Telephone contact points in contact centers (call centers) account for more than 60% of all channels, and many companies are promoting initiatives to encourage customers to solve their own problems through non-voice services such as chat that meet customer needs and support content such as FAQs.
However, on the other hand, there are many cases where we are plagued by issues such as “the number of incoming calls does not decrease even though we have introduced chat” and “we receive inquiries similar to those posted on the FAQ site”.
In this article, we’ll share some tips on how to increase traffic to digital channels and how best to optimize operational efficiency in your contact center.
Today, digital channels are becoming increasingly important and a growing trend in contact center operations.
This trend is expected to accelerate further in Japan and overseas, and it is said that overseas companies will have less than 50% of the total channel ratio in two years.
On the other hand, many companies still face many challenges in shifting to digital channels, and less than 20% of Japan companies say they have successfully made the switch.
This shows that there is a need for proactive efforts to ensure the success of the shift to digital channels, such as making customers aware of channels other than the phone.
To this end, it is important to expand the coverage of chat and solve inflow issues by seamlessly linking with bots.
According to the “Fact-finding Survey on Communication between Consumers and Companies 2022-2023” conducted by transcosmos, about 9% of consumers answered that they first search the web to solve problems, and the percentage of consumers who say they feel burdened by contacting the telephone service is increasing year by year.
For this reason, companies need to take measures to encourage self-resolution, such as chatbots and support content, but the most common issues with non-voice support are “the system is not ready for response-related systems, such as the system is divided by channel” “The usage scene is limited by the viewpoint of personal information protection and security policies” ” We don’t know what consumers need, and it’s good to have it but it’s not being used.”
According to the “Survey on Communication between Consumers and Companies 2022-2023“, the penetration rate of smartphones in Japan is now 95%, the usage rate of messaging apps and chat exceeds 70%, and SNS is also used by 47%, which is about one in two.
Furthermore, looking at the channel usage intention rate by age group, it was found that 66% of customers over the age of 50 were using messaging apps and chats, which was equivalent to telephone. The idea is no longer valid.
However, there are many people who want to use messaging apps and chats but have no experience of actually using them, and there is a gap between the company’s response status and the customer’s intentions, such as “chat is not installed on the homepage” and “it is difficult to understand where it is installed”.
In addition to the installation itself, there are cases such as “I tried to install it once, but it didn’t work and I withdrew”.
First of all, in terms of productivity issues, there are cases where one-to-one correspondence, which is a characteristic of chat, does not work well, and it becomes a one-on-one exchange in the same way as answering a phone.
The next issue of inflow is the problem of introducing chat but not using it.
Ideally, after the introduction of chat, the number of incoming calls will decrease and the number of incoming calls will increase, but in reality, in most cases, the number of incoming calls will not decrease at all, only the number of inquiries via chat will be added.
Naturally, simply introducing and installing chat will not increase the number of users.
If your goal is to reduce costs, you need to take measures to encourage traffic and use of chat.
In addition, even if the goal is to increase customer contact points, the use of chat is essential to clear up doubts and not miss out on purchase opportunities.
Goal issues: KPIs are not set, some are missing
The third issue is that goals and KPIs are not set, are vague or insufficient.
The following are examples of common KPI metrics, but you need to set appropriate KPIs according to the purpose of introducing chat, whether it is a KPI related to chat usage or customer interaction.
The first is the issue of simultaneous response, which is a productivity issue.
It is important to properly grasp the risks and troubles that lurk in simultaneous response, such as “confusion of information contents“, “incorrect information of customer information”, and “omission of response / delay in reply”.
The impatience of dealing with multiple customers at the same time while simultaneously operating multiple screens such as chat tools, customer information databases, FAQs, notepads, and websites causes human error.
Therefore, by taking appropriate measures against possible risks and finally establishing and clarifying rules, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of problems in simultaneous response.
In addition, as a result of a survey conducted by transcosmos, it was found that responding to more than four cases at the same time worsens customer satisfaction and average response time.
From this, it is considered that the appropriate number of simultaneous responses is 2~3 cases. However, when handling personal information, it is better to respond to no more than two cases at the same time from the viewpoint of preventing data mix-ups.
Next, the problem of inflow can be solved by “thinking about the entire call × Web” as a customer lead.
When many customers have questions, they first gather information on the website to solve them themselves, and in the process, they recognize the phone number of the contact point.
If the problem cannot be solved on the Web, it is common to make inquiries by phone, but at this time, it is necessary to review whether the customer is aware of the existence of the chat window and whether the lead to make the customer aware of the existence of the chat window is prepared in an easy-to-understand manner.
In addition, for inquiries on the web, it is necessary to have a firm grasp of whether the corporate site and support content provide a route to the chat window, and how much of the range of inquiries can be covered by the chatbot.
At first glance, it may seem that the coverage rate of chatbot responses has nothing to do with increasing the number of inflows, but it can be said that the repeat rate is the most important in chat operation.
If you use chat to solve a problem and don’t get the answer you expected, it will often be perceived as “still not working” and chat will never be used again.
From the point of view of resolution rate, i.e., customer satisfaction, we cannot neglect the coverage rate of inquiries.
However, even if you just take measures blindly, including inflow and coverage, you will not get the expected effect. We recommend that you start by taking the following steps to understand your current situation.
Goal challenges and solutions
Thirdly, as a solution to the target issue, I will give you specific examples of the points for “setting KPIs for the entrance and CPH (= number of responses per hour)”.
If the purpose of setting up chat is to improve efficiency and reduce costs, it is necessary to properly set KPIs for the chat rate and inflow rate of the entire channel and run the PDCA cycle.
In addition, even if CPH indicators are established as productivity-related issues, there are many cases where indicators related to average response time and concurrent response rates are not set.
For example, if both the concurrent response rate and the chat inquiry acceptance rate are low, it is necessary to improve the issue of chat inflow in the first place, and if the concurrent response rate is low but the chat acceptance rate is high, it is necessary to prioritize improving the skills of operators.
Let’s take a look at some of the most efficient ways to increase traffic to digital channels: call lead surveys, site lead surveys, and the introduction of Secure Path.
The purpose of the call lead survey is to improve the ratio of digital channels, to understand what it takes to direct customers who call to chat, and where the challenges are.
In this way, operators identify the inflow route by conducting a simple survey of customers at the end of the phone support.
At this time, we will prevent variations between operators by defining the requirements in advance, such as the target window, the number of targets, the start date, the exclusion targets, the hearing items, and the hearing talk examples, and then start the survey.
Then, based on the collected survey results, we will create a policy proposal to increase the inflow of chats, and improve the chat ratio while verifying the effect.
The purpose of the site lead survey is to improve the ratio of digital channels, but this is done to find out what kind of lead was followed to get to the chat window on the Web, and whether there are any issues along the way.
In the past, general website surveys often evaluated leads and content for the purpose of obtaining conversions (CV), and even if measures were taken to improve SEO (inflow), site mobility, and CV enhancement, there were cases where the number of telephone inquiries increased due to the lack of measures to encourage customers to solve their problems from a support perspective.
In addition, although we have improved FAQs and improved searchability in support content with the aim of improving the resolution rate, the reality is that the content itself does not reach customers in the first place, and the number of telephone inquiries does not decrease.
For this reason, transcosmos conducts a survey based on the premise that customers who visit the website have (has) questions, and with the aim of increasing the inflow of traffic to digital channels and improving the self-resolution rate on the website, transcosmos investigates not where questions arise, but whether they can be solved when they arise from the following three perspectives. By optimizing the self-solution lead, we can improve customer satisfaction and reduce the amount of calls.