Managing phone and web channels to maximise customer service, take-up and efficiency Martin Greenwood, Socitm Insight programme manager 9 October 2007

Managing phone and web channels to maximise customer service, take-up and efficiency

Martin Greenwood, Socitm Insight programme manager

9 October 2007

Scottish Webteams Forum 9 October 2007 Page 2

Critical stage for council websites

• We have had e-government• We have had the efficiency regime• We are having t-government

• Now we are about to have CSRO7 (1.25% to 3% cashable efficiency gains?) and return of Varney messages


Recommendations (Varney)

Two examples

• Reduce the number of information requests handled by telephone by 50%

• Make the web the primary access point for all simple information and advice requests


Importance of CSR07

• Self-service must become strategic issue for all local public services.

• Critical to engage service managers (and their managers)

• Web teams must be ready for this, as must all those who direct them.


Issue of take-up

Why are most councils failing to convert to self–service in large enough numbers?


Key messages from recent research


Achieving efficiency targets – ratio 50:5:1

Costs to serve by channelSource: Tameside MBC


How well are web and phone channels managed together?

• Phone contacts on website

• Out-of-hours messages

• Experience on the telephone


Joining up phone and web services

Phone contacts on website

• Just 8 councils out of 468 match our best practice model

• What is this model?


Model for telephone contact details

• Telephone number on home page

• Well-signposted ‘Contact Us’ link on home page

• One telephone number on the ‘Contact Us’ page,

or, if more than one is given, clear indication of

which is main number.

• On ‘Contact Us’ page either separate out-of-hours number or at least one number for emergencies

• Information for people with hearing difficulties,

such as Minicom or similar options

• Standard telephone opening hours



Out-of-hours messages

• Just 21% of councils refer callers to website

• Six months later, still the case in 16 London boroughs with out-of-hours message



Experience on the telephone

• Initial contact person rated as 'very good' or ‘satisfactory’ in 33 of 50 councils contacted

• 56% of education advisers reached to discussschool admissions rated very good

• 37% of planning advisers reached to discuss home conversion rated as very good

BUT…………..



Experience on the telephone

• Often passed on to other individuals or organisations, or called back, when information being sought was actually available on the website

ExampleSenior specialists in areas such as planning often seemedunsure about what their websites offered.

Hardly anyone knew they had all the information I needed on their website. Reviewer


How well are web and phone channels managed together?Overall findings

• Little evidence of fully integrated view of customer service across activities

• Dangers of new silos based on channels


What might be the secrets to high take-up of online services?

Better marketed: achieving success with take-up of online services

• Approach to research• Some successes• 10 key messages


Approach to research

• Initially we sought examples of successful marketing campaigns

• Later we looked at examples of high take-up and then investigated how they were achieved

• We researched 16 case studies in total

• High take-up was rarely result of ‘marketing’ as generally understood in the public sector



Some service-specific successes

• 58% of Bristol City parents applying for school places in 2007 did it electronically.

• Leicester City is now getting 85% of its job applications online.

• In South Oxon DC, 55% of applicants for new recycling bins ordered online.


Better marketed: achieving success with take-up of online servicesSome more service-specific successes

• Walsall MBC received more than 50% of planning applications in February online.

• In Warwick DC, more than 70% of choice-based letting bids now made online

• Westminster City is now receiving 60% ofparking revenue in two pilot areas through itspay-by-phone scheme.



Two valuable corporate initiatives

• THINK WEB!’ campaign in Bristol Cityfor all service managers

• Website marketing plan by Gloucestershire CCinc two specific campaigns for the driving public



• These stories have not been easy to find.

• They have often had other drivers than just increasing take-up.

• Extensive promotion is not a major feature


Message 1 Significant take-up of council services online is achievable

• “Our service users can’t access/don’t want to use e-services”

• Warwick choice-based lettings and (to some extent) Bristol e-admissions show online useful and used by less well off

• No reason why high take-up reported here cannot be achieved elsewhere

• Unfortunately national comparison only available for e-admissions and planning


Message 2 Is anyone taking responsibility, corporately, for driving online take-up?

• Apart from Bristol THINK WEB! and Glos CC campaign little evidence of corporate concern with take-up / channel switching:

• as advocated by Varney (efficiency)• to realise benefit of web investment

Projects driven mostly by service managers’ desire to improve their service

• Have councils not got the message about channel management or is the difficulty with implementing it?


Message 3 Marketing online services is about much, much more than advertising, promotion, and PR

• eAdmissions showed advertising insignificant in getting people to do it online

• Success determined upstream of publicity, by: • understanding customer needs• focusing on usability and testing• anticipating and overcoming customer resistance• exploiting internal communications• communicating with stakeholders


Message 4 The service manager has the key role in marketing online services

• Classic definition of marketing refers to:

Identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably • This puts service manager in key role

• Who else knows the customer as they do and take advantage of what online can offer, redesign the service for web and achieve take-up?


Message 5 Effective multi-disciplinary teamwork is needed to create successfulonline services

Case studies illustrate good team work between:

Service managers (customer understanding)

Web teams (front end presentation)

ICT (making it work!)

Communications (ensuring people know about the e-service)


Message 6 With some services, very little promotion may be needed to get take-up

• If council is already in touch with service users (refuse, schools, reserved parking), ‘promotion’ may simply be informing people e-service available

• In other cases (parking users, job applicants advertising and PR may be necessary


Message 7 Some online services may facemore customer resistance than others

• Even if customers known to council they may need persuading – eg e-admissions

• Huge variation nationally with e-admissions

• Successful councils have tackled misgivings of councillors, schools, teachers and parents with ‘stakeholder management’


Message 8 Usability is a key issue

• Well documented in eAdmissions

• Better connected 2007 tested usability of schoolsadmissions, planning, jobs and library applications

• Mixed results: poor integration of 3rd party software and lack of care over customer journeys evident

• Forms exhibit poor layouts, use of jargon, hectoring error messages, assumed knowledge

• NB usability testing can be done cheaply in-house


Message 9 Customers are not the only targetfor promotion

• Service users may be influenced by others – eg parents by schools on e-admissions

• Council staff may be the most important influencers (NB Leicester ‘net navigators’)

• Better answered shows council staff often ignorant of material available on the website

• Don’t forget intermediaries


Message 10 Collect good data about usage of your website and use the information for decision-making

• Do senior decision makers appreciate extent of service user migration to the web, mobiles and texting?

• Is knowledge and understanding widespread about usage of website and its growth?

• Do decision-makers know how well used their website is compared with other, similar councils? And how fast usage of council websites is growing? • Is it possible (like Leicester) to reach as many through the website as through paid-for media?


Building usage of council websites

One ICT contribution…..

ICT team should provide database about usage that can be used as basis for assessing impact of any take-up initiative• Statistics by month and year• Expressed in terms customers

understand (eg unique visitors)• Comparable with others

Also important to understand

• peaks and troughs of annual cycle• overall rate of increase from one year to the next


Building usage of council websites

One example

Unique visitors per month much more useful if related to size of local population and to visitors who are local residents than just the raw data


%age of local residents using website in month Doing better than others

Warwickshire CC 20.58%Gloucestershire CC14.28% Oxfordshire CC 13.76%

Doing less well

Another county 7.42%Another county 7.37%Another county 6.56%

Doing better than others

Guildford BC 28.06%Rushmoor BC 20.03%Spelthorne BC 19.03%

Doing less well (in same area)

Another district 9.55%Another district 5.10%


%age of local residents using website in month Single tier (25% for UQ)

EnglandBracknell Forest 41.59%North Lincolnshire 26.82%

WalesWrexham CBC

23.36%Newport City

21.16%

ScotlandSouth Lanarkshire 18.16%East Dunbartonshire 15.60%

Doing less wellAnother council` 12.51%Another council 11.92%Another council 11.34%


Usable websites lead to higher take-up

• It was easy, very straightforward.. anybody could have done it

• You do not have to know how to work a computer.

• It was very simple.. just took 5 or 10 minutes• I always recommend to my family and friends

to apply online.• It saves time and effort especially because

of the hectic schedule we have nowadays. • Thanks for making our life easy.

Feedback from Hertfordshire mums using e-admissions



Online school admissions• For every example of good practice we found an example of poor practice. • Sometimes, facility was not well integrated (eg visitors taken to third party supplier site without being able to return) >>>> impression that council website is not well managed.• Sometimes, facility was just very hard to find.• On occasion, council gave impression of not wanting to let go of telephone as main point of contact. Lack of care given to customer journey from start tofinish and lack of proper testing.



Online school admissions using www.yourlondon.gov.ukBarking & Dagenham Good

First page on admissions promotes online apps with link to portal. Well signposted contact details. Comprehensive general admissions supporting info - FAQs, choosing the right school, list of schools etc.

Kingston Not so good

Very hard to find the link buried on school admissions page. Not much supporting information.

http://www.yourlondon.gov.uk/


Accessible websites lead to higher take-up

Evidence from panel of disabled users

Third-party software


Accessible websites are more usable for all

What 24,770 visitors said

13 councils that conform with Level A (WCAG 1.0) have much higher levels of visitor satisfaction on these five elements of customer experience than 57 councils that do not (Website take-up service Feb 2007)


Our first movie ……

Now showing…..


In conclusion

• What priority does your organisation give to increasing online services?

• Which person in your organisation is responsible for bringing these issues together?

>>>>>>>>>>>

• Managing web and phone?

• Promoting online services?

• Measuring take-up of online services?

• Ensuring a really usable website?


• Any comments ?

Managing phone and web channels to maximise customer service, take-up and efficiency

Martin Greenwood, Socitm Insight programme manager

9 October 2007 Thank you for your time

Documents

Managing phone and web channels to maximise customer service, take-up and efficiency Martin Greenwood, Socitm Insight programme manager 9 October 2007