Learn how to deal with email in a call center environment and track FCR accordingly for true cross channel customer experience management using business interaction management solutions These slides all have recorded webinars with more detail. Feel free to contact me at Upstream Works for access.

1. First Call Resolution
How Does Email Affect Customer Satisfaction?

2. Why Email FCR is Important
• Email has increased in usage
 5% to 60% of traffic
• Doubling over the next 5
years – IDC
 In practical terms, we are
seeing contact centers actually
start to use email as
mainstream as of 2010
• As ubiquitous as phone
• Affects customer satisfaction
 Email is as important as a
phone call

3. Why People Use Email
• They don’t like the
phone
• You’ve invited them to
use email
• They have complex
information to impart to
you
• The phone will take too
long

4. Careful what the analysts say!
Figure 1: Customer Interaction at Customer Contact Centers, 1997-2003
email
2%
web
1%
phone
97%
Cross-
Channe
l
9%
Phone
5%
email
30%Web
56%
1997 2003
Source: Forrester Research, INFORMATIONWEEK

5. Email Misconceptions
• Email is Outlook™ -not!
 It is a home phone, not a PBX
 Agents choose the email they want
 Not multi user
• Email is guaranteed to be delivered – not!
 Failure from SPAM filters
 Failure from user error
 Internet failures
• Email can’t be managed like a
phone call

6. ‘EBX’ - Email Branch eXchange
• Email routing solution
 Equivalent to ACD or skills routing
 Agent performance metrics
• Develop processes conducive to call center
operations

7. Definition of FCR for a Complex Transaction
Setting and meeting the expectation of the customer

8. Causes of Repeat Emails
• Agent ability
• Authority
• Access to information
• Business process
• Clarity

9. Repeat Contacts – Contributing Factors
• Email is only one half of a conversation
 Email is a one way communication
 The reply is simply the second half of the email
‘conversation’
 Increases time to resolution
• Email conveys emotion
 Attached by reader’s interpretation
 Leads to misinterpretation; absolutes where none
exist

10. Repeat Contacts – Contributing Factors
• Email is not routed to the best skilled agent
• Limited agent performance metrics
• Limited email management metrics

11. Impact of Repeat Email
• Increased email volumes
• Increased call volumes
• Decreased customer satisfaction

12. Be Sure to Fulfill the
Promise
• Date: Feb 2 2008
• Promises a prompt reply
within 2 days
• After 8 days I phoned them
• This is for a SALE!!

13. Too little…too late
Dear RMCDOUGALL@UPSTREAMWORKS.COM:
Thank you for contacting OUR
MAGAZINE Customer Service.
According to our subscription records,
your subscription was upgraded to a
premium subscription on February
15, 2008.
Please contact us if we may be of
further assistance.
We appreciate this opportunity to be of
service.
OUR MAGAZINE Customer Service
subsvcs@ourmag.customersvc.com

14. Email FCR
• Five main email categories:
 Feedback
 Orders
 Information request
 Status update
 Complex email interaction

15. Feedback and Orders
• Feedback
 Only acknowledgement required
 Simple FCR
• Orders
 Acknowledgement Required
 FCR affected by customer clarity
• Incomplete or obsolete orders

16. Information Request
• Standard response providing information
• Simple FCR
• Modify processes to reduce these types of email
by updating available information
 Best handled by FAQ
• Email reason tracking

17. Status Request
• Unique response providing the information
• Simple FCR
• Unexpected responses are bad
 Status may lead to a complex interaction
 Important to track and fix surprises

18. Complex Email Interactions
• Can accentuate the negative aspects of email
 Misinterpretation
 Tracking complexity
 Delays resolution
 Multiple agent interactions
• Are still a valid interaction scenario

19. Improving Email FCR
• Complex email
 Change to a phone interaction
• Phone customers back with reply
• Suggest they call you and provide priority routing
 Provides the chance to provide great service
 Provides the chance for the “upsell”

20. Cross Channel Tracking
• Correlate email to phone call
 Never lose information
• Unsolicited phone follow ups
 You never responded the first time! 
• Email metrics and management
 Cross channel is effective if managed

21. Email - Phone FCR
• A “key” to correlate email and phone call
 E.g. customer number
 E.g. email address
• Poor response times for email increase
likelihood of email/phone non-FCR
 Respond quickly to emails

22. Improving Clarity
• Two email types
 Free form POP3 Internet email
 Web forms “email”
• POP3 email
 Free form
 Hard to route
 Ubiquitous

23. Improving Clarity
• Web forms from your web site
 Subject control for routing
• Easy templating
 No delivery issues
• It’s on your website
 Requires web access
 Subject to email address errors

24. Best Practices
• Minimize and meet response times
 Long response times increase likelihood of customer
impatience
• Auto respond acknowledgement only
 Canned resolutions guarantee failure
• Measure performance
 Agent solve rate
 “FCR” rate

25. Best Practices
• Track email reasons
 Eliminate email where possible
• Skills based routing
 Assign email to the most effective agent
• Capture email addresses
 Add to customer record for screen pops and
 repeat tracking

26. Customer Satisfaction
• Improve by:
 Eliminating email with self service
• Provides faster response times
 Exceeding your email response times
 Determining ‘non FCR’ transactions and fix
 Providing all available information to the agent

27. Summary
• Measure and track email like a phone
 Different agent skills
• Five main categories
 Measure email reasons
• Collect email addresses
 From email, from phone
 For cross channel correlation
• Improve clarity with web form email

28. Business Interaction
Management
Track and save the entire interaction as it
happens. It’s easier to use and understand later
Provide in-your-face interaction context that’s
role tailored for personalized service
Pre-built best practices analytics

29. Customer Insights
Customer
Experience
Performance
Improvement
Performance
Management
Training and
Staffing
Process
Improvement
All customer channels

30. Business Interaction Pain Points
• Problem: No methodology or technology used
provides a single comprehensive and auditable
view of how customers interact with a business.
» Result: Averages are used to
allocate funds to drive
customer loyalty and reduce
costs across the multiple
interaction channels in use
today.

31. Upstream Solution
• Upstream Works’ Business Interaction
Management, makes the collective of customer
interactions visible, accountable and controllable
 Combines technology and a methodology to track
individual customer interactions across the business
 Links outcomes to supporting interactions
 Puts the collected information into a powerful form
 Compliments existing applications and infrastructure

32. Next In Series
How to Systematically Improve First Call
Resolution
www.upstreamworks.com
Download the whitepaper from our website:
Increasing Call Center Effectiveness Through First Call
Resolution
See the FCR Webinar Series – Coming Soon to Youtube!