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Live From Interaction 12 – Speed Sells

by Brian Moore on March 8, 2012 in Banks/Finance, Brian Moore, Industry News, Varolii News with No comments

One of the most interesting insights shared by a Varolii client at our annual users conference was the impact making a rapid response to a shopper’s web inquiry has on the likelihood of making a sale.

The client in this case is a large mortgage lender, but the finding is applicable across industries that use the web as a lead source for high value sales.

Such large transactions are typically completed in steps, with the process beginning when a shopper fills out some qualifying information on a short web form, which is then followed up on by a sales rep. While the first step is initiated on the web, the sale is usually consummated over the phone. As shown in the chart below, the faster a sales rep calls out to a web lead, the more likely they are to make contact with the prospect. While not all such contacts convert to a sale, no contacts almost never do.

sales lead contacts by delay minutes Live From Interaction 12 – Speed Sells

Responding to a web lead in 15 minutes is more than twice as likely to reach the prospect than if the delay is 20 minutes. Attempting the outcall within 10 minutes is three times more likely to result in contact than 15 minutes. And if you can make the call within 5 minutes, you’ll get five times the contacts you would at 10 minutes.

In this case, lack of speed kills.

Unfortunately, before working with Varolii, our client was experiencing average call back delays of over 40 minutes. By implementing a real-time SOAP integration between his Salesforce.com lead management application and the Varolii Interact platform, we were able to get his lead response time down to an average of just 3 minutes.

The results? Contact rates are over 80%. Lead to sale conversion rates are through the roof. Sales reps are making loans and making money…and not even noticing that they are on the phone talking to prospects almost continuously.

Do you have a web lead program performing below expectations? Better get Salesforce & Varolii…fast!

Congress to Consider FDCPA Modification

by Brian Moore on March 5, 2012 in Brian Moore, Collections, Industry News, Varolii News with No comments

Wouldn't you know that as soon as I put the finishing touches on my regulatory presentation for our Interaction 2012 conference this week, some important news would break.

Oh well, I shouldn't complain since it is potentially very good news for the credit and collections community.

Barney Frank, ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, has introduced a bill that would dramatically reduce the risk of violating the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA) when leaving messages on debtors answering machines. HR 4101, entitled the “Fair Debt Collection Practices Clarification Act of 2012,” proposes the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) draft rules that if followed would protect creditors and their collection agencies from lawsuits arising from so-called "Foti" violations.

Foti refers to a 2006 FDCPA lawsuit against a large collection agency which found that when leaving a message on a debtors answering machine, the collector must disclose that it concerns an attempt to collect a debt. Unfortunately, the FDCPA also prohibits disclosure of such intent to third parties. So to comply with one requirement puts you at risk of violating the other.

Since then, plaintiff lawyers have had a field day using this decision to launch other lawsuits or to demand large settlements for their debtor clients. Frank's bill would remove this Catch 22 in the FDCPA, and with the CFPB writing the rules for how to leave messages, undoubtedly continue to protect consumer privacy rights.

It's too early to get our hopes up for a rapid approval - we are still smarting from the flame out of HR 3035 which attempted to make common sense changes to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act - but it is encouraging to say the least that a congressman with such an important role in overseeing financial services has decided this is worth the inevitable flak he will take for trying to fix a flawed law.

Varolii Interaction 2012 - Get in the Loop

by Mary Cook on February 28, 2012 in Call Centers, Industry News, Mary Cook, Varolii News with No comments
interaction2012

Varolii’s user conference, Interaction, is a week away. This is my third trip to Interaction, and I cannot tell you how excited I am to be heading to Las Vegas. Plus I needed an excuse to play the slots, and now I have one.

In addition to flirting with Lady Luck I fully intend to get ahold of every juicy morsel of information that is being presented this year. I am really looking forward to Closing the Loop — Varolii 360 and Let’s Make this Clear: The Power of Guided Speech to Transform the Customer Conversation. I’ve written a lot about the technology being used to change the customer’s call center experience and I can’t wait to share its magic with you in person.

Varolii Interaction 2012 is being held March 5th to 7th at Loews Lake Las Vegas.  The conference will be filled with valuable insight that can be used to facilitate better and more forward-thinking customer interaction management strategies.

Here are a few of the sessions that I can’t wait to attend:

  • Mobile Matters: Maximize Your SMS & Smartphone Investment.  Mobility is becoming ubiquitous in the minds of consumers. If you are still viewing SMS and Smartphone as alternative technologies, you’re missing huge opportunities to connect with your customers.
  • Peak Performance: Better Insight, More Control. You asked for it. You got it. Varolii’s dynamic duo, Performance Insight and Performance Manager, give you the campaign controls and analytics you need to monitor, manage and evaluate your customer interactions more effectively and efficiently. Learn more about the powerful controls, monitoring and custom reporting that PI and PM offer to help you drive greater value from your interactions and use this knowledge to shape a profitable engagement strategy.
  • Engaging Today’s Mobile Customer – Integrating Text & Smartphone into your Customer Interactions. You know that contacting customers through their mobile devices is critical to the success of your communication strategies, but how do you start? Learn why reaching consumers on their mobile device is critical to improving your communication performance, the legal hurdles you’ll need to overcome, and step-by-step instructions on setting up an opt-in consent program for contacting customers on their mobile devices.

I have some last minute packing to do before jet setting to Vegas. I hope that you’ll be able to join us at Varolii Interaction 2012. You will walk away from the conference with a greater understanding of how to deliver a better customer experience within your call center interactions.

Scrum-ptious: Agile Development = Happy Customers

by Mary Cook on January 18, 2012 in CRM, Industry News, Mary Cook, Varolii News with 3 Comments

Anyone who knows me knows I am a fan of Forrester research. So a recent Forrester Blog, entitled The Top Thirteen Customer Management Trends for 2012, warmed my Customer Experience heart. It spoke of many of the trends I am personally following, including Agile development processes. Varolii is a cloud services provider that practices agile methodologies. So, this means our customers get faster product updates which allow them to be nimble in their customer interaction strategies, as well. Agile methodologies can help facilitate and support new, state-of-the-art, and leading-edge processes and best practices (many more benefits of the cloud can be found in my blog, The Cloud - What Is It? Should My Call Center Be There?).

In Forrester's blog, William Band spoke eloquently to Agile:

“Agile implementation approaches will take root. Companies want to become more flexible, and they are increasingly adopting Agile project management and software development methodologies based on the principles of iterative development, where requirements evolve through collaboration between a self-organizing cross-functional team. Pure waterfall and big-bang approaches to CRM technology deployment approaches are declining and being replaced with ‘Water-Scrum’ and ‘Scrum-Fall.’”

After reading Bill’s predictions, I realized that many readers may think ‘Water-Scrum’ is a nasty bug that requires a prescription of Ciproflaxin. So, I decided to define Bill’s thoughts a bit further so we can all follow this Hot 2012 Trend.

Agile Project Management:

Defined: Agile Project Management is a method used by engineers and IT personnel. It allows development projects to be highly flexible and interactive. It uses supplier, customer, and employee input. Agile techniques are best used in small-scale projects. Elements of wider programs of work, or ongoing projects that are difficult for the customer to understand also utilize this methodology of management.

Benefits: Mistakes can be easily corrected. Projects are easier to maintain and improvise. Progress can be verified by internal teams and outside consultants. Agile projects can be delivered in an efficient manner depending on the situation and what it requires.

Example: Scrum is an agile process that has three roles: There is the Product Owner, the ScrumMaster, and the team. The Product Owner oversees the product. He or she makes sure that it’s the right product and it is being built in the right order. The ScrumMaster oversees the people in the project. He or she makes sure that they are on target, overcoming obstacles, and tracking progress. The team assumes responsibility for achieving project goals. They determine which people work on each task.

Agile Software Development Methods:

Defined: Agile Software Development Methods have requirements and solutions that evolve through collaboration between cross-functional teams. In addition to being self-organizing, these groups of individuals must be skilled in adaptive planning, rapid responsiveness to change as well as evolutionary development and delivery. This type of methodology promotes foreseen interactions that take place throughout the development cycle.

Benefits: Documentation saves time because it is streamlined and crisp. High quality software ensures the least possible time duration and the most satisfied customers. Agile's business benefits can be realized as faster time-to-market, increased business value, and improved flexibility and responsiveness.

 What Is Scrum – And Does It Live In Waterfalls?

Scrum Blog3 Scrum ptious: Agile Development = Happy Customers

Iterative Development, Where Requirements Evolve Through Collaboration between a Self-Organizing Cross-Functional Team

And remember – a cross-functional team can help customers redefine standards by identifying what needs to be done in the first place. This helps avoid a situation like that in Figure 1 below, courtesy of  The Project Cartoon:

Figure 1

Why I am in Business Scrum ptious: Agile Development = Happy Customers

HTML5 - What is it and what does it mean to me? Apps not required?

by Mary Cook on December 9, 2011 in Industry News, Mary Cook, Mobile/Telcom, Varolii News with 2 Comments

Even if you're a Web novice, you may already have heard the term “HTML5” by now. You can almost feel the buzz amongst designers and web users!

Google, Apple, Facebook and others have been constantly in the mix -- and they're all pulling their socks up to maximize the benefits of this exciting new platform.

Even if you're not a web designer, you may get the feeling that HTML5 will be the next big thing when it comes to meeting the demands of the modern Web.

Should you care as an internet user (or a designer for that matter)? Yes!

HTML5 – what is the big deal?

The big deal is that pretty soon, you’ll find it everywhere on the web!

pic one1 HTML5 What is it and what does it mean to me? Apps not required?You know that with HTML4, websites usually have to depend on Flash or Silverlight plugins to show and play a video file (you may have observed this in video sharing sites like YouTube).

The DISADVANTAGE comes in the smart phones, iPads and iPhones.

Take Apple as an example. They had to drop support for HTML4 plugins to optimize the battery power of their phones. The lack of HTML4 support made much of the rich media (like video content), plainly inaccessible through these phones.

With HTML5, web designers can directly embed media with simple HTML tags like “<video>” and “<audio>” – thereby eliminating the need for plugins.

Facebook and HTML5 – How do they mix?Facebook1 HTML5 What is it and what does it mean to me? Apps not required?

Facebook has also launched its HTML resource center in an attempt to help designers build, test and deploy web applications.

As you may know, Facebook has an excellent platform on mobile; it's evident that it is pushing ahead to encourage designers to create applications with HTML5 on mobile phones.

Facebook is predominantly using HTML5 in its specific mobile products, as this makes the access to other various interrelated devices much simpler.

Amazon Adds HTML5 to Updated Kindle E-Book Format

kindle HTML5 What is it and what does it mean to me? Apps not required?With the launch of the fire tablet, Amazon has also sprung up a new book format that provides crafty designers with an opportunity to access a variety of updated features, including HTML5.  In August, Amazon also released its Kindle Cloud Reader which is an HTML5-based reading application.

Along with that, Amazon’s KF8 is a new HTML5 kindle book which is designed to enable publishers to create picture books, graphic novels and comics – all done thanks to the HTML5-rich formatting capabilities and elements of design.

Brightcove and HTML5HTNL5 HTML5 What is it and what does it mean to me? Apps not required?

Brightcove, a leading worldwide provider of cloud content services, has also announced their rousing new features that come with their video cloud online- platform smart players.

These smart players help beat a lot of discrepancies and inconsistencies when it comes to HTML playback. Moreover, the integration with the HTML5 also enables reliable reproduction with both the analytics and integration with the third party services -- take ad serving solutions for example.

The Bottom Line

future HTML5 What is it and what does it mean to me? Apps not required?The bottom line is -- as a web user and designer, you would be benefiting a lot from HTML5 without even realizing it. Popular web browsers like Safari, Chrome and Firefox all have support for at least some elements of HTML5.

Through Chrome or Safari, you can check out some of the experimental versions of YouTube that makes use of HTML5’s video features.

Google reader and Gmail also have embraced some parts of the standard. Additionally, any site which is listed as being “iPad ready” is sure to be opting for considerable use of HTML5. Take examples of the New York Times, CNN and CBS.

Yes, Flash may not be going anytime soon of course, as it is still extensively used and supported. The flash games which we have a definite affection for are still impossible to recreate from HTML.

So when you hear the term “HTML5”, more than anything, it refers to the future of the World Wide Web.

In Conclusion – What does this mean to me?

HTML5 essentially brings application capabilities to browser capability and the web experience, so the big news is that HTML5 could render mobile apps obsolete. No more downloading and parking app icons on your mobile device. You get that functionality through a browser experience. So what it means is that the communication between businesses and their customers could change radically. But you need someone who understands what this means for the patient experience in healthcare, or the consumer in finance, or the passenger in airlines (and all sorts of other customers and companies). Furthermore you will need to understand how to get the most out of your customer experience communication strategy - which means you may need a trusted vendor advisor…with knowledge and experience…like…like…Varolii!

So – Call us. 800-206-2979. Or email me, tweet me, respond to my blog, or send me a smoke signal.

References Used

What's New in HTML-5?

Amazon's new e-book format brings HTML5 support to your Kindle library

Facebook launches HTML5 Resource Center

The Present and Future of HTML5 Video Experiences

'Tis the Season to Be Jolly…or in Queue…

by Mary Cook on November 30, 2011 in Call Centers, CRM, Industry News, Mary Cook, Retail, Varolii News with 2 Comments
200223644-001

It’s that special time of year again, the 4th quarter. The quarter all of us call center, customer care and experience professionals live (and die) for. While many of us this past Thanksgiving planned out our shopping trips like the covert PMP multi-media-centric individuals we are (ok, perhaps it was just me…), my beloved and brethren customer service professionals were busy working. Whether they were in their retail stores, calculating their cloud storage to support their digital customers, or re-calculating their 15 minute interval call center staffing plans – the madness of the Holiday season has officially begun. So in honor of this most wonderful time of year (where as a call center professional you are guaranteed to catch bronchitis at least once from over working yourself amongst a set of snotty-nosed CSRs – and I say that with love – I buy Kleenex in bulk), I share with you some of my favorite 4th quarter meltdowns.

My Favorite Holiday Calamity

Once upon a time, years and years ago, I started a new job as a small BPO Call Center Director during the last week of August. Team of 50. Two clients. Two supervisors. Five days after I started my new exciting job, the company signed a deal with a direct mail catalog company.  The majority of their revenues were received during the 4th quarter. Within 24 hours of hearing this news I knew I needed to go from 50 to 250 FTEs by the 2nd week of November. To 315 by the 2nd week of December. And not just agents. We needed technology, networking, processes, support staff, allll the Holiday call center trimming. We accomplished our main goals. I hired an entire team who I still keep in contact with (so they can verify this horror story). We had a Workforce Manager, a Trainer, a Quality Assurance Department, more supervisors, agents, and a Staffing Agency on board.

So…What could possibly go wrong?

  1. The direct mail company forgot to mention the hundreds of thousands of faxed in orders they would also need us to support. No back order office support anywhere in the contract or SOW.
  2. And some of these faxed orders were from large Fortune 500 companies sending Christmas gifts to ALL of their hundreds of clients. Good old green screen data entry from back in the day…
  3. The call forecasts we were provided by our client were off. By over 40%. ABOVE. Calls in queue and upset customers were commonplace. I heard busy line signals in my sleep.
  4. The call center was in the basement. No windows. Heater broke – and it was 90 degrees on and off for days. We all wore shorts and baseball hats to survive the heat (in the dead of winter outside, of course) and to hide our perpetual bad hair days.

I worked a record 321 hours in 21 days straight. I got home every night and ate a pint of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream, apologized to my dogs, and cried. And then got up again and did it all over again. One would ask why, but the BEST memory that made this my FAVORITE 4th quarter story was the fact that I had temporary FTEs and supervisors, that despite the fact they knew at the end of January they wouldn’t have a job with me, worked every single day with me. Side by side. If I worked 16 hours, they worked 17. We laughed, cried, and survived together. And it wasn’t just about their overtime pay. It was about our indomitable spirit that we refused to fail the customer – and our customer was our client, their customers, and each other. It was the 4th quarter where all of my leadership education came to fruition despite the never ending holiday call center nightmare packages we were delivered.

Now I could share other stories…like the time 40% of our 800 volume was pointed to the wrong VDN and my Holiday Orders were going to Sears Appliance Repair. Or the year that we predicted that 20% of our order volume would be ecommerce orders and 80% phone orders.  Well, that year 60% of our orders were internet based. THAT was the year I learned to negotiate with my BPO providers.

But instead of sharing more of mine, I would LOVE to hear some of yours. Don’t be shy – all mistakes are merely stepping stones to successes.

Happy Holidays, and may your queues be managed and your network stable…

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