Yes, you can avoid 80% of your contacts, don't settle for less if you want to serve your customer

In a recent Dutch blog @EllenFaxion stated ‘what organizations build up with marketing and social media, they destroy in the contact center’ to summarize her impression of our Performance Customer Interactions 2011 research on inhouse and outsourced contact centers in English and Dutch presented on the March 17 Event ‘Service: how hard can it be?’. The facts: contact centers in-house and outsourced still use Average Handling Time and #Putting through as the leading KPI’s. “It seems to be efficient but is actually very expensive if you consider all contacts as complaints or mistakes. My experience is that 80% of all contacts in almost all contact centers can be avoided by doing things right the first time. If you make a mistake it should be handled right (First Contact Resolution) to prevent repeat traffic. Organisations can save a lot in contact centers and increase NPS at the same time.” Ellen quoted me. 

In order to make room in the contact center for more difficult and valuable contacts like effective empathic complaint handling, pro-active communication, inbound marketing and interactive interaction through mobile and social media channels, bold goals have to be set.

Some people when hearing a statement like this tend to focus on the number: “Is 80% not way too much?” Others cannot accept the facts: “We do a good job in the contact center, it is them spending the money”. We are witnessing defensive reactions of contact center managers and even consultants. It is called resistance to change. However, if you have the mindset that every service interaction is somehow related to a failure in the companies’ products, delivery, service, marketing, sales, website, shop, communication and so on, you start with 100% and may settle for 80% or less later. It’s all about real intentions, outside-in and cross channel thinking. Let’s face it, emails and letters pile-up because cases are not resolved; they almost all are complaints. Most websites generate a lot of questions, offer terrible self-service with FAQ’s, virtual agents or bots that have little content. They can answer the obvious, so in the end you have to call. Channels are shuffling the customer around, blaming each other. Separate complaint handling is not a solution. It’s a myth that special treatment can result in higher loyalty when you forget to give real empowerment. This in my opinion should all be seen as FAILURE.

It’s actually your customers who are indicating time and again that they do not want to contact you at all. All that matters if things go wrong is to acknowledge your faults and resolve them quickly once and for all. "The probability that a service interaction will drive disloyalty is approximately four times greater than the chance it will create any positive loyalty impression. In other words, as a function, customer service typically plays on the 'negative side' of the loyalty field," said Matthew Dixon, Ph.D., Managing Director of the Customer Contact Council. It is precisely for this reason that you see a rise of the Customer Effort Score which in my humble opinion will also not be the ultimate question or only measurement that counts in the service area. I expect it to be highly correlated with First Contact Resolution. 

Most service interactions nowadays are forced upon your customer because you made a mistake, a failure. You can measure it with CES or FCR. The latter one more difficult because it’s across the chain but more meaningful when measured and monitored properly because it shows you the root cause. Why not go for a root cause analysis using your measurements? Close the loop: fix the root causes causing all those worthless interactions be it calls, emails, letters or even some shop visits. 

Be bold and start today in order to be agile tomorrow and deliver superb cross channel service that really counts and drives loyalty. Service is exceptionally important to drive loyalty but put your resources on valuable interactions not on the ones to avoid. You have to make room for that to happen. Contact us by email or phone for a tailor-made shared risk and reward proposition.