Can customer service be more efficient, but still facilitate an excellent customer experience?
The question is pertinent because consolidation—an old service story—is more relevant now than ever. In fact, a number of our clients are consolidating their service or contact centers. For example, An organization, which has undergone multiple mergers, to reduce its seven call centers to three. Meanwhile, major European consulting firms combine the group that serves businesspeople with the one that serves consumers. The overriding goal for both projects has been to increase operational efficiency.
Contrast this with five years ago, when our clients’ top contact and call center goals were to improve call resolution, customer satisfaction and cross-selling. Whereas today, thanks to the downturn, the mantra I most hear from call center managers is, “We need to reduce our cost per call.” Of course, organizations still want to keep their customers satisfied. But increased efficiency is more important than ever, as witnessed by so many contact center representatives’ primary responsibility: to resolve customers’ queries more quickly.
The Multi-Talented Contact Center Specialist
These efficiency concerns have rightly led to a sharp rise in the number of integrated contact centers, meaning they field not only phone calls, but also email and web queries. The goal here is to optimize call center resource utilization, because it’s hard to predict when calls will peak, and thus how many people you should have in the call center at any given time. By mixing phone and chat responsibilities—which must be handled immediately—with email and Web responses, to which consumers do not expect an instant response, organizations can better balance their use of call center personnel.
Web 2.0 Portals: Are We There Yet?
Another potent strategy for increasing operational efficiency is to invest in a Web 2.0 portal. Are you thinking, “Wait, aren’t self-service portals so five years ago?” As a breakthrough topic, perhaps. But I’m struck by how many companies discuss self-service portals, and in particular adding Web 2.0—browser-launched service chats, drag-and-drop document uploads, pop-up template previews, and so on—versus how few companies actually do it. From an efficiency standpoint, this means lost opportunities. From a customer experience standpoint, it means your website probably looks circa 2005.
Furthermore, Web 2.0 is becoming commonplace. We’re onto social media now. Companies are even using Twitter for customer service purposes. It’s chaos out there. What’s your plan?
Target Customers’ Portal Adoption
In the old days, you built a portal and encouraged customers—via emails, mass mailings and gentle exhortations while on hold—to use it. But just as we use techniques to get salespeople to adopt CRM, why not entice customers to use self-service portals?
In fact, the new self-service portal regime is all about targeted adoption. Here’s how it works: Say you’re a healthcare provider. If a member calls in with a concern—such as needing to submit further documentation to resolve a claim—that could have been completed by using the portal, the member service representative says, “I have an idea—are you online? Let’s resolve this on our portal,” and guides the customer all the way through to submitting their claim resolution. And voila: Who would that customer ever go back to phone queues? It’s customer service and efficiency, without one coming at the expense of the other.
CRM Isn’t a Zero-Sum Game
We say this a lot at SierraAtlantic, but when you’re looking at being more efficient, it can’t just be about efficiency. Because thankfully, CRM isn’t a zero-sum game. In fact, you want to be more efficient and raise customer satisfaction at the same time. For example, by giving customers a top-notch self-service portal, customers are happier because they don’t have to wait on hold or have a half-hour conversation with a customer representative. But portals also lower service costs for the provider, and—at least for health insurers—let them more quickly resolve claims, which by the way means having to keep less cash around to settle the balance sheets.
In other words, by all means consolidate service operations where appropriate, but don’t neglect customer satisfaction. If you address both, and do it well, then you not only reduce costs by becoming more efficient, but you also keep your customers too.
On the portal front, clients have an opportunity to create more advanced member-service portals that increase efficiency, capture more members and help maintain high levels of customer satisfaction.
The question is pertinent because consolidation—an old service story—is more relevant now than ever. In fact, a number of our clients are consolidating their service or contact centers. For example, An organization, which has undergone multiple mergers, to reduce its seven call centers to three. Meanwhile, major European consulting firms combine the group that serves businesspeople with the one that serves consumers. The overriding goal for both projects has been to increase operational efficiency.
Contrast this with five years ago, when our clients’ top contact and call center goals were to improve call resolution, customer satisfaction and cross-selling. Whereas today, thanks to the downturn, the mantra I most hear from call center managers is, “We need to reduce our cost per call.” Of course, organizations still want to keep their customers satisfied. But increased efficiency is more important than ever, as witnessed by so many contact center representatives’ primary responsibility: to resolve customers’ queries more quickly.
The Multi-Talented Contact Center Specialist
These efficiency concerns have rightly led to a sharp rise in the number of integrated contact centers, meaning they field not only phone calls, but also email and web queries. The goal here is to optimize call center resource utilization, because it’s hard to predict when calls will peak, and thus how many people you should have in the call center at any given time. By mixing phone and chat responsibilities—which must be handled immediately—with email and Web responses, to which consumers do not expect an instant response, organizations can better balance their use of call center personnel.
Web 2.0 Portals: Are We There Yet?
Another potent strategy for increasing operational efficiency is to invest in a Web 2.0 portal. Are you thinking, “Wait, aren’t self-service portals so five years ago?” As a breakthrough topic, perhaps. But I’m struck by how many companies discuss self-service portals, and in particular adding Web 2.0—browser-launched service chats, drag-and-drop document uploads, pop-up template previews, and so on—versus how few companies actually do it. From an efficiency standpoint, this means lost opportunities. From a customer experience standpoint, it means your website probably looks circa 2005.
Furthermore, Web 2.0 is becoming commonplace. We’re onto social media now. Companies are even using Twitter for customer service purposes. It’s chaos out there. What’s your plan?
Target Customers’ Portal Adoption
In the old days, you built a portal and encouraged customers—via emails, mass mailings and gentle exhortations while on hold—to use it. But just as we use techniques to get salespeople to adopt CRM, why not entice customers to use self-service portals?
In fact, the new self-service portal regime is all about targeted adoption. Here’s how it works: Say you’re a healthcare provider. If a member calls in with a concern—such as needing to submit further documentation to resolve a claim—that could have been completed by using the portal, the member service representative says, “I have an idea—are you online? Let’s resolve this on our portal,” and guides the customer all the way through to submitting their claim resolution. And voila: Who would that customer ever go back to phone queues? It’s customer service and efficiency, without one coming at the expense of the other.
CRM Isn’t a Zero-Sum Game
We say this a lot at SierraAtlantic, but when you’re looking at being more efficient, it can’t just be about efficiency. Because thankfully, CRM isn’t a zero-sum game. In fact, you want to be more efficient and raise customer satisfaction at the same time. For example, by giving customers a top-notch self-service portal, customers are happier because they don’t have to wait on hold or have a half-hour conversation with a customer representative. But portals also lower service costs for the provider, and—at least for health insurers—let them more quickly resolve claims, which by the way means having to keep less cash around to settle the balance sheets.
In other words, by all means consolidate service operations where appropriate, but don’t neglect customer satisfaction. If you address both, and do it well, then you not only reduce costs by becoming more efficient, but you also keep your customers too.
On the portal front, clients have an opportunity to create more advanced member-service portals that increase efficiency, capture more members and help maintain high levels of customer satisfaction.
Have a great Weekend and See you on Monday
Dinesh Chandrasekar
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