First Contact Resolution – Measuring Contact Channels Customer Service Experience

SQM uses the Voice of the Customer (VoC) for helping organizations deliver sustained World Class Customer Service through all their channels of customer contact (e.g., call center, IVR, email, E-chat, retail operation, website, installation, repair work, etc.). We work closely with our clients to improve First Contact Resolution (FCR) which is the fundamental driver of World Class Service. We believe in the value of outstanding customer service and understand its impact on protecting existing customer revenue for the entire organization as well as the prudent financial management of the contact channel. SQM has a successful track record of helping contact centers improve their service quality and operating costs. 70% of SQM’s clients show improvement in their FCR and Customer Satisfaction (Csat) as a result of working with SQM.

If you ask contact channel managers what the contact channel’s main purpose is, you hear answers such as; to service customers, to resolve their contacts, to operate in an effective and efficient manner, to service and sell to customers, to create customer loyalty to the organization and to help bring in new customers to the organization. These are all good purposes however, it is SQM’s belief that for most contact channels the main purpose is to retain customers in order to optimize and protect the organization’s greatest asset – its customers. In other words, it is the contact channel’s primary responsibility to retain customers so they do not defect to the organization’s competition as a result of their contact channel experience, rather than the contact channel attempting to create customer loyalty for the organization based on a customer’s contact channel experience. SQM’s research shows that contact channels that have the primary purpose of providing customer service do not create customer loyalty however, they do play a key role in protecting customers from defecting to another organization. The main reason for this contact channel customer retention belief is that for most customers, the organization’s contact channel is used 1 to 5 times a year and for each contact they spend 1 to 30 minutes on that contact channel transaction. Given the limited number of times the contact channel is used and the short length of time on the contact channel, it is difficult to create customer loyalty.

There are many metrics for measuring the customers contact channel experience. Most contact channels do not use the right metrics for measuring the customers contact channel experience. SQM highly recommends using the VoC for measuring FCR, Csat and the continue to do business metrics. Using these VoC metrics is the best practice to truly understand how your contact channel is impacting the customer service experience, operating costs and the ability of the contact channel to retain customers. The true value of using the VoC metrics, such as FCR, Csat and continue to do business, is not just to measure performance, but also to realize the full potential of the contact channel by taking a holistic approach through:

• Benchmarking performance against peer groups, average call centers and world class call centers
• Tracking and trending FCR, Csat and continue to do business performance daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annually
• Determining the strengths and weaknesses of the contact channels
• Establishing performance targets for FCR, Csat and continue to do business metrics
• Developing specific actions for improving contact channel FCR, Csat and continue to do business performance

Post-Contact Survey Method Options for Capturing Customer Contact Channel Experience

Phone Survey

Using SQM’s telephone survey representatives, customers are surveyed within 30 minutes to 1 business day from the time they had a transaction using a customer contact channel. The phone survey is typically between 3 and 5 minutes in length and uses between 5 to 15 rating and open-ended questions. The open-ended questions provide detailed customer feedback comments and is the best post-contact survey method for capturing customer feedback comments. Phone survey quotas can be completed at the individual customer service representative to the overall contact channel level and can be conducted on an hourly, daily or weekly basis. Also, SQM can capture customer feedback digitally and can data-mine that feedback.

IVR Survey

Using SQM’s outbound IVR technology, customers are surveyed within 10 minutes to 1 business day from the time they had a transaction using a contact channel. The IVR survey is typically between 1 and 4 minutes in length and uses between 3 to 10 rating and open-ended questions. This survey method is a very effective and efficient method for conducting a high volume of surveys. In most cases, customers are surveyed within 60 minutes of their contact using SQM’s predictive dialer. IVR survey quotas can be completed at the individual customer service representative to the overall contact channel level. The IVR survey method is timely, accurate and cost effective. Also, SQM can capture customer feedback digitally and can data-mine that feedback.

Web Survey

Customers are surveyed within 10 minutes to 1 business day from the time they had a transaction using a call center, IVR or email contact channel. SQM’s email technology invites your customers to complete a web survey. The survey is typically between 3 and 10 minutes in length using between 5 to 15 rating and open-ended questions. Customers are invited to participate in the web survey. Web survey quotas can be completed at the individual customer service representative to the overall contact channel level. The web survey method is timely, accurate and cost effective.

Reporting Deliverables

Using SQM’s website reporting tool you can track your own FCR/ Csat Contact Channel Customer Service Experience performance in almost real time. The below information can be made available from the customer representative to the call center level.

• Your First Contact Resolution rate from a customer perspective
• First Contact Resolution rate by call types and customer types
• Reasons why customers had made 2 or more contacts to resolve transaction
• Source of error for not achieving First Contact Resolution
• First Contact Resolution financial impact on your operating cost and revenue
• Customer satisfaction ratings for key drivers of First Contact Resolution
• Satisfied or dissatisfied customer surveys can be sent automatically
• Targeted opportunities for First Contact Resolution improvement
• Notification is sent to key personnel for World Class and Action Alert calls
• Entry into SQM Group’s Service Quality Excellence Award program

What’s Next

1. Call SQM Group at (800) 446-2095 to talk about your objectives for the project.
2. We will walk you through a sample report which will show you clearly what you can expect from our Customer Satisfaction Tracking Study.
3. To get the project started, SQM Group will conduct a pre-survey consultation to walk you through our FCR/ Csat Contact Channel Customer Service Experience implementation steps.

Your Investment

The total investment for the measuring FCR/ Csat Contact Channel Customer Service Experience is typically…

• $8.00 to $10.00 per phone survey when conducted by SQM’s telephone survey representatives
• $1.00 to $2.00 per IVR survey when conducted by SQM’s outbound IVR survey technology (Note: Transcription costs will be charged in addition to convert wav recordings of verbatim comments to text with coding)
• $1.00 to $2.00 per web survey when conducted by using SQM’s email technology to invite customers to complete a web survey

Note: There will be an additional charge for setup, maintenance and, if required, for benchmarking reports.