Creating a better experience

• Virtual Hold Technology Named to 2010 Inc. 500|5000 List http://bit.ly/cdueeT #

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• “called comcast today – instead of putting me on hold, they offered to call me back when my place came up” – My Nucleus http://bit.ly/ak3jm7 #
• Take Relationships Off Hold | Canadian Insurance http://bit.ly/du3JQe #

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• 83% of customers w/ “voice of the customer” programs report positive impact! « Customer Experience Matters http://bit.ly/cez0Bv #
• From Creating a better experience: “I applaud the concept, but Lucyphone could be hurting more than helping” http://bit.ly/9NXhka #

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Lucyphone has gotten some good publicity over the past few months for putting consumers in control of whether or not to remain on hold when calling companies to do business. Because only a small percentage of companies have implemented an integrated virtual queuing solution to address the problem of hold time, waiting on hold is still pervasive today. Therefore, I applaud the concept and the entrepreneurial spirit of the Oristian brothers for taking the matter right to the consumer. However, I recently heard grumblings from contact center professionals that Lucyphone is causing some disruption.

When consumers use Lucyphone on the web or as a smartphone app, they select a customer service number from a huge directory of companies that has been provided to them. They may be calling the right company, but is it the right number? Not always. So, despite your company’s efforts to route consumers to the best skilled resource on the first call, they may become frustrated when they need to be transferred around the organization.

Next, after Lucy makes the call on the consumer’s behalf, he or she is directed through your company’s IVR menus where a PIN code, claim number or credit card number may be required to proceed. What happens to this information? With Lucy basically conferenced into the call, is it possible that she’s collecting and storing this private information? Is the consumer knowingly or unknowingly trading privacy for convenience? While I doubt the Oristian brothers have nefarious intentions, consider that the outsider who hacks into Lucy’s brain might. But if your company offered a virtual queuing solution that was fully integrated with the contact center, wouldn’t the consumer have the benefit of both privacy and convenience? In addition, when consumers are transferred to a holding queue, they tell Lucy to stay on the line for them and then hang up. She calls them back when it’s their turn to speak with a rep. Lucy detects when she’s reached a customer service agent and tells the agent to “hold on” while she calls back the customer and patches them through. But does Lucy drop off the call? Or is Lucy listening and recording everything being said? I don’t know for sure but the thought is frightening.

If you’re able to get comfortable with the possibility of identity theft, then Lucyphone is an awesome time-saver, right? Well, for the customer, yes, but what about for your company? To an agent, this process is falsely accruing as “talk time” — a metric by which many agents are measured to ensure high performance. So, is it possible that Lucy is skewing agent stats and affecting agent performance bonus? Yes, it’s possible…and not fair to them, either. The exaggerated talk time also distorts the information input into workforce management systems that are designed to help contact center professionals make better staffing decisions, meet caller demand and better serve customers. It’s possible that by skewing this data, Lucy may result in poorer customer service in the long run for most customers, and reduced satisfaction with call center interactions.

In addition, while Lucy waits on hold instead of the caller, toll minutes are still being accrued. When an integrated virtual queuing solution is used, no toll minutes accrue during the wait for a return call. Companies such as Southwest Airlines who deployed a fully integrated virtual queuing system from Virtual Hold Technology last year, saved 47 years of hold time in just 9 months. That’s just one of the reasons why the solution typically pays for itself in about one year.

I like disruptive technologies like Lucyphone because they bring to light real problems that consumers are now facing. However, there are better ways to handle this problem than to leave it in the hands of your customer and a third-party. Hold time is best addressed when your company listens to its customers, identifies the gap in the business process and then bridges the gap with a solution that seamlessly integrates with your existing systems, ensures privacy and efficiently and cost-effectively handles customer service requests, delivering the best customer experience and the highest possible customer satisfaction.

• Seth’s Blog: Companies that refuse to break small promises have a much easier time keeping big promises. http://bit.ly/crXcEj #

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