Using Discover for First Call Resolution

Best Practices for Increasing Customer Satisfaction and Reducing Costs

Keith KressDirector of Marketing Communications

Dave DitmarsMarketing Analyst

Why FCR Is Important

• Metric that matters• Impacts customer service• Impacts labor costs• Affects entire organization• Affects staff satisfaction/attrition • Reduces risk of losing customers

Why FCR Is Important

• 1% gain in FCR = 1% gain in CSAT

Why FCR Is Important

• 1 in 6 customers are at risk when not satisfied with contact center interactions*

* Aspect Software, The 2007 Aspect Contact Center Satisfaction Index (2007).

Why FCR Is Important

• 5% reduction in customer defections

can create an 85% increase in profit*

* Frederick F. Reichheld and W. Earl Sasser Jr., “Zero Defections: Quality Comes to Services,” Harvard Business Review (September 1990).

Why FCR Is Important

• 75% of consumers would do business with a company that provides a great call center experience*

*Genesys Global Consumer Survey (2007).

Why FCR Is Important

• 50% of consumers surveyed say they stopped doing business with a company because of poor customer service*

*Genesys Global Consumer Survey (2007).

8

FCR Reduces Costs

Not All Contact Centers Measure FCR

• Only half of contact centers measure FCR

•Why?

Brainstorming Session #1

• If you are not measuring FCR, why?

• What are your challenges in measuring FCR?

How Centers Measure FCR

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for Customer Service Representatives (2008)

Causes of Repeat CallsWhat causes repeat calls?

Common Causes

• Agents– Lack information– Have poor call control skills– Lack authority to solve problems– Are unaware of recent events– Provide unclear or incorrect information

• Long holding times• Corporate policies

Agents Lack Information

• Agents need information quickly• Agents need access to call history

– Caller is frustrated and slow access adds to handle time– Agent needs to know what actions have been taken

• Quick and easy access to a knowledge base helps• Agents need to quickly reach subject matter

experts

Interaction Control

• Agents need to – Identify caller issues quickly– Keep focus on caller issues

• Digressions decrease quick resolutions and increase callbacks and repeat calls

Lack of Authority

• Issue escalate when– Agents do not know

answers– Agents do not have

authority to solve problems

Agents Are Unaware or Unclear

• Agents need to be aware of– New campaigns– Media announcements– Delivery/quality problems– New product/service releases

• Agents present unclear information– Callbacks are caused by ambiguous/wrong information

Corporate Policies

• Business practices create confusion/ multiple steps for customers

• Management needs to know if policies contribute to customer defections

Improving FCR

How to determine your causes of repeat callsHow to make improvements

Agree on Data Collection Method

• Choose method that works for your center

• Don’t let perfect be enemy of good• Be consistent in measurement

Set Reasonable Goals and Rewards

• Target must be realistic and balance objectives

• Reward achievement

Set FCR as Evaluation Metric

• Track FCR in quality evaluations– Underlines importance to the

enterprise– Encourages agents to seek

training and development

Train on Call Control

• Provide training on control– Isolating reasons is critical– Train how to recognize repeats– Teach agents to stay on point– Focus interactions on resolutions– Teach how to code/tag repeats

Provide Advance Information

• Inform agents of– Policy changes– News– Events

Analyze Corporate Policies

• What policies are causing calls?– Credits and returns?– Shipping charges?– Billing cycles?– Late charges?– Promotions?– Warranties?

Empower Agents

• Provide knowledge base• Identify SME agents• Solicit agent feedback

Brainstorming Session #2

• What are your causes of low FCR?

• How can you best address them?

Using Discover to Improve FCRTechniques

Establish Baseline FCR Rate

• Use reports to capture and count calls from callers, accounts or case numbers in specific time periods

Implement Closing Codes

• Train agents on how to recognize repeat calls

• Instruct on how to code or tag repeat calls

• Teach how to define and run reports

Conduct Post-call Surveys

• Using Survey, ask yes/no questions about FCR– “Was this the first time you called about this

matter?” – “Did we answer your question to your

satisfaction?”

Categorize Repeat Calls

• Use Speech Analytics to categorize calls by key words and phrases like “called before” or “last time I called”

Employ Quality Management

• Have staff track FCR metrics with Coaching and Training– Tag calls as repeat– Track reason codes

• Use Discover reporting to track/report this data without factoring in agent scores

Performance Management

• Use Insight to improve call handling– Push current policy messages and

product/service information to agents– Include agent FCR rates on their QA

dashboards– Add incentives to motivate agents

Insight Performance Dashboard

Use Insight to Tune FCR Effectiveness

• Review/improve terms and phrases to refine process

• Expand scope/focus based on initial quality of results

• Use speech analytics to identify calls for follow-up

• Build categories with phrases like “billing problem”, “return policy” and “advertising” to receive notice of repeat calls

Speech Analytics Can Tune Effectiveness

Identify Causes of Repeat Calls

• Use surveys to determine caller motivations

• If callers have indicated common repeat calling reasons, list causes to which they can reply with yes/no response

FCR as Evaluation Metric

• Include FCR as key performance metric• Weight as important resolving inquiries on

first call

Build FCR into Coaching

• Use superior performance examples in coaching

• Coach on call control, new products, policies and factors driving repeat calls

• Capture video of screen activity to ensure agents understand knowledge base tools

Your Takeaways

• Causes of repeat calls• Setting up FCR metric• Improving FCR practice• Best FCR practices