CALLER SELF SERVICE

As an outsourcer, we have a prospect (public sector) who perform the majority of their customer facing services via paper mail. We believe that a multi-channel approach with a focus on self service, then email, then voice, then paper mail,(governemnet requirement must allow paper mail hence its inclusion) would not only be a more cost effective solution for them, but it would also dramtically increase citizen satisfaction, service levels to the public and enhance their reputation as a public body. Would you have any statistics that could support us in this sell - eg, AHT for each of the channels, contact costs per channel across public and different private sectors, satisfaction levels per channel etc

Your question is a good one, and certainly opening other channels will be a blessing both for the citizen and for the "budget." Of course, gov-organizations may not be so budget sensitive.

We have produced an industry report on gov-call centers with lots of great data. I have asked Michael Feinberg to contact you regarding our existing reports.

Regarding just raw statistics on the various channels, here are some stats from our various reports:

Channel Cost per contact Customer sat with the channel

web self serve $0.10 High
email mail $1.25 Medium
web chat $2.10 High
live telephone $5.50 High
snail mail $9.75 Low

Hope this helps.

If you want to talk live, work through Michael.

Good luck on your pursuit of this business.

Dr. Jon

Do you have any predictions as to the mix in the use of various contact channels in the future?

We use predictive analysis to understand the growth of alternative customer contact channels, and project the following mix by the year 2005: 35% by Web self-service, 30% by telephone, 25% by e-mail and 10% by all others. We do not think the number of inbound telephone calls will stop growing. Instead, we think the total number of contacts with companies will increase along with the changing distribution of those contacts. Americans demand easy access to the companies with whom they do business. In fact, accessibility to mission-critical information is already a recognized feature used to differentiate companies.

Do you have any statistics or projections for companies that provide on-line customer service?

From our studies we would suggest you focus on the following issues: a) For most companies, a robust Web site generates between four and six times more e-mail messages than toll-free calls; b) Most e-mail messages require the same amount of time as phone calls for a proper response; c) Customers like e-mail but they expect a response in fewer than 24 hours; d) The number of people required to answer e-mail can equal the number required for answering phone calls; e) E-mail staffing costs are equal to or greater than staffing costs for traditional telephone agents; f) Expect a ten to one ratio of e-mail messages to live text messages; and lastly, g) Chat session times are best kept to about four hours per day.

Do you see the industry as a whole making changes in favor of the customer? What kinds of changes?

I think the industry as a whole is focused on being both efficient in terms of call handling, and effective in terms of providing the information the caller wants accurately and quickly. The top two efficiency/effectiveness changes that I see among our Centers of Excellence are:

a. A focus on migrating callers to the company’s Web site, where the customers “help themselves” through well-designed self-service modules...AND most importantly, and this is the key...with a seamless option for agent assistance...”click to talk” is a great example of this one, but there are more. When the Web visitor hits the “click to talk” icon, she/he is connect through the Internet to a call center agent and “wala” the agents steps the customer through the Web site to find the answer...achieving efficiency and first time resolution.

b. Using the caller to monitor their own calls with the use of post-call IVR surveys that take the callers opinions and drive them in real-time to appropriate agent’s “dashboard.” The agent can at anytime “see” how they are doing, and “listen” to the voice of their callers comment on their own performance-very powerful! This immediate and concise feedback is having amazing results at our Centers of Excellence to change agent behavior and achieve a level of self-management and producing a high level of caller satisfaction-a caller coaching an agent is much more effective and much less expensive than having the QA time monitor calls and coach agents-this is great stuff!

c. There are more, but I am trying to be concise, I will say, we learn a lot from our Centers of Excellence.

-Dr. Jon(answered 8/22/05)

I'm looking for data that supports contact reduction via Web/Chat, IVR, customer self help or other interactive self help media's in an e-commerce Pharmacy and OTC environment. Do you have any comparative industry benchmarks for this environment?

I do not have a formal study completed yet, but I am working on one. This is a very hot area and yours is a timely question. This is what I have found so far:

1. “live” call reduction possibilities depend heavily on the proper integration of other channels with intuitive self-service

2. “live” call reduction after implementation of user-intuitive Web/chat averages 16% depending on the complexity of the questions and the ease of finding information on the Web through natural language searches

3. “live” call reduction approaches 25% with the implementation of voice-enabled IVR solutions that provide answers to relatively simple questions.

More to come in the final report.
-Dr. Jon Anton
Answered: 1/17/05

We have discovered, via surveys, that a significant percentage of our customers prefer not to use the VRU to obtain order information even though we know that, many times, the VRU can be more available and more accurate. I would like to know from a broader range, how many call centers experience this and with what percentage of their customers? Mary Paige Forrester

From our research, consumers prefer self-service alternatives, especially if it saves them time and/or money to get the answers they are seeking.

VRU usage does vary by the "reason" for the call. For instance, the following types of calls seeking simple information are excellent for VRU usage: order status or tracking, account balances, check clearance, stock quotes, flight status, prescription ordering, and the like. By contrast, the following types of calls are seldom successfully completed by VRU: technical problem resolution, complaint handling, financial planning, and the like.

Lastly, the recent addition of voice recognition software to the VRU is making a substantial difference in customer's willingness to interact with VRU and conduct self-service.

When first establishing a corporate Web site, what can we expect in terms of calls or e-mail messages per Web site visit?

From interviewing companies in our database, we have found the following trends: 1) For a Web site with robust content that has been designed to take advantage of customers willing and able to do a high level of self-service, the ratio can be one call for every 50 visitors to the Web site and one e-mail message for every 20 visitors. 2) For a poorly designed Web site with limited content and few self help options, the ratio can be one call for every 20 visitors to the Web site and one e-mail message for every five visitors.