Does Your Contact Center Need a CustomerFocused Makeover

Does Your Contact Center Need a Customer-Focused Makeover? Smart. CRM Conference June 16, 2004 Becky Carroll bcarroll@1 to 1. com

What We’ll Discuss Today l Where does the contact center fit in the customer experience? l Strategies for gathering and using customer insight l How to re-focus customer service on customers l A few closing thoughts

Where Does the Contact Center Fit in the Customer Experience?

Do you have a customer strategy for your contact center? l A. Yes, we do l B. No, but we are working on one l C. What is a customer strategy?

The Key Strategic Issue What can you do now to make your customers more loyal and valuable, even though your competitors will do the same thing, the same way?

Why consider a customer focus for the contact center? • … 70% of contacts will still take place via the voice channel in five years’ time Source: The Future of Customer Service, Datamonitor, 2002 • Customers remember interaction with agent in 87% of the instances Customer Satisfaction Benchmarking Research SQM Group, 2001 • Majority of contact is initiated by customer

Strategy and the Contact Center Management View of Call Center Necessary Cost of Doing Business Customer Relationship Strategy Unclear Acquisition Development Opportunity to Manage Customer Value Retention

Customer Experience Expectations Have Changed l Real-time, intelligent customer interaction l Speed and high quality of service l Self-Service l Access to company knowledge bases and the ability to track and check on status l Immediate and useful response to information inquiries l 24/7 service

Key Drivers of Satisfaction for Customer Support l Customers do not want to have a support experience l Customers have a clear sense of what they want if they must endure a support experience • Improved telephone response time • Reduced problem resolution time • Improved customer care / relationship skills Source: Gartner Group, Home PC Support: Why Users Do Not See the Value

What Customer Strategy is not… l It’s not just the technology l It’s not just some personalized email l It’s not just a more efficient call center l It’s not just good customer service – “random acts of CRM” l Customer strategy is not better targeted harassment!

Customer-Centric Integrated Strategy Custom er Feedbac. CHANNEL CHOICES L k re S nt AI CT E CE E DIR A C F AC F Fulfillme nt ce NES t c SI ta U n o e. B M BACK OFFIC E VALUE CUSTOME RS PROSPEC TS MARKETING CONCERN RESOLUTION CROSS SELL PROBLEM SOLVING TO LS S L KI Order Managemen t Product/ Service Development & Offerings Web Site FRON T OFFIC FE & E Contact Centers

Great Customer Service Is Not Enough Random acts of kindness by customer-friendly personnel are not the same as customer centricity! The key: Create a strategy to interact, remember, respond

The CRM Approach for the Contact Center l Get more customers • That look like your most valuable customers l Keep them longer • By providing them with a personalized experience your competitors cannot duplicate l Grow them into bigger customers • By not only providing a superior experience, but also anticipating and meeting their needs Make it as easy as possible for customers to interact with and buy from you

Strategies for Gathering and Using Customer Insight

This is a Simple Process Analysis Action Identify: Differentiate: Interact: w Who are my customers? w Who is profitable? w What does the experience look like from the customer’s perspective? w What data is actionable? w What key elements provide the greatest insight about potential customer behavior? w Who has highest propensity for growth? w Who is at risk? w What are unique needs groups? w How do we consider modality? w How can aligning resources cut costs? w What sales opportunities are missed? Customize: w How can we differentiate our offering? w How can we achieve longterm loyalty? w How do we maximize share of customer?

Technology Empowers Customer Insight Analysis Identify: Differentiate: Database and analytics Action Interact: Customize: Web Campaigns Call center Shipments SFA Sales calls Channel

Step 1: Identify Who is the customer? Problem: At a UK utility, the data systems can’t tell Utility company’s best customer

Identify: Customer Service Considerations • Make sure individuals are recognized at all contact points • Link customer interactions over time • Give the right people access to this info at the right times • Figure out who “the customer” is when the “customer” is an enterprise

Step 2: Differentiate l First by value to the enterprise • Profit from sales of products across all divisions • • Profit from referrals of other customers • • Predictors of loyalty or attrition Likelihood of volume growth or increased profits Other (e. g. , influencers: celebrities, loyalty club members) l Then by customer needs

40, 000 customers. What if only 80 matter?

Tiering Customers by Value Keep these customers Actual Value Strategic Value Servicing Costs Grow these customers Fire them? MVCs MGCs Third Tier Fourth Tier BZs

Lego: Needs-Based Services l. For role-players • Videos and story books • Hats, costumes l. For constructors • Extra diagrams l. For creators • Parts that don’t exist in any “standard” set

Share with others Other incentives to register: Download screen savers and wallpaper Remember information Interact with others online

Differentiate: Customer Service Considerations • Understand prioritize customer expectations • • • Expectations of customer service Expectations of each service interaction Then, measure their satisfaction level - were expectations met? If not, why not? • Consider different service strategy for different customer types • Will most valuable customers have premium service? • Integrate on-line and off-line data • Develop processes for most valuable customers, reflecting most recent customer service interactions to all customer touchpoints

How does your company select its contact center partners? l A. We evaluate all potential partners based on their customer centricity. l B. We evaluate strategic partners based on their customer centricity. l C. We try to select partners that are customer-centric. l D. We pay little or no attention to whether the partners we select are customer-centric.

Step 3: Interact • Give customers easy ways to interact • Be sure to capture feedback and share it l Practice “Drip Irrigation” dialogue • Give a little, get a little, give and get l Integrate multiple interaction channels l Use “permission marketing” to strengthen outbound communications • • Informational email newsletters… Web-based counseling, advice, specifications

Golden questions § Get the most knowledge with the smallest demand on a customer • Map customers into needs-based clusters Example: • Valuable pet food buyers say “yes. ” What is the question?

Understand the Scope of Interaction Direct Mail/ Brochures Warehouse Web/ E-business Call Centers Advertising Wholesaler Sales

Then Utilize Business Rules Contact Resolution MVC Wait Time: No IVR CSR: Best and dedicated team Call Time: Unlimited Loyalty Offer: Yes CO-Browse: Net. Rep Education: Cross-sell Transfer: Hot but retain ownership Response type: Customer’s desired interaction channel E-mail Response Time: Immediate Resolution Cost: open-ended MGC Wait Time: <10 secs CSR: Best Available, high skill Call Time: not limited Loyalty Offer: Situational Education: Services cross-sell Transfer: Warm Response type: Customer’s desired interaction channel E-mail Response Time: 4 hours Resolution Cost: < $150 with no escalation Call Time: < 4 minutes Loyalty Offer: Situational Education: New products/ services or self-sufficiency; channel partner or web for info Response Type: e-mail or web E-mail Response Time: 12 hours Resolution Cost: < $30 with no escalation (Behavioral incentives) Call Time: < 3 minutes Loyalty Offer: No Education: Self-sufficiency/direct to web for info Other: Pay for service Response Type: e-mail or web E-mail Response Time: 24 hours Resolution Cost: avoid monetary resolution Group IVR & Routing RETAIN GROW UP or OUT Migrator BZ Wait Time: < 30 secs CSR: Average Wait Time: < 2 -3 min CSR: New Hire, Temp

Interact: Customer Service Considerations l Use customer insight you already have • Any employee that interacts directly or indirectly with a most-valued customer recognizes and treats the customer accordingly l Pre-fill data where possible • Don’t ask for same information twice l Fully integrate all aspects of the contact center • • Consistent treatment and knowledge for phone, email, chat, web, field service interactions Customers want to be recognized and remembered

Step 4: Customize • Customization is the behavior change result of the relationship, locking in the customer’s loyalty • Questions to ask: • How can we use what we learned in the customer interaction to change how we treat this customer? • What can we do to our product, service or communications to better fit this one customer? • Can we save the customer time, effort or money? • Use mass customization techniques to do this economically, across many different customers

How to Re-Focus Customer Service on Customers

Implementing the makeover Number of Customers Picket Fence Most Valuable or Most Growable Customers Customer Value Traditional processes/agents Needs-based processes/agents

Can your contact center get a complete picture of a single customer? A. Yes, including other transactions, interactions, and preferences B. Yes, but only with respect to sales revenues C. No, we can only see what happens in the contact center D. No, but we are working on it E. Is this really possible?

Interaction channel integration: Taking the customer’s perspective Use a “touchmap” to gain a high-level view of the many ways a customer interacts with, or touches, the company Because you must see your enterprise’s systems and actions entirely from your customer’s point of view © 2000 All Rights Protected and Reserved.

Creating the Ultimate Customer Experience Requires… l Information about your customers • “One View of the Customer” l Knowledge about what makes one customer different from another • • What the customer is worth What the customer wants l The ability to talk, directly and continuously, with your most valuable customers l The ability to turn that dialogue into action, faster and more costeffectively, than the competition

Metrics: “They do what they get paid to do” l Without organizational alignment, key ROI factors will be “polluted” l The Call Center Story n “I love 1 to 1 — I think it’s the direction we should be headed in. However, please don’t make the screen flash when an MVC calls in. I don’t want my CSRs to think they should talk longer with these folks. Besides, my performance is partially measured by Average Talk Time. ” n Call Center Manager

Employing the Right Metrics CRM Initiatives Operational Metrics (How well are we doing this? ) Promoting CRM Initiatives Collecting Customer Data Interacting with Customers Applying Customer Data Results! Business Metrics (What are the results? ) Share of Wallet ROI from CRM Investment Quality/Quantity of Leads Campaign Effectiveness

Measuring Interaction in Contact Centers l Measuring the efficiency of contact centers: • Hold times and call abandonment rates l Measuring their effectiveness: • • • Ratio of complaints handled on first call Percentage of inquiries generating leads Share-of-customer data gathered

Ultimately, Adoption Requires a Culture Change USAA’s Golden Rule of Customer Service “Treat the customer the way you would want to be treated if you were the customer. ” B/Gen. Robert Mc. Dermott

Case Study: Company Z l Company Z has call centers for both inbound and outbound communications l They segmented customers into six categories according to lifestyle attributes • • The customer’s pre-assigned segment appears when the call center rep enters the phone number into the database Segment information designed to give the reps a hint about the customer’s possible lifestyle l Only four of the six customer segments, considered “high opportunity” customers, get “CRM” treatment

Customer Treatment Strategies l CSRs could assign any of five “Strategies” to each “high opportunity” customer after a call • Strategy should indicate the primary need that this customer is fulfilling through the product l By considering the Strategy, the CSR can emphasize product and service benefits most relevant to customer’s lifestyle • Different products and benefits for different customers, based on the designated treatment strategy

Program Execution l Separate database to show segment of each “high opportunity” customer and to capture the following: • • Strategy assigned by the CSR “Clues” about customer lifestyle l Clues is a free-form field reps use to record more detailed customer information • • • “has a PC” “vacation home in Maine, June - August” “kids in background”

Program Execution (cont. ) l Once saved, a permanent Clues history helps reps build rapport with customers, to: • • Avoid asking same questions over again Hone in on individually relevant product benefits, especially as the company introduces new products and services

Some Reasons CSRs Gave for Resisting l Segmentation is “unfair” § Two of six segments not even included for CRM treatment l Customer groupings not very accurate § Research organization claimed 80% accuracy, but real -world experience indicated much less than that l CRM database is empty § § § CSRs must enter Clues before database is useful, so no immediate benefit to using the tool Therefore, reps don’t enter Clues nor do they even open the database to see if any other rep has entered Clues… …because they are accustomed to seeing an empty screen Everyone in the call center is measured on sales, so no one supports the program wholeheartedly

Lessons Learned l Obtain high-level, informed support l Start small § Would have been better for Company Z to have started with just one or two smaller call centers first l Find and persuade the opinion leaders first l Be honest and upfront § Communicate the down side of CRM, too, and deal with it

Has your company formally linked CSR rewards with customer-centric behavior? A. We make customer-centric behavior a significant part of performance appraisal criteria. B. We make customer-centric behavior a part of performance appraisal criteria. C. We use ad hoc methods to reward customercentric behavior. D. We make no link between employees’ rewards and their treatment of customers.

A Few Closing Thoughts

Self-Service: Things to Think About l Make support easy to follow • • “Three screens and out” Look for dead-ends l Simplicity is paramount • How will they find what they need most easily? l Guide the support experience • This is a critical part of the overall customer experience l Make any downloads clean, clear, and simple • Put them back where they can interact with you, where you want them to be!

Web Support Best Practice

Web Support Best Practice Ø Intelligent troubleshooting tool makes it easy to diagnose the problem

Key Questions to Ask for Self-Service l What is the goal? • • Migrate all customers to self-help? If so, are all customers able to be migrated? l What is the support experience you want customers to have? • • Will it vary by customer value? • Where do customers get lost or stuck in selfhelp today? Will it differ by touch point (phone, email, web)?

Key Questions to Ask for Self-Service l How will customers be directed to self-help? • Education is a core component of a successful strategy l How will you measure the success of selfhelp? • If they are also needing to call, we have lost some savings • How many queries are resolved using self-help today?

Case Study: Hewlett Packard A Customer-Focused Makeover in a Consumer Contact Center

The Challenge • Customer satisfaction ratings trending downward • Consumers frustrated with technical support they were getting • Too long to resolve problems • Email help not effective • Lost in self-service How to transform from tech support to excellent customer service?

Strategy: Look at Customer Experience • What were customers expecting? • What were they getting from competitors (both direct and indirect)? • What were they getting from HP? Look across touchpoints… • Email • support was inconsistent hone support took too long – plus, it cost money (toll call) • Repair options were inconvenient • How to balance consumer expectations against reality?

Improve Using the Customer Perspective! • Four key strategic areas to improve: • Problem prevention • Response times • Problem resolution • Customer care • Improved processes to address customer needs at key touchpoints • Built a support customer experience based on what customers needed and wanted

Customer Experience Planning “We are trying to highlight how we can optimize the customer experience and how our infrastructure, decisions and investment priorities need to support that. Ultimately, if our changes aren't visible to the customer, they don't count. ” Gail Waller, HP Consumer Support

Customer Roadmap • HP executed 13 customer initiatives under the four key strategic areas They included the following: • Redesign call resolution process • Add toll-free number for tech support • Revamp CSR training to include “soft skill” coaching • Replace IVR with speech recognition system Mantra: Do it the way a customer would want it, rather than from an IT or product perspective

The Whole Experience Recognizing some touchpoints were external to HP, the company also engaged their retail channel partners • Some retailers offer “in-shop” repair service • HP increased the number of parts available to retail repair shops • Improved product repair turn-around time • Consumers now have options • I can ship my PC back to HP for repair • I can take it to a local retailer – and get it fixed today

Don’t Forget the Metrics • Previously, metrics focused on contact center efficiency • New metrics were put into place, focused on contact center effectiveness • Measured agent’s ability to resolve from start to finish • First time resolution • Number of repeat calls • Customer-focused metrics were added to SLAs with contact center partners

New Customer Focus, New Actions New Results • Improved customer satisfaction by 13 points in first 6 months • Speech recognition savings • Saved customers 10, 000 hours/month • Saved HP $250 K • Greatly improved first-time resolution rates • Dramatically lowered number of repeat calls • Toll-free number alone gave 2 -3 point lift in customer satisfaction

What does a “customer-focused makeover” really mean? Does it mean “Customers are really important. . . pay attention to them”? l No, it means understand which customers are creating value for the firm, and which are destroying value • For the creators • § Craft the experience you want them to have § Maintain relationships in tip-top shape § Invest to grow their productivity § Look for similar acquisitions For the destroyers § Search for ways to make them productive § If no path to productivity, divest

Have a Strategy for the Future Customer Experience, Then Implement Organization-wide view of the customer Field Reps Vendors Account Managers Contact Center Customer Liaisons Name: Mem. #: Address: Web Sites Zip: Phone: E-mail: Rebecca Carroll 1234567 123 Main St. Anytown, USA 79072 123 -4567 bcarroll@1 to 1. com Needs Profile Product Mix Public Affairs Volunteer Contact Center Rep Department Specific data Customer Value Registered User Last Customer Contact: • State Office Main Interest: • Social Security Status • Retired Pilot Group Click for complete Interaction History

What can you do tomorrow? 1. Work on your database! 2. Think about what you want to know about your customers and how you plan to use that information. 3. Ask one question at each interaction 4. Figure out who you really want to do business with. 5. Develop a strategy for your “BZs. ” Ask your best customers what you can do differently, or better, for them (THEN DO IT!)