Find The Better Way

Strengthen IVR Self-Service

MTA Conference

May 10, 2005

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Premise

Strengthen IVR Self-Service – What does it mean?

After attending this seminar you will have an understanding of how to reduce cost to serve and enhance customer experience on your IVR platform.

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Customer Contact Has Changed

The Internet and Cell Phones have created

a more savvy customer wanting instant

information.

Customers require “any time access”.

Customers demand contact options.

The Customer Experience is a strategic differentiator regardless of channel.

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True or False?

“92% of all customer transactions happen over the phone.”

Gartner, CRM Today 2004

TRUE!

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Self-Service

Order online

Banking at ATMs/ Kiosks

Self check out lanes

Turbo Tax!

Travel Reservations

Photo Development

Self-Service is a customer’s expectation.

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Options

Does providing self-service take away from a customer’s desire to interact with a human being?

Can organizations predict when a customer will chose self-service over live help?

What effect does it have on your customer relationship to provide a communication choice?

Providing service options empowers your customer.

?

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Key Points –

The phone is the most chosen communication

channel for contacting organizations today.

Self-Service needs to be an option for customers.

Providing options empowers customers and enhances their service experience.

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How is this relevant?

IVR plays a very critical role in providing service to your customers.

Customers’ experience on the IVR influences their perception of an organization.

The IVR is a customer communications channel - a touch-point for your organization.

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The IVR has Proven Value to Businesses

Consistent Service Delivery Provides consistency unless programmed otherwise

Media Channel Branding opportunity through hold music, voice talent, etc.

Contact Center Support Provides operational efficiencies for the Contact Center

Customer Relationship Information

Utilizes customer data

(pulls, gathers, & validates)

Not all organizations recognize the value of the IVR.

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Why is this happening?

Executive Direction

$$$ invested elsewhere

Little visibility to ROI

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Critical IVR Measurements

Customer Experience

Utilization

Usability

Cost to Serve

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Cost to Serve

Datamonitor

Forrester Research SearchCRM

Annual Call Volume 1,000,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 Agent Cost per Call 13.00$ 13.00$ 13.00$ 13.00$ 13.00$ 13.00$ 13.00$ 13.00$ 13.00$ 13.00$ 13.00$ IVR Cost per Call 1.10$ 1.10$ 1.10$ 1.10$ 1.10$ 1.10$ 1.10$ 1.10$ 1.10$ 1.10$ 1.10$ Agent Handling Ratio 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%IVR Utilization 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%Annual Agent Cost -$ 1,300,000$ 2,600,000$ 3,900,000$ 5,200,000$ 6,500,000$ 7,800,000$ 9,100,000$ 10,400,000$ 11,700,000$ 13,000,000$ Annual IVR Cost 1,100,000$ 990,000$ 880,000$ 770,000$ 660,000$ 550,000$ 440,000$ 330,000$ 220,000$ 110,000$ -$

Total Cost to Serve 1,100,000$ 2,290,000$ 3,480,000$ 4,670,000$ 5,860,000$ 7,050,000$ 8,240,000$ 9,430,000$ 10,620,000$ 11,810,000$ 13,000,000$

Agent Handling Ratio 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%Cost to Serve 1,100,000$ 2,290,000$ 3,480,000$ 4,670,000$ 5,860,000$ 7,050,000$ 8,240,000$ 9,430,000$ 10,620,000$ 11,810,000$ 13,000,000$

Value of 10% Improvement 1,190,000$ Value of 1% Improvement 119,000$

Annual Call Volume 1,000,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 Agent Cost per Call 6.17$ 6.17$ 6.17$ 6.17$ 6.17$ 6.17$ 6.17$ 6.17$ 6.17$ 6.17$ 6.17$ IVR Cost per Call 2.00$ 2.00$ 2.00$ 2.00$ 2.00$ 2.00$ 2.00$ 2.00$ 2.00$ 2.00$ 2.00$ Agent Handling Ratio 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%IVR Utilization 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%Annual Agent Cost -$ 617,000$ 1,234,000$ 1,851,000$ 2,468,000$ 3,085,000$ 3,702,000$ 4,319,000$ 4,936,000$ 5,553,000$ 6,170,000$ Annual IVR Cost 2,000,000$ 1,800,000$ 1,600,000$ 1,400,000$ 1,200,000$ 1,000,000$ 800,000$ 600,000$ 400,000$ 200,000$ -$

Total Cost to Serve 2,000,000$ 2,417,000$ 2,834,000$ 3,251,000$ 3,668,000$ 4,085,000$ 4,502,000$ 4,919,000$ 5,336,000$ 5,753,000$ 6,170,000$

Agent Handling Ratio 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%Cost to Serve 2,000,000$ 2,417,000$ 2,834,000$ 3,251,000$ 3,668,000$ 4,085,000$ 4,502,000$ 4,919,000$ 5,336,000$ 5,753,000$ 6,170,000$

Value of 10% Improvement 417,000$ Value of 1% Improvement 41,700$

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IVR Deployment – Lessons Learned

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

More Customer Input & Feedback

Keep Design Simple

Better Promo of IVR

Keep Current with Technology

Ascent Group

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How do some organizations gather feedback?

Installed surveys on the IVR

Focus Groups

Usability Labs

Wizard of Oz

Others?

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Utilizes 500+ participants providing statistically significant data.

Provides recorded surveyed calls made on the IVR that can be accessed via the web.

Establishes key performance indicators (KPIs) by providing a baseline and ongoing measurements.

Meets Marketing Department research demands of specific demographic / geographic participants.

Provides detailed and summarized results that can be grouped as desired.

Identifies statistically reliable and relevant IVR process improvement opportunities to enhance usability.

Measures all communication channels

A Singular Approach

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The Method

SetupDetermine study

participantsDevelop scripts and instructions

(within data parameters)

Determine channel and identify

processes within it

Select a process to study

Create study questionnaire

Measure Capture and catalog study

results

Consolidate resultsConduct study Capture and catalog call recordings

Produce baseline metrics report

Evaluate Results,Develop Recommendations

Prepare recommendations

Review and prioritize

recommendations

Analyze study results

Identify gaps and opportunities

Develop Go Forward Plans

Develop business case

Develop high level project plans

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Weeks

ValidateRepeat Measure Compare to

Baseline Determine ROI

ImplementDevelop

Requirements Design Construct Implement

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Real Results

Organizations working with this process and methodology realized the following results:

(upon implementation of recommendations)

10% increase in one call resolution

22% increase in the usability of an IVR call flow

13% increase in overall IVR utilization

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In Summary

Provides clear path and action plan to implement improvements to:

– Enhance customer facing processes and procedures

– Reduce cost to serve through increasing utilization & usability

– Increase customer satisfaction

Defines benchmarking strategy and methods

Establishes operational performance baseline for continuous improvement

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Recognized Business Drivers

Strategic Cost to Serve Customers is high Customer/Client Retention New Service / Product Launch Relationship of Performance Standards to Marketplace

– Competition

– Six Sigma / Other quality review

Operational Increase in Call Volume Change in Technology / Infrastructure support Change to Contact Center staffing Customer Service provided across multiple channels

- Branding

- Process Enhancements

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Case Study #1Industry: InsuranceApplication: Speech-Based Policy Information

The client was building a new speech-based application for providing automated policy information to consumers. The client desired to measure the performance of the application and provide benchmarking as the final step before full deployment. The application was evaluated using 500 panelists selected from the client’s customer demographic profile.

MeasureThe initial evaluation found that the performance of the application was poor:

– 25% of callers reported the application was hard to use– 17% reported unable to find the needed information to complete the assigned process– 56% cited poor recognition of entered application commands– 41% claimed a high degree of dissatisfaction with the application, and 29% reported it was the worst speech

application they'd ever used. – 31% of the callers could not complete the assigned process in the first attempt causing them to call back to

complete the process or give up.

Engineer & ImplementUsing the data and call recordings collected during the study, a number of specific issues were identified and fixed including prompting, error handling, and menu options.

ValidateOnce the determined changes were implemented the Measure phase was repeated. 6% of callers reported the application was hard to use versus 25%. Only 7% of callers were unable to find the information they needed to complete the assigned process. Overall customer satisfaction increased significantly as 81% of callers were able to complete the assigned process in a single call reducing the cost to serve.

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Case Study #1 Continued

Cost Savings

The revised application resulted in much lower operational expenses than the original design, due to the significant improvement in callers’ ability to get the information they needed without talking to an agent or calling back.

Initial

Application

Revised

Application

Assumed Calls/Month 83,334 83,334Single Call Completion in 69% 81%Assumed Cost/Call (automated) 2.00$ 2.00$ Assumed Cost/Call (live agent) 6.17$ 6.17$ Cost/Month to Automated IVR 115,001.00$ 135,001.00$ Cost/Month to Live Agents 159,393.00$ 97,692.00$ Total Cost/Month 274,394.00$ 232,693.00$ Monthly Savings 41,701.00$

Over half a million $’s annually in cost reduction

Forrester Research SearchCRM.com

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Thank You

Find The Better Way

for your organization to succeed, contact

Sue Fairchild

612.743.7810

susan.fairchild@ambientconsulting.com

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What is the Marketplace Saying?

“…most industries in the past couple of years have switched to self service…The bottom line is reduced costs, increased efficiency and productivity. But the other driving force – the one that will cause companies to fine tune their deployments – is customer demand for self-service.”“The Self-Service Movement” Peppers & Rogers Group, July 2004

“Given the history of the technology (IVR) and its potential, companies hoping to reap the benefits of IVR must understand that the customer experience is everything…“The Customer Experience is It!” The Ascent Group, Inc. 2003

“Best in Class firms invest more heavily in customer-facing capabilities (Alerting, Self-Service, Case Management, IVR, Chat), while Industry Norm and Laggard companies invest more heavily in agent-facing capabilities (e-learning, recording / monitoring).”“Proactive Service The Next-Generation Contact Center” Aberdeen Group December, 2004

“Metrics will change focus from operational efficiency to customer effectiveness as customer service becomes a strategic function at the business level and starts to be counted as a revenue center, rather then a cost center.” Gartner, 2004