The Challenge
OCR is one of the most established awarding bodies in the UK and their Customer Contact Centre handles around 220,000 telephone contacts per year. As part of the body’s Customer Access Model, it was important to transform the initial point of contact and improve their customer experience.
As all of their IVR recordings were completed in-house, each caller could experience differences in voice, tone and volume. Over time, the number of options callers were presented with had increased, leading to extended queue times and increased levels of caller frustration.
Indeed, one survey revealed that 1 in 5 customers were finding it difficult just to navigate the IVR, leading them to skip options by selecting random options in order to reach a caller agent, but this often meant the agent had to re-direct them, causing further frustration and delays.
Enter OnBrand
We used our expertise to analyse the existing call flow and understand what messages were needed, and which ones were surplus to requirements. By condensing the number of options, the customer journey instantly became clearer, but as each call is routed to caller agents with specific knowledge and skills, we also took time to understand what questions absolutely needed to be answered to ensure the caller was routed to the right agent at the first attempt.
After implementing our new IVR menu and recording all messages professionally with a consistent brand voice, callers were suddenly able to identify what options they needed more easily. And even when a caller was placed on-hold, not only were the times greatly reduced, but the wait had less of a psychological burden due to the fact we educated callers about ways they could self-serve should they want to.
Overall, the caller experience became so much cleaner that callers reached the agent in a much better frame of mind, which was vital to protect the reputation of such as important brand.
Key Wins
-
- Reduced the overall number of maintained options
- Reduced volume of abandoned calls during IVR menu
- Immediately improved NPS score for Key Customers
- Promoted OCR services through on-hold messaging
What They Say
“We launched the new IVR options – designed by OnBrand – in April 2016. We were amazed by how they condensed a long and complex list of needs down to just 5 options, as well as how they introduced tailored messages based on the option selected, meaning that any time spent waiting to connect with an agent was filled with relevant customer messages. Improvements were seen almost instantly, with a 14.5% decrease in caller abandonments and a 29% increase in customer satisfaction.”
Krystyna Pasik, Customer Contact Manager – OCR
