In our lifetime, most of have been or will be in touch with a customer care agent, whether that is to complain about a problem, buy a new product or service or casual interview about our experiences and perceptions. Having said that everyone can relate on unpleasant experiences when dealing with customer care agents especially over the phone or even face to face on a shop floor.
Over the phone we tend to get lost to the myriad of choices on the IVR, which probably takes 2 to 5 minutes just to navigate to the correct selection. After getting to the right IVR menu we are prompted another 15 minutes or more of waiting on a queue, then finally once we find a customer care agent it take another 15 minutes of explaining to the the customer care agent the issue or problem we are having with a product or service. So as sane humans there goes 30 minutes of our life in a 24 hour day wasted waiting. If we know this can be improve then we realized how much better our life can be… just imagine spending that 30 minutes in something you truly like or love, that will make this word a much better place….
Looking at the other side, just imagine the amount of money saved by the company we called if they can shorten that time even by just 15 seconds. If they have 10000 calls a day, then that is 150,000 seconds saved, that is a 40 hour saving, an entire week. As a person what would you do if you are given a week off and can do anything you want? For a company that is 1 man week off saved in a day and if consider that 1 minute of call is costing a dollar, just imagine saving 600,000$ per year out of 15 seconds….
Now the question is how do we make our customers happier by shortening their waiting time, or even eliminating it if possible. In most contact centers we often talk about two main metrics First Call Resolution (FCR) and Average Call Holding Time (ACHT). On the analogy above we established that improving ACHT can improve bottom line dramatically. What most of us failed to understand that FCR and ACHT is very much related and can be improved at the same time. How? Its actually very simple… but very difficult to get the implementation right.
If we can provide the customer a faster way of reaching customer service, then the waiting time for them becomes tolerable. Today we deploy self care, but that still has some waiting time… especially if the customer wants to talk to a live agent. So why not provide a direct customer care portal from the customer's device where he presses a button then viola straight to an agent! Or better yet instead of the customer calling, why not let the agent cal the customer as soon as a problem is submitted….
If we then equip the agent with all information about the customer and their experience without having to go to a battery of questions, then that is 5 minutes save. And at the same time provide the agent the capability to immediately isolate the issue and provide immediate feedback, another five minute save and the customer issue solved immediately during the first call…. How about that for better FCR and ACHT?
The question that would come to mind then is how do you that? The answer is actually as simple as the concept. Ensure all information needed are captured and process before even the agent pick up the phone… by this meaning a system that can handle huge amount of data and produce the necessary results in a matter of a few seconds… If I am the customer 2 seconds will be my perfect waiting time, thank you.
Wanna know more? How about coming to Customer Experience Management Asia and listen to the experiences of those who have implemented this kind of solutions….
Over the phone we tend to get lost to the myriad of choices on the IVR, which probably takes 2 to 5 minutes just to navigate to the correct selection. After getting to the right IVR menu we are prompted another 15 minutes or more of waiting on a queue, then finally once we find a customer care agent it take another 15 minutes of explaining to the the customer care agent the issue or problem we are having with a product or service. So as sane humans there goes 30 minutes of our life in a 24 hour day wasted waiting. If we know this can be improve then we realized how much better our life can be… just imagine spending that 30 minutes in something you truly like or love, that will make this word a much better place….
Looking at the other side, just imagine the amount of money saved by the company we called if they can shorten that time even by just 15 seconds. If they have 10000 calls a day, then that is 150,000 seconds saved, that is a 40 hour saving, an entire week. As a person what would you do if you are given a week off and can do anything you want? For a company that is 1 man week off saved in a day and if consider that 1 minute of call is costing a dollar, just imagine saving 600,000$ per year out of 15 seconds….
Now the question is how do we make our customers happier by shortening their waiting time, or even eliminating it if possible. In most contact centers we often talk about two main metrics First Call Resolution (FCR) and Average Call Holding Time (ACHT). On the analogy above we established that improving ACHT can improve bottom line dramatically. What most of us failed to understand that FCR and ACHT is very much related and can be improved at the same time. How? Its actually very simple… but very difficult to get the implementation right.
If we can provide the customer a faster way of reaching customer service, then the waiting time for them becomes tolerable. Today we deploy self care, but that still has some waiting time… especially if the customer wants to talk to a live agent. So why not provide a direct customer care portal from the customer's device where he presses a button then viola straight to an agent! Or better yet instead of the customer calling, why not let the agent cal the customer as soon as a problem is submitted….
If we then equip the agent with all information about the customer and their experience without having to go to a battery of questions, then that is 5 minutes save. And at the same time provide the agent the capability to immediately isolate the issue and provide immediate feedback, another five minute save and the customer issue solved immediately during the first call…. How about that for better FCR and ACHT?
The question that would come to mind then is how do you that? The answer is actually as simple as the concept. Ensure all information needed are captured and process before even the agent pick up the phone… by this meaning a system that can handle huge amount of data and produce the necessary results in a matter of a few seconds… If I am the customer 2 seconds will be my perfect waiting time, thank you.
Wanna know more? How about coming to Customer Experience Management Asia and listen to the experiences of those who have implemented this kind of solutions….
3 comments:
Interesting article. Customer experience is indeed an important component of every successful organisation. Simply put: If companies want to be more profitable, learn how to give better customer experience.
I agree with Darwin, good work by the author.
What most of us failed to infer that FCR furthermore ACHT is too same allied furthermore can be improved at the invariable tour. improving the customer experience How? Its indeed much absolute… however very cranky to obtain the implementation directly..
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