how technology affects agent performance and the bottom line by @dr natalie petouhoff-contact center

Technology’s Affect on: Delivering Great Customer Experiences via Agents & The Bo?om-‐Line

By Dr. Natalie Petouhoff www.DrNatalieNews.com @DrNatalie on Twi9er

PWC Management Consultant

Top Forrester Customer Service,

Social Media, CRM Analyst

Chief Strategist for Social Media & Digital Communications PR & Marketing Agency

Dr. Natalie’s Background Analyst Rankings:

Instructor at Center for Entertainment, Media and Sports Summer Institutes at UCLA Anderson

Write Books or Chapters In OPB

The Agenda •  The Study •  The Results •  How to Apply Findings to Your Contact Center

The Research Study

Determine the direct affect of technology on agents

THE RESULTS: What We Found…

•  Agent Technology… •  Can increase operaEonal costs

•  Has a direct affect on customer churn & sales

•  The eight reasons why these condiEons exist

•  Steps to take to ensure the technology is supporEng your agent’s ability to deliver their best customer experience

What’s New? Most Contact Centers…

•  SEll seen as a cost center •  But for this hour, consider that a contact center is revenue center…

•  Even if it doesn’t answer one direct sales call…

•  Consider that perhaps Service Drivesà Sales, PR, MarkeEng, Engineering, Manufacturing, Supply Chain…

The Contact Centers is the Most Customer-‐facing Department

•  It always has been…

•  And even before social media it had a direct influence on future and present sales

•  But with social media, the contact center ma9ers more now than ever…

•  And it’s easier to prove… Why?

The Contact Center is

Like a Canary in Coal Mine

It’s always been true…

•  What’s working •  What’s not working •  What would be be9er if…

Can be seen by evaluating customer conversations…

Most everything the business needs to know…

But it’s been difficult to “get” senior management to understand that…

But Social Media has Changed the Game

In the

Contact Center’s Favor… The difference?

We call it the

Witness Factor™!

Go Back In Time… People Were PredicTng This…

There would be…

A place in 3me

Where the… •  Customer‘s voice •  Employee’s voice

Would start to mean something… And there would be an enabling technology That is web 2.0 social media… We are here now… This is your opportunity…

MANY SCHOLARS HAD ADVOCATED TO

LISTEN TO CUSTOMERS,

EMPLOYEES…

GO BACK FURTHER…



EMPLOYEES…

GO BACK FURTHER…

Integrating That Feedback Back Into Products & Services…

Means you’d have better products, services, a better company,

more engaged employees & more loyal customers…

Today Customer’s Post Comments online… •  On review sites like – Yelp, Amazon… •  On Facebook •  On Twi9er •  In Forums & CommuniEes…

Just because a company is not listening online, doesn’t mean that customer’s are not posEng…

What should you do about that? Come to my session tomorrow: MulE-‐Channel Customer Service at 11:45 AM 7 Steps to IntegraEng TradiEonal with Social…

Most everything the business needs to know… •  What’s working •  What’s not working •  What would be be9er if… Can be seen in social networks…

Word-‐of-‐mouth in social media tends to be very direct & authenEc

Witness Factor™ Describes the idea that

with social media customer feedback

is now public

And like cave paintings, it’s permanent— for millions of

people to see, forever…

1-9-90

•  1% complain

•  9% respond to complainer

•  90% read but don’t post

Most of your customers are in the 90%

Social Customer Service: Not only good at

providing mission critical

information to the company…

But its public nature is

helping executives understand why the

Contact Center is so important

Canaries in Coal Mine

Remember the book: Who Moved My Cheese?

•  Social Media is not going away •  It’s not about: •  If the cheese is going to move •  Or where it’s moving

•  It’s what are you doing about it… •  Do you want to learn about it now? •  Or be in a reactive, PR nightmare?

But Social Media has Changed the Game

In the

Contact Center’s Favor… The difference?

We call it the

Witness Factor™!

Go Back In Time… People Were PredicTng This…

There would be…

A place in 3me

Where the… •  Customer‘s voice •  Employee’s voice

Would start to mean something… And there would be an enabling technology That is web 2.0 social media… We are here now… This is your opportunity…



EMPLOYEES…

GO BACK FURTHER…



EMPLOYEES…

GO BACK FURTHER…

Integrating That Feedback Back Into Products & Services…

Means you’d have better products, services, a better company,

more engaged employees & more loyal customers…

Today Customer’s Post Comments online… •  On review sites like – Yelp, Amazon… •  On Facebook •  On Twi9er •  In Forums & CommuniEes…

Just because a company is not listening online, doesn’t mean that customer’s are not posEng…

What should you do about that? Come to my session tomorrow: MulE-‐Channel Customer Service at 11:45 AM 7 Steps to IntegraEng TradiEonal with Social…

Most everything the business needs to know… •  What’s working •  What’s not working •  What would be be9er if… Can be seen in social networks…

Word-‐of-‐mouth in social media tends to be very direct & authenEc

Witness Factor™ Describes the idea that

with social media customer feedback

is now public

And like cave paintings, it’s permanent— for millions of

people to see, forever…

1-9-90

•  1% complain

•  9% respond to complainer

•  90% read but don’t post

Most of your customers are in the 90%

Social Customer Service: Not only good at

providing mission critical

information to the company…

But its public nature is

helping executives understand why the

Contact Center is so important

Canaries in Coal Mine

Remember the book: Who Moved My Cheese?

•  Social Media is not going away •  It’s not about: •  If the cheese is going to move •  Or where it’s moving

•  It’s what are you doing about it… •  Do you want to learn about it now? •  Or be in a reactive, PR nightmare?

Our Study Looked At… Agent ProducTvity & Costs:

•  A Siloed Channel Approach Agent Desktop •  Not IntegraEng All Channels •  Inaccurate Knowledge Management Databases

Customer LifeTme Value & Revenue: •  Reducing Customer Churn Rates & Increasing Sales

–  Immediate Responses to NegaEve Word-‐of-‐Mouth –  ProacEve Social Customer Engagement & PosiEve Word-‐of-‐Mouth

Agent AVtudes: •  Drive A9riEon •  Poor Customer Experiences

3 Case Studies •  Case Study 1: –  $60M private, online community & subscripEon-‐based services company providing sales & support

•  Case Study 2: –  $700M publically-‐traded, consumer electronics company, providing sales & tech support

•  Case Study 3: –  $31B publically-‐traded telecommunicaEons company, providing technical consumer support

Case Study #1: Company Background •  60 contact center agents •  QuesEons: – Technical “how to” & Billing & product info

•  Agent’s measured on –  ReducEon of churn / subscripEon saves –  Quality of interacEon

•  Contact Center Management System •  Provided by outsourced vendor –  Highly customized –  Lack of desktop integraEon: •  Chat •  Social Media

Case Study #2: Company Background •  75 agents •  QuesEons: –  Technical “how to” on 2500 SKUs – B2B and B2C

•  Agent’s measured on – Quality of interacEon –  Technical proficiency

•  Contact Center Management System •  SaaS implemented 1 year ago, with some customizaEons –  Lack of desktop integraEon: •  Chat •  Social Media

Case Study #3: Company Background •  1005 agents in this center; 17,000 Agents total •  49% Agent A9riEon •  QuesEons:

–  Technical “how to,” product informaEon –  Social Media posts (done by hand)

•  Agent’s measured on: –  ReducEon of subscriber churn or subscripEon saves –  Quality of contact

•  CRM system –  10 year old system, highly customized –  Lack of desktop integraEon:

•  Chat •  Social Media

We Did Time-‐MoEon Studies to Look at:

Agent ProducTvity & Costs: – A Siloed Channel Approach Agent Desktop – Not IntegraEng All Channels –  Inaccurate Knowledge Management Databases…

The Time MoEon Analysis of… •  Agents using current agent desktop •  ProducEvity loss:

Benefits Of Improving Agent’s Technology

•  Reduced agent frustraTon •  Increased agent producTvity •  Increased FCR (First Contact ResoluTon) •  Increased posiTve word-‐of-‐mouth •  Increased CLTV (Customer LifeTme Value) •  Reduced costs and increased revenue

Loss in ProducEvity due to… •  Too many screens open at once; Eme toggling between screens

•  System very slow •  Having to cut and paste informaEon from one system to another

•  Knowledge bases had poor search; difficult to find correct answers –  Long handle Emes –  Oqen not able to resolve the issue the first Eme

•  Didn’t have chat or co-‐browse or it integrated to the desktop…

Loss in ProducEvity due to…

•  Tweets, Facebook posts not integrated to the agent desktop-‐ doing it by hand –  Go out to company’s Twi9er handle –  Look for comments –  Cut and paste the comment from Twi9er back into the contact center management system

–  Try to idenEfy if the comment was made by a customer –  Direct Message the customer –  SomeEmes can’t match social media idenEty to customer record

–  Search for answer in the knowledge base -‐ can’t find the answer….

The Cost of Lost ProducEvity / Year

ProducTvity Metric

Case Study #1

Case Study #2

Case Study #3

Phone

-‐$236,040

-‐$542,072

-‐$4,440,800 eMail / chat

Social Media

FCR

Agent A9riEon

Our Study Looked At… Customer LifeTme Value & Revenue: – Reducing Customer Churn Rates & Increasing Sales

•  Immediate Responses to NegaEve Word-‐of-‐Mouth •  ProacEve Social Customer Engagement & PosiEve Word-‐of-‐Mouth

NegaEve Word-‐of-‐Mouth Leads to Customer Churn-‐ especially online…

“When customers see other customer’s negaEve posts,

they believe other customers more than the company’s AdverEsing and MarkeEng.”

– Edelman and Nielsen

Metric Case Study #1 Case Study #2 Case Study #3 Reducing Customer Churn / NegaEve WOM $245,592 $960,000 $640,000

“Nega&ve WOM can reduce a company’s market share by 20%.”

– McKinsey

•  Respond to negaEve comments and •  Turn them around •  Reduce negaEve word-‐of-‐mouth •  And reduce customer churn

By Taking A ProacTve AcTon In Social Media And IntegraTng Social Media Into the Agent Desktop

Increased Incremental Revenue / Year

Metric Case Study #1 Case Study #2 Case Study #3 Increasing CLTV/ ProacEve/ PosiEve WOM $544,000 $719,000 $3,180,000

“A high-‐impact recommenda&on— from a trusted friend conveying a relevant message,

—is up to 50X more likely to trigger a purchase than a low-‐impact recommenda&on.”

Word-‐of-‐mouth is the primary factor behind 20 to 50% of all purchasing decisions.”

-‐-‐ McKinsey

Why Word of Mouth Ma9ers

“Sales directly aJributable to the proac&ve and posi&ve word-‐of-‐mouth

for the iPhone outstripped those aJributable

to Apple’s paid marke&ng-‐-‐ 6-‐fold.”

-‐-‐ McKinsey

h9p://vandymkEng.typepad.com/files/2010-‐4-‐mckinsey-‐a-‐new-‐way-‐to-‐measure-‐word-‐of-‐mouth.pdf

Technology’s Affect On the Bo9om-‐line

Metric Case Study #1 Case Study #2 Case Study #3 Part 1: Agent ProducEvity

$236,040

$542,072

$4,440,800

Part 2: Customer Churn/ Customer LifeEme Value $789,592 $1,679,000 $3,820,000

The change in net profit contribuTon…

Technology’s Affect On the Bo9om-‐line

TOTAL $1,025,632 $2,232,592 $9,240,800

Metric Case Study #1 Case Study #2 Case Study #3 Part 1: Agent ProducEvity

$236,040

$542,072

$4,440,800

Part 2: Customer Churn/ Customer LifeEme Value $789,592 $1,679,000 $3,820,000

The change in net profit contribuTon…

Our Study Looked At… Agent AVtudes: • Drive A9riEon • Poor Customer Experiences

What Agent’s Told Us…The Results

“Having many screens open, remembering different login passwords and toggling back and forth becomes tedious,

&resome and nega&vely affects our aPtude & our work”


“Less of us would leave if the technology we use everyday was easier to use; our job would be less repe&&ve and

less stressful”

“We know that we can not only convert

poten&al customers into customers

but how we interact with customers drive sales

But the company has to understand this and give

us the right tools”


“I’m a customer.

I know that when I see nega&ve posts, it

discourages me from buying stuff

Our company has to start paying aJen&on to social

media…”


WHY IS CHANGE DIFFICULT? 1. OrganizaTonal PoliTcs •  Lack of cross-‐funcEonal collaboraEon •  MarkeEng or PR department owns the Facebook page and/or all social channels

WHY IS CHANGE DIFFICULT?

1. OrganizaTonal PoliTcs •  Lack of cross-‐funcEonal collaboraEon •  MarkeEng or PR department owns the Facebook page and/or all social channels

2. Ability to Adopt to Change •  Changing current methods of operaEng are daunEng


1. OrganizaTonal PoliTcs •  Lack of cross-‐funcEonal collaboraEon •  MarkeEng or PR department owns the Facebook page and/or all

social channels

2. Ability to Adopt to Change •  Changing current methods of operaEng are daunEng 3. Training •  Making changes to how agents & outsourced providers conduct tasks is Eme consuming

•  Siloed systems increase training costs •  3.

WHY IS CHANGE DIFFICULT? OrganizaTonal PoliTcs •  Lack of cross-‐funcEonal collaboraEon •  MarkeEng or PR department owns the Facebook page and/or all social

channels

Ability to Adopt to Change •  Changing current methods of operaEng can be daunEng

Training •  Making changes to how agents & outsourced providers conduct tasks is

Eme consuming •  Siloed systems increase training costs

4. Outsourcing Vendor Alignment •  Reliance on an outsourced provider’s platorm for soqware & hardware

5. Legacy Systems •  Large rip and replace/integraEon decisions can take Eme to approve within IT and the company



5. Legacy Systems •  Large rip and replace/integraEon decisions can take Eme to

approve within IT and the company 6. Too Many Choices •  ProliferaEon of soqware choices w/varying features, funcEons and maturity


5. Legacy Systems •  Large rip and replace/integraEon decisions can take Eme to

approve within IT and the company 6. Too Many Choices •  ProliferaEon of soqware choices w/varying features, funcEons

and maturity

7. Recent Soiware Investments •  Are not state-‐of-‐the-‐art, may be already outdated or not easily extensible

WHY IS CHANGE DIFFICULT? 5. Legacy Systems •  Large rip and replace/integraEon decisions can take Eme to approve within IT

and the company 6. Too Many Choices •  ProliferaEon of soqware choices w/varying features, funcEons and maturity

7. Recent Soqware Investments •  Are not state-‐of-‐the-‐art, may be already outdated or not easily extensible

8. Need the Business Case •  OperaEonal costs and topline revenue impact of making changes has not been quanEfied in terms of benefits and ROI to the company

PracTcal Steps To Take •  Review the case studies in depth •  Get execuEve buy-‐in to benchmark your organizaEon •  Get outside help to benchmark your content – and bolster credibility

•  Review the analysis •  Create the business case for change to people, process and technology

•  Present it to execuEves and get approval •  Create a short-‐ and long-‐term plan •  Get to it before your compeEtors beat you to it!

THANK YOU! [email protected]

@DrNatalie www.DrNatalieNews.com