CCA – Customer Effort

Simon Hunt, Head of Quality, Capita Customer Management

Idea in Brief

Conventional wisdom holds that to increase loyalty, companies must ‘delight’ customers by exceeding service expectations. A large-scale study of contact-centre and self-service interactions, however, finds that what the customers really want (but rarely get) is just a satisfactory solution to their service issue.

Reps should focus on reducing the effort customers must make. Doing so increases the likelihood that they will return to the company, increase the amount they spend there, and speak positively (and not negatively) about it – in other words, that they’ll become more loyal.

To meet customers’ expectations, reps should anticipate and head off the need for follow up calls, address the emotional side of interactions, minimize the need for customers to switch service channels, listen to and learn from disgruntled customers, and focus on problem solving, not speed.

Q5 - As a customer have you ever terminated/stopped an interaction with an organisation because it was too hard?

Q3 - When thinking about customer effort specifically, what is your understanding of effort? (please select all that apply)

Q6 - What are the top three customer experience measures used by your organisation? (please rank in order of importance with 1=most important)

Q2 - How effective do you feel your current method(s) of measuring customer experience are in understanding customer opinion of your organisation?

Q9 - If yes, what do you feel would be the main benefits of using customer effort? (please select all that apply)

Q17 - Do you measure customer effort separately for each channel or do you take an omni-channel approach (i.e. single view across all channels)

Move From CSAT To Effort Mapping & Scoring

81% of customers who had a hard time reported an intention to spread negative word of mouth

A bad solution to even a small problem can be a very big deal to someone using your service

Process Effort Capability & Dynamic Effort Scoring

Process Effort Capability (Qualitative)

What’s any given process or interaction effort and emotion capability

Pro – Easy to map and highlights pain points

Con - Generalised

Dynamic Effort Scoring (Quantitative)

A calculation of an effort score from variable inputs

Pro – data driven & personalised

Con – blunt & formulaic. Rationale Choice Theory

Good & Bad Effort

No Pain No Gain

Pay off Matrix (invest X units for Y reward)

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Tailored Experiences

Competing Against…

Expectation, Emotion and Effort

If we are to understand Effort in any meaningful way we must…

Acknowledge Expectation (paying a bill versus buying a house)

Measure Effort (too much, too little, about right or scale)

And tag Emotion (positive or negative emotion – heavily influenced by a& b)

Emotion & Positivity

“Broaden & Build”

Positive feelings enable experiences to flourish

Positive & Negative Ratio 3:1 is the aim

Google’s UX Design - Jars Of Emotion UX

Customer Effort Customer Emotion

Hig

h Le

vels

Neu

tral

Low

Lev

els

Introduction Call CloseInform customer of options Confirmation PromotionRent/ Own How can I help?

This demonstrates the turbulent journey of a customer, with high levels of effort and emotion.

Effort & Emotion Mapping

“Please allow a few

days delivery”

3 sec

“You will get written

confirmation in 6

days” 4 sec

“Confirm your full name

and property address

please” 4 sec

“Confirm your contact

telephone number

please” 3 sec

Existing Call Flow – The Long Journey

“How can I help you today” 2 sec

“Your bill is £….”

4 sec

“These are your

payment options”

12 sec

“This is your first

and last payment” 6 sec

“Your bank details

are…(Include DD

guarantee details)”

28 sec

“Payment dates and

amounts again are…” 15 sec

“Would you like a text

sending confirmation”

6 sec

“Can I offer you the

Home serve service?”

5 sec

***Please note that timings are an estimate of the agent element of the call flow only and do not factor for customer element of the conversation**

Total Time 124 sec

START

END

1 “ Good Morning, Agent Name, Account Number”

4 sec2 3 4

8 5679 10 11 1215

16 17 18 1914 13

“ Do you rent/ own the property (more details

taken if rent)” 3sec

“ Here is the frequency you need to pay” 8 sec

“This amount will be carried forward” 5 sec

“Here are your monthly instalment

s” 5 sec“What’s your preferred payment date” 4 sec

Is there anything else I can do for

you? 9 sec

Customer Effort Customer Emotion

Hig

h Le

vels

Neu

tral

Low

Lev

els

Intro & Security How can I help? Questioning around best option/s for customer Clarify & Confirm Call Close

By the customer receiving the service they were expecting the effort and emotion input are much

more stable.

Effort & Emotion Mapping

Average Interaction Duration

Ave

rag

e N

um

ber

of

Inte

ract

ion

s

Average Time of Case

Customer Satisfaction

Dynamic Score

Ave

rag

e N

um

ber

of

Inte

ract

ion

s

Average Time of Case

Dynamic Score

Concern Over Repair Cost - Long Cases

-1

0

1

2

3

4

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35Days

Satisfa

ction

Vehicle Order and Supply - Long Cases

0

1

2

3

4

-2 48 98 148 198 248 298Days

Satisfa

ction

Psychology of Experience Daniel Kahneman –

Quality defined by 2 things:

1) Experience Peak

2) End experience

Our remembering self has “duration neglect” and “peak end rule”

What we experience at the time, is overridden by how we remember the intensity and how it ended.

Contact us

If you would like to talk to us about how our award winning teams can transform your customer management operations then contact us today.

– Website: www.capitacustomermanagement.co.uk

– Telephone: +44 (0) 113 207 3476