John Cray, VP Product Management at Enghouse Interactive 'Best Practices in Contact Centre Communications

Best Practices in Contact Centre Communications

Welcome to Today’s Webinar :

We will begin at approximately 12noon AEST

© Enghouse Systems Ltd 2011

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Fiona KeoughCEO Auscontact

Sydney, Australia


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Welcome

John CrayVP, Product Management

Enghouse Interactive


What is your job role within the contact centre:

1. Operator

2. Line Manager

3. General Manager

4. Partner

5. Other Department

Poll 1


One minute on Enghouse …

Founded in 1984

Delivering contact centre communications products for over 20 years – to currently over 10,000 customers

1200+ employees, $250M in revenue, market cap over $1.3B, profitable

Global Operations in 15 countries

Customer Communications Software and Services

Telecommunications and Utility Networks Software

Transportation Services and Operations Software


Our Approach Today

Six Best Practices for Contact Centres– … and Contrasting Worst Practices

It’s Really About Customer Communication– … so that’s our primary focus

We’ll Talk A Lot About Customer Service, but most of the concepts equally apply …– to Help Desks (IT, HR, etc.)– to Sales Centres– to informal Contact Centres, and many others

For attending today, we’ll send you a complimentary (and complementary) White Paper:

Best (and Worst) Practices in Customer Communication

Six Best Practices …


Best Practice #1: Map Service to Customer Value (That is … Don’t Treat Every Customer The Same)

Points, Badges, “Mayorship”

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Foursquare-Android-Nearbyvenues.png


Customer Prioritisation in the Contact Centre

Identify then Prioritise …

Nate Smith, Silver

Mary Jones, Gold

Jim Bell, Bronze

SupportCentre

“Hello Ms. Jones, this is Amber.”

“I haven’t spoken to you since last month.”

“I see we just sent you that replacement part.”


Best Practice #2: Communicate Proactively (That is … Don’t Wait For Them To Call You)


Proactive Customer Communications

Get to them before they get to you…

Notification Services

- reminders, outages, fixes

- helpful information

Preemptive Contact - known issues - audit results

Proactive Contact - issue status chgs - service follow up

CustomerSupportCentre

Techniques:• Universal Queue (85% of contact Centres support multichannel blending)• CRM changes Outbound Call or Email or SMS• Notification types: appointment reminders, known outages, special offers• Scheduled Follow-Ups


Best Practice #3: Simple Communications (That is … Don’t Make It Hard For The Customer)

“… To Complain

About Our Horrible

IVR Menu, Press 7 …”


Effective Customer Communications Options

• Eliminate the hold Move customers to the Internet or their Mobile – self-service, live contact Proactively track and minimise Abandoned Calls Offer Callbacks (retaining position in queue) Provide Basic Self-Service (IVR, web, mobile), for very easy or repetitive tasks

• Give customers a choice Queue and handle Emails (91% of contact Centres handle customer Email) Promote Website interactions (Chat/IM or Callback or Skype) Provide Device-specific options (like Mobile Apps)

• Keep customers notified Send regular updates, with predicted time to resolution Provide alternatives and workarounds


Best Practice #4: Maximise First-Interaction Resolution (That is … Don’t Just Minimise Talk Time)


Approaches to First-Interaction Resolution

• Skills-Based Routing First, identify the customer and the need (IVR, website, app) Next, is a specific individual the best resource (e.g., previous agent)? Then, queue based on skills and availability Finally, route with all applicable data to targeted agent

• Leveraging the Enterprise for Customer Service Utilizing a Knowledge Base, and keeping it up to date Presence and availability of back-office “experts” Collaboration tools, including IM, conferencing, screen/data sharing, etc.


Best Practice #5: Treat Agents as Customer Ambassadors (That is … Don’t Make Agents Dispensable)


The Requirement for Agent Satisfaction

Percentage of agents satisfied with their jobs: 35%

Of those who are satisfied, two-thirds meet their call handling goals.

According to Ventana Research (Richard Snow):


Agent Dissatisfaction and Attrition *

Reasons for Staff Attrition:

1. Wrong Type of Person for the Job

2. Excessive Pressure or Stress

3. Lack of Promotion or Development Opportunity

4. Repetitive Work

5. Competition from Other Contact Centres

6. Low Pay

7. High Numbers of Temporary/Seasonal Staff

8. Abusive or Unpleasant Calls

9. Poor Working Environment and Conditions

Mean Agent Attrition Rate: 27% - Much higher in certain verticals, such as Outsourcing (56%) and Entertainment (39%)

* Source: US Contact Centre Decision-Makers' Guide (2014 – 7th edition)

Survey of 204 contact Centre managers and directors in March-April, 2014


What do your agents need to meet job satisfaction?

1. Better Technology tools

2. Sense of empowerment

3. Benefits and salary

Poll 2


What Do Agents Need?

25%

35%

47%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

Compensation and benefits

Sense of empowerment inaddressing customer needs

Technology tools facilitatingagents' ability to conduct day-to-

day tasks

Percent of respondents, n=373

All Respondents

Source: Aberdeen Group, October 2014


Agent Satisfaction = Customer Satisfaction

• Agent Productivity Tools From screen pops to interaction control to back office collaboration

• Agent Continuous Improvement From recording to evaluation to coaching

• Agent Teamwork From team goals to graphical charting to friendly competition

And, of course … Continuously Measure and Reward.


Best Practice #6: Measure and Optimize Customer Value (That is … Don’t Just Maximize Basic Call Centre Metrics)

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Metrics Continuum

Operations Quality of Service Business DriversS

oph

isti

cati

on

Scope of Impact

Talk Time

Handle Time

Schedule Adherence

Agent Utilization

Interaction Volume

Speed To Answer

Abandon Rate

Issue Resolution Time

Satisfaction (Survey)

First-Contact Res.

Staff Attrition Rate

Cost Per Customer

Revenue Per Customer

Customer NPS

Cust. Lifetime Value


What level of metrics and reporting is done at your contact centre?1. High

2. Moderate

3. Low

Poll 3


Sop

his

tica

tion

Scope of Impact

Talk Time

Handle Time

Schedule Adherence

Agent Utilization

Interaction Volume

Speed To Answer

Abandon Rate



First-Contact Res.


Cost Per Customer


Customer NPS


= Focus of the “Traditional” Contact Centre

Operations Quality of Service Business Drivers

Metrics Continuum


Sop

his

tica

tion

Scope of Impact

Talk Time

Handle Time

Schedule Adherence

Agent Utilization

Interaction Volume

Speed To Answer

Abandon Rate



First-Contact Res.


Cost Per Customer


Customer NPS


= Customer Interaction Analytics Trend

Operations Quality of Service Business Drivers

Metrics Continuum

A Holistic Approach to Great Communications…

Devices

Applications

Media Unified Queuing and Routing

Agent Desktop (Local or Remote)

Recording & Quality

Monitoring

Reporting & Analytics

Real-Time Statistics

IB/OB Voice

Email

Fax

IM/Chat

Callback

SMS

Social Media

Activity

Single Integrated PlatformIntegrated Database and Reporting

Multimedia Communications Management

Communications Server / PBX Email Server Web Server


Contact Centre Communications, an additive approach

No automation Screen pop Skills-basedrouting

IVR & WebSelf-Service

Proactive Outbound& Notifications

Email and Web-basedCommunications

The impact of proactive communications management:

COSTS

VALUE


Do you have an ‘holistic approach’ set up in your contact centre?

1. No

2. Moving that way

3. Yes

Poll 4

Free White Paper

Best (and Worst) Practices in Customer Communications

To be emailed with the slide deck after the webinar. Please download.


Type your questions here

Questions


Reasons to fill out the exit survey

3 great

1. Receive the slides and recording of the webinar

2. Get a call to learn more

3. All of the above


THANK YOU

My contact info: [email protected]

John CrayVP, Product Management

Enghouse Interactive