Use Proactive Outbound Conta 133594[1]

ResearchPublication Date: 30 December 2005 ID Number: G00133594

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Use Proactive Outbound Contacting to Reduce Costs and Generate Goodwill Earl C Steman, Bern Elliot

Outbound customer contact, which is normally associated with high-volume telemarketing or collections applications, is now being used to support proactive customer contact activities. The results can be highly cost-effective.

Publication Date: 30 December 2005/ID Number: G00133594 Page 2 of 6

2005 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved.

ANALYSIS

Has this ever happened to you? Your airline calls at 8:00 p.m. to tell you that your 6:00 a.m. flight tomorrow has been canceled because of equipment problems, and they've re-booked you on another flight at 8:00 a.m. Or your electric utility supplier calls to tell you that your power will be turned off from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. tomorrow because they'll be trimming trees in your neighborhood.

These are two examples of what's referred to as "proactive customer contact" calls, which demonstrate how traditional inbound customer service contact centers can use outbound calling technology to deliver improved, differentiated customer service. In both cases, you may feel inconvenienced; however, you might also be pleased by the initiative taken to mitigate what could have been an even more problematic situation.

Many businesses are showing an increased interest in the concept of proactive customer contact. By accessing customer information available in databases, potential incidents/disruptive factors can be discovered and appropriate parties notified, preempting inbound calls that would most likely follow, especially ones during periods of high call volumes. The results generate goodwill with customers, who appreciate the attention and concern shown. At the same time, the contact centers reduce inbound calls, better manage inbound peaks and improve agent utilization, especially during off-peak times when such planned calls are conducted. It's a "win-win" situation.

In this research, we provide a framework for understanding the options and processes for developing an effective proactive customer contact solution. This process is based on the following five steps:

1. Identify the Target Business Environment Three conditions should be in place to enable the effective use of proactive customer contact methods:

A product, service or event that a customer needs to know about these are opportunities for proactive contact that could otherwise result in an inbound call and/or a missed opportunity.

Databases with information about the product, service or event this provides the information needed to make decisions and take action.

Appropriate analysis tools, applications and procedures their implementation enables opportunities to identify proactive contact.

2. Identify Your Contact Options There are multiple methods for interacting with customers (including live phone calls, automated calls using touch tone or speech recognition, e-mail, instant messaging and so forth):

Live outbound telephone contact options range from low-cost, lower-performance, software-based options, such as preview dialing, to high-cost, high-performance, hardware-based options, such as predictive dialing (see Note 1 for definitions of the outbound contact options).

Automated outbound calling, using integrated voice response (IVR) systems, can be effective for handling structured contacts. Calls can then be transferred to live agents, if



needed. Natural language technology enables these contacts to be just as interactive as live agent contacts.

E-mail can be appropriate where the contact is not time-critical or where the message is too complex to be delivered verbally. E-mail also provides an audit trail in cases that pose potential compliance or legal issues.

SMS, instant messaging or U.S. mail represent alternatives, depending on the type and importance of the message to be delivered, as well as the preferences of the recipients.

3. Select Optimal Contact Approaches The quantity and potential value of the outbound contacts will be major factors when reviewing the options. Several factors need to be considered when choosing the best approach (see Note 2 for examples of proactive contact applications):

Location Decide, for example, between a service bureau and the customer premises.

Speed/volume/scalability How critical is the contact, how many customers need to be contacted, how quickly, how fast will the volume increase?

Reach Can all customers be reached using the same method, or will multiple methods be necessary?

Application support Determine how much development and customization is needed to implement proactive contact application.

Security/confidentiality/confirmation Ensure that only the appropriate contacts received the notifications.

Customer acceptance Will customers find the contact method acceptable?

4. Executing Effective Contact Operation Once you've selected the most appealing approach, at least four factors need to be considered in managing the day-to-day operations of the proactive contact application (here, we consider if any of the contacts are prohibited by law, whether the contact should use "live" or virtual agents, when the contact should be made and if live agents can also handle other types of contacts at the same time):

Legislative issues Proactive contacts are always directed toward established customers; hence, "Do Not Call" lists do not apply. Proper calling etiquette is required, but there are few restrictions otherwise.

Best time to call Analytic tools are available that build a historical database to assist in understanding when is the best time to make contact to ensure that the customer can be reached.

Live vs. virtual agents Depending on how structured or scripted the call is, a contact could be delivered by virtual agents using natural speech technology.

Dedicated vs. blended agents If the volume of outbound contacts is high, and live agents are required, then the outbound application can automatically move agents from handling inbound calls to handling outbound calls under defined conditions.



5. Metrics for Evaluating Results What are the potential "hard dollar" reasons for adding a proactive customer contact application to your contact center? There are three areas in which proactive contact can be evaluated and justified:

Cost savings Fewer inbound calls will result in lower inbound peaks, thereby reducing the total number of agents required (reducing the average call length will also reduce the total number of agents required).

Increased revenue If the application chosen also delivers reminder calls for renewals or reorders, then the resulting increase in renewals and orders can be used to justify the cost of adding the proactive application.

Customer satisfaction If the customer retention rate can be increased because of the proactive contact application, then it can be translated into either a cost or revenue benefit.

If you look at the two scenarios noted in the beginning of this research, then you have the potential to eliminate hundreds of inbound calls. Typically, these inbound calls will arrive at the busiest times of the day. And, because the customer is upset, the call will typically be longer anywhere from two to five minutes. By replacing these calls with planned outbound calls of about 30 seconds in length, a cost savings of $4 to $5 per call (or more) could be achieved. This may enable the call center manager to cut down on the number of agents needed to achieve the desired service level because the outbound calls can be scheduled for off-peak times when some of the agents aren't needed to handle inbound calls.

Bottom Line: Proactive customer contacts can be a cost-effective complement to traditional inbound customer service contact center activities. This type of contact can also generate goodwill among your customers and reduce the overall cost per call. As part of prioritizing technology investments, use the framework of factors outlined in this research to qualify opportunities for exploiting proactive calling processes to cut costs, realize productivity gains and differentiate your services from your competitors'.

Note 1 Outbound Contact Definitions

Proactive Contact: The use of outbound contact technology for notification and anticipatory interaction. Technologies include telephone, e-mail, instant messaging, SMS and paging. This approach has been successful for implementing proactive customer support initiatives. The term "proactive contact" does not refer to hardware or software, but is an overarching description of a trend that includes predictive dialers, as well as other methods of customer contact.

Preview Dialer: Presents the agent with a customer's record prior to a call being placed, affording time to review the data before being connected to the customer. The agent controls when the call is placed and has the option to skip the call. Typical talk time per hour is between 22 and 25 minutes.

Progressive Dialer: Works similar to a predictive dialer, with the exception that a call is not placed until an agent is available. It presents the agent with the customer's record prior to dialing. Unlike preview dialing, the agent cannot skip the call. It works well for business calling. Typical talk time per hour is between 30 and 35 minutes.

Predictive Dialer: Advanced pacing algorithms initiate outbound calls based on anticipated agent availability as projected from recent campaign events, including the number of agents logged on,



average talk and wrap times, answer rates and connect rates. It screens out busy signals, no-answers and answering machines. Typical talk time per hour is between 40 and 45 minutes.

IVR Dialer: It outdials using standard call detect cards and delivers a message based on a predefined script. The IVR dialer screens out "busies" and no answers, uses touch-tone or natural language technology to simulate a virtual agent, records the results of all calls and will transfer the call to a live agent, if necessary.

Note 2 Proactive Contact Application Examples

Alerts:

System Status

Outages

Welcome

Fraudulent Activities

IT Threats

Public Safety

On Call

Urgent Notices

Notification:

Network Events

Payments

Order Status

Reminders

Risk Management

Proactive

Surveys

Collections

Up-selling

Scheduling

Field Service

Retention

Account Updates



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ANALYSIS1. Identify the Target Business Environment2. Identify Your Contact Options3. Select Optimal Contact Approaches4. Executing Effective Contact Operation5. Metrics for Evaluating Results

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Use Proactive Outbound Conta 133594[1]