varying levels of complexity.
What is advisor-assisted digital service?
Advisor-assisted digital service applies the same principle to interactions where an advisor, broker, agent, or specialist is already part of the customer relationship.
An insurance agent might guide a policyholder through an application, while a financial advisor could help a customer complete an onboarding process. The advisor can provide expertise while the information is still captured through a structured digital journey.
This preserves the value of human advice while reducing reliance on paper forms, PDFs, email attachments, and manual data entry.
What is multiexperience development?
Multiexperience development is an approach to designing digital interactions across multiple devices, interfaces, and interaction modes rather than treating each channel as an isolated experience.
Customers may begin a process through an email link, continue on a mobile device, receive assistance from an employee, and later return through another digital channel.
Co-browsing can form part of this broader experience architecture by adding a collaborative interaction mode to self-service journeys. The objective is to maintain continuity as customers move between independent and assisted experiences.
How does co-browsing support multichannel customer engagement?
Customers often move between channels during complex transactions. They may begin online, call for assistance, receive an SMS reminder, and return to the digital process later.
Without connected experiences, every channel transition can create another handoff. Customers may need to repeat information or explain what they were trying to accomplish.
Co-browsing can reduce this gap by allowing employees to support the existing digital interaction rather than creating a separate process whenever a customer asks for help.
How is co-browsing used in insurance?
Insurance applications, underwriting questionnaires, claims, renewals, endorsements, and policy servicing can involve questions customers do not encounter frequently.
An agent or service representative can use co-browsing to help explain questions, guide customers through required steps, or identify where information is missing.
The customer can continue providing information directly through the digital journey, helping preserve structured data collection while still benefiting from human assistance.
How is co-browsing used in insurance claims?
Claims often occur when customers are dealing with unfamiliar processes and potentially stressful circumstances. They may need to provide detailed information, upload photographs, describe an incident, or submit supporting documentation.
A claims representative can use co-browsing to guide the claimant through the digital process and clarify what information is required.
This can be particularly useful during FNOL and subsequent document collection, where incomplete information can create additional follow-up later in the claims process.
How is co-browsing used in banking and lending?
Banks and lenders can use co-browsing during account opening, loan applications, KYC data collection, document submission, and other customer processes.
A representative can help customers understand information requirements or navigate complex application stages while the customer continues providing information through the digital journey.
This allows the organization to preserve structured digital intake instead of switching to email or paper whenever a customer needs assistance.
How is co-browsing used in healthcare?
Healthcare organizations can use co-browsing to assist patients with registration, intake, administrative forms, insurance information, consent, and other digital processes.
Patients who encounter difficulty can receive contextual support while remaining in the same digital experience.
Healthcare organizations should configure co-browsing according to applicable privacy, security, access-control, and patient-data requirements.
How does co-browsing support accessibility?
Co-browsing can provide another assistance option for customers who have difficulty completing a digital process independently. A representative can explain requirements or help the customer navigate through unfamiliar steps.
However, co-browsing should not be treated as a replacement for accessible design. Digital journeys should still be designed according to applicable accessibility standards and tested for use with relevant assistive technologies.
Human assistance provides an additional support layer rather than compensating for an inaccessible underlying experience.
Is co-browsing secure?
The security of co-browsing depends on how the technology is designed and configured. Organizations should consider which information representatives can see, which actions they can perform, how sessions are initiated, and how access is controlled.
Sensitive fields can require additional protections. Organizations may need to prevent representatives from viewing certain information or restrict their ability to interact with specific parts of the journey.
Authentication, permissions, session controls, encryption, auditability, and data handling should be evaluated according to the sensitivity and regulatory requirements of the process.
Can agents see passwords or sensitive information during co-browsing?
Well-designed co-browsing implementations can restrict access to sensitive fields and information. The exact controls depend on the platform and configuration.
Organizations should determine which information employees need to see in order to assist customers and which information should remain private.
This principle of least privilege is particularly important in financial services, insurance, healthcare, and other environments where customer journeys can contain sensitive information.
Does co-browsing give an agent control of the customer's device?
Co-browsing is generally designed around interaction with a specific web experience rather than remote control of the customer's entire device.
The exact actions available to the representative depend on the implementation. Some experiences may permit collaborative navigation or selected interactions, while others may restrict the representative primarily to viewing and guidance.
Organizations should clearly define these permissions so customers and employees understand the scope of the assisted session.
How does co-browsing support human-in-the-loop workflows?
Not every customer interaction should be fully automated. Some situations require explanation, professional expertise, exception handling, or customer reassurance.
Co-browsing provides a human-in-the-loop mechanism at the customer-experience level. Employees can intervene when needed without replacing the entire digital process with a manual one.
Once the issue has been resolved, the customer can continue through the automated journey, allowing human assistance and digital self-service to operate together.
How can AI and co-browsing work together?
AI can help identify situations where a customer may need additional support. Journey analytics, validation events, or workflow conditions can indicate repeated errors, incomplete information, or other signs of difficulty.
AI assistants can potentially resolve straightforward issues by explaining requirements or requesting missing information. When the situation requires human expertise, the workflow can escalate to an employee who provides contextual assistance.
This creates a layered support model in which self-service, AI assistance, and human co-browsing are used according to the complexity of the customer's situation.
What are the benefits of co-browsing?
Co-browsing can make complex digital processes easier to complete by giving customers contextual assistance without forcing them to abandon self-service.
For organizations, shared context can reduce the time employees spend trying to understand where a customer is experiencing difficulty. It can also help agents, advisors, and service teams support digital adoption rather than reverting to manual forms and email.
The broader benefit is flexibility. Customers who can self-serve remain independent, while those who need help can receive it within the same process.
What are the limitations of co-browsing?
Co-browsing does not fix a poorly designed customer journey. If large numbers of customers require assistance at the same stage, the organization should investigate the underlying source of friction.
It also requires appropriate security, privacy, permissions, employee training, and operational processes. Representatives need to understand what they can see and do during a session.
Organizations should therefore use co-browsing as part of a broader customer experience strategy rather than as a substitute for intuitive journey design.
How should organizations implement co-browsing?
Implementation should begin by identifying customer journeys where contextual human assistance creates meaningful value. Complex, high-value, regulated, or unfamiliar processes are often stronger candidates than very simple interactions.
Organizations should then define how sessions are initiated, which employees can participate, what information they can access, and what actions are permitted. Privacy and security requirements should be incorporated into the design from the beginning.
Performance should also be measured after launch. If co-browsing sessions cluster around particular questions or stages, that information can reveal opportunities to simplify the underlying digital journey.
How EasySend supports co-browsing
EasySend Journeys combines digital self-service with assisted customer interactions. Organizations can create guided journeys for applications, claims, onboarding, servicing, document collection, signatures, and other complex customer processes.
Co-browsing allows authorized representatives to assist customers within these digital interactions when additional guidance is required. The broader journey can combine conditional logic, validation, prefill, documents, eSignatures, multiple participants, automated communications, analytics, and integrations with existing enterprise systems.
This allows organizations to maintain a digital process while introducing human assistance at the moments where it creates the most value.
Combine digital self-service with human assistance
Build guided customer journeys that customers can complete independently while giving agents, advisors, and service teams the ability to assist when needed. EasySend Journeys connects data collection, documents, signatures, workflow logic, and assisted interactions in one customer experience.