Why Mobile is Not Just Another Channel

by Mary Cook on October 11, 2011 in Call Centers, Mary Cook, Varolii News with 6 Comments
mobile_channel

Mobile devices have come a long way. However, mobile is not just another channel through which to reach potential customers. Mobile communications can be used as a way of enhancing your multi-channel strategies to gain maximum benefits for your business. That gave me an idea: write about how the unique attributes of smartphones can be leveraged to generate more personal and profitable customer interactions. The inspiration came from a February 2011 Forrester Research, Inc. report, Mobile is Not just Another Channel.

A multi-channel customer experience should be a seamless, unified and connected experience between communication channels. Mobility is a channel that delivers new audiences that may not be found in print, online or in other channels. Mobile communications reach customers in unique ways and deliver unique experiences and they extend existing business services (website, online ordering, in store, etc.). The mobile channel is, in essence, where the “Multi-Channel” customer is headed.

Many companies are using mobile as a way of reaching online shoppers or providing customer service. However, there are other ways to use the mobile channel, especially when you add this channel into your customer experience and multi-channel strategies.

For example, your mobile communication strategy could be a combination of print, online, and mobile communications. In this scenario, mobility can help acquire customers and business that perhaps neither channel is currently capturing alone. I still love reading my Sunday advertisements from my Sunday paper. And of course, I also enjoy shopping on Sunday afternoons on my iPad while watching NFL. A paper advertisement doesn’t drive me to purchase anymore. However, a QR code that I can scan from a paper ad that delivers me a link to more products, information or offering does. So in this example, the QR code helps bring together print and online channels—and all of this is capable by introducing the mobile phone into the mix. You merely create a QR code to be printed in a location. Consumers then scan the QR code and are either directed to your website, a mobile app, or perhaps a special discount is sent to them. So in this example, the mobile channel helps execute your communication strategy more effectively.

Delivering communications to these new mobile audiences can increase revenues because you are giving customers an easy, and in many cases preferred way and reason to access your company.

In order to capture your mobile audience, you also need to appeal to their senses on the mobile application itself. This could mean creating an application that gives them multiple ways to interact with your business. They may be able to buy your products online via their mobile phone. They may be able to make an appointment with you via a mobile application. However you incorporate mobility into your communication strategy will rely completely on you and what your business is all about.

When you use mobile communications as part of your customer experience strategy and you help to drive traffic to your other channels, you are increasing consumer “stickiness.” Mobile pages representing your website can increase shopping on your website as customers now have the opportunity to shop whenever and wherever they are, instead of waiting until they are in front of a computer. The same thing can be said about mobile coupons and other advertising methods. Delivering these things into consumers’ hands while they are out and about can create an immediate impact.

These unique mobile ways of reaching customers can help your company stand out from the crowd. Unique experiences are what will ultimately keep consumers coming back for more because you are giving them something that your competition is not. Mobile services and strategies will continue to evolve, and should be viewed as multi-channel, cross-channel or mobile-only communications, with their sophistication growing over the course of this evolution. As with any other channel, offering mobile services that have the ability to lift consumer satisfaction, loyalty and brand perception just makes good sense.

Interactive Communications and the CRM Puzzle: The Last Mile of CRM

by Kael Kelly on October 10, 2011 in Call Centers, CRM, Kael Kelly, Mobile/Telcom with No comments
last_mile

In the 1990s and 2000s, as broadband networks proliferated, telecommunications service providers struggled with what the industry coined as “the last mile problem.” High bandwidth networks crisscrossed the country, yet mostly narrowband copper wire ran from the Telco central office to the customer’s home. The last mile problem was how to get the customer access to these new, bold, high-speed networks. For the consumer, the situation was like gazing through a store window and seeing the perfect gifts, yet the store was never open.

With customer relationship management (CRM), companies spend billions of dollars each year in CRM software, contact center infrastructure, websites, analytics, and customer service representatives to support customers. They also invest heavily in systems to capture, store and analyze customer data for support and selling activities. Yet, when it comes to customer service, too much of the burden is placed on customers to engage with the companies they do business with. They have to find the information they need, get support, and determine the appropriate course of action. In that sense, CRM has a “last mile” problem, too—how to get relevant, timely information to customers so they engage with the company to solve problems and build tight relationships.

To effectively manage their business relationships, customers must comb through information and support from websites, streams of email and postal mail, inbound contact centers, and retail centers. These customer communication tools are expensive for businesses and often don’t provide an easy way for customers to take action. That is, companies don’t have a way to fully leverage on the information and systems they have where it really matters: communicating with customers in a timely way via their preferred medium. Instead, organizations put the burden of managing the relationship on the customer.

The name of the game in this decade is customer engagement. Companies have to solve this “last mile” problem with smart, effective customer interaction. The great thing about our company is the power of Varolii Interact gives businesses the ability to better engage customers through multi-channel interactions. Not messages, not “blasts,” not spam, not information overload. Rather, highly personalized communications that inform customers and let them take action, including connecting them to an expert or support staff to engage at a different level.

Call Center Book Review

by Mary Cook on October 5, 2011 in Call Centers, Mary Cook with 1 Comment
book_report

If there’s anyone who knows a thing or two about contact center practices and strategies, it’s Greg Levin.  Voted “Most Likely to Write a Top Selling Ebook on Contact Center Best Practices”, he spent 16 years at ICMI witnessing and learning about the most effective practices with regard to workforce management, quality monitoring, customer satisfaction measurement, customer relationship management, agent hiring and retention, email/chat management, IVR and web self-service, outsourcing, home agents, and a lot more.  His popular ebook, Full Contact: Contact Center Practices and Strategies that Make an Impact, combines comedy with practicality.  His light-hearted approach to the topic has revolutionized the way that contact centers handle their business.

His 145 page book is broken down into seven different chapters and addresses best practices in metrics selection and measurement, agent recruiting and assessment, agent training and development, and agent motivation and retention. There’s also advice about workforce management and staffing, quality monitoring and customer satisfaction management, and e-support, self-service, and social media.  Sample questionnaires, forms, agreements, and articles finish out the ebook and give you the tools that you need to lead your contact center to success.

Easy to follow and written in a language that you can understand, Levin explains the importance of educating new hires and reminding existing agents about the meaning and importance of adherence, reducing burn-out by encouraging agents to take longer breaks, involving agents in the scheduling process so they get the time off that they deserve, and coming up with new and creative ways to make the job more enjoyable.  By making the contact center employee accountable, he explains that, “agents are human beings, at least in most contact centers, and thus need to be treated as such when it comes to measuring and 'enforcing' adherence to a schedule.”  He also notes that, “merely telling agents that they need to be in their seats at certain times 'or else' will do little to foster agent buy‐in and commitment, and a lot to foster agent graffiti and arson.”

Levin also talks about “taking hiring by the horns” by always being on the lookout for exceptional individuals who would shine in a contact center environment.  He states that, “typically, an agent hunt does not involve the use of any weapons or camouflaged clothing, but if that’s what it takes to build your frontline dream team, then so be it.  I’m not here to judge.”  The ebook helps identify your ideal agent and states that there are 8 Elements of a Successful Agent Recruiting Program.  Equally important is the “very long engagement” period that it takes to win over and retain agents.

A resource worth checking out, Levin’s Full Contact: Contact Center Practices and Strategies that Make an Impact is a must-have in all contact centers.  If you want to change the way that you do business, you’ll learn a few tips and tricks by reading this ebook.  I’ve gotten acquainted with it and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Treating Debt as a Chronic Disease

by Kael Kelly on September 28, 2011 in Healthcare, Kael Kelly, Varolii News with 2 Comments
debt_disease

Lessons from the Healthcare Industry on Communicating with High-Risk Customers
Healthcare providers typically approach high-risk patients differently than other industries, such as financial services and its approach to high-risk borrowers. In healthcare, companies like Staywell, ActiveHealth and Alere contract with payers (health insurers) as well as employers to identify patients at-risk for chronic diseases like diabetes, hypertension, cardiac problems and so forth, and work to educate and inform them about behaviors and lifestyle changes that positively impact their health. The objectives are to stabilize their health issues or even move them out of the risk group altogether. The healthcare industry has clearly recognized that there is a huge opportunity to reduce healthcare costs, improve quality of life, and make happier, healthier more productive consumers by taking the time to educate and inform high-risk patients.

On the flip side, the financial services industry faces risk in the form of lending money – be it a secured loan like auto or home or unsecured credit card debt – to someone who ultimately may not or cannot pay the money back in the manner agreed upon in the lending arrangement. How does the financial services industry deal with this risk? They put the person into a general collections process and rely on various means to resolve overdue debt.

The collections process is an important and necessary part of business. The problem is that it's treating the symptom, not the cause.

The cause is that a consumer in collections has made a series of decisions that led them to a place where they are unable to meet their financial obligations. Sometimes unavoidable circumstances occur, like a workplace injury or unexpected health problem that derails an otherwise prudent borrower. Regardless of the reason, people sometimes overextend themselves based on things like false optimism about how much they'll be making, inability to plan, or simply not budgeting well. But what if the financial services industry took the same approach as healthcare, identifying financially at-risk consumers and embarking on a financial management education program, rather than punishing them with high interest rates and painful lending terms? Many banks and lending institutions are already doing this and can see positive results.

Imagine if we could re-wind the clock to 2005 and we had a robust financial management program in the U.S. targeting high financial risk consumers. A program whereby high-risk consumers were programmatically educated around financial risk and counseled periodically by financial management experts, much like a wellness plan engages at-risk members using an engagement specialist or skilled nurse? What if 20% of the people who ultimately have or will default on their mortgages instead decided that no, with a $14,000 annual salary, I can’t buy the $720,000 home (which really happened in central California)? What if there were 20% fewer defaults? Would the economy today be 20% "better?" We don't know. But to me it's an intriguing idea worth considering.

Finally! Congress considers updating the TCPA

by Brian Moore on September 26, 2011 in Brian Moore, Varolii News with No comments

Are you worried that your company may be at legal risk when you communicate with customers on their mobile phones, even when they should welcome the call or message because it protects them from fraud, missed flights or late payments?

Well, perhaps you should be.

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) requires you to have the prior consent of your customer to autodial, text or deliver recorded messages to their mobile phone. While the FCC (who enforces the TCPA) has declared if a customer provides their mobile number to you when they apply for credit, they are giving their consent for such communications, that's a pretty small needle to thread. So despite the proven benefits of timely and efficient customer contact on the device where they are most likely to be reached, some companies are limiting their communication attempts to the dwindling number of customers with land line phones.

But relief could be on the way. Thanks to the lobbying efforts of broad coalition of industry associations in financial services, air travel, higher education and utilities, a bi-partisan team of congressional representatives have introduced the "Mobile Informational Call Act of 2011". They propose to modernize the TCPA by exempting informational calls to wireless phones from auto-dialer restrictions, clarifying the “prior express consent” requirement, while continuing the prohibition against the use of assistive technologies to call wireless numbers for telemarketing purposes.

However, just because the bill has been introduced, it’s a long way from law. This is where you come in.

Please email your representatives and senators to urge their support of the bill. Tell them efficient communications improves service to your customers while lowering your company's costs, allowing you to grow the business and boost our economy.

That's what I am doing as soon as I post this blog.

Care Continuum Alliance Forum Recap: The Need for Member Follow-through

by David McCann on September 23, 2011 in David McCann, Healthcare, Industry News with No comments

Dave McCannCCA Care Continuum Alliance Forum Recap: The Need for Member Follow throughEarlier this month, I had the opportunity to go to the annual Care Continuum Alliance Forum, a conference for dozens of disease management companies and health plans. It is a great opportunity to share the latest trends and perspectives on U.S. member/patient engagement. I had the chance to join several interesting conversations on the topic. Here are some thought-provoking factoids that came up during our dialogues:

  • Messaging to consumers in the U.S. is rising at a prolific rate – at least an 11% growth, if not more, when you look across email, texting, and voice.
  • Disease management companies are really wrestling with four problems:
    1. How to segment their member populations so that they can initiate the right engagement campaign to the right group. To get the segmentation right, they are looking at lots of analytics tools to "bucket" groups of patients into right-sized clusters, for whom they apply the right techniques.
    2. Once they get members segmented, they all admit they aren't getting the member engagement/adherence they want. So, they can segment, and get lots of information, but they can't accomplish compliance/adherence goals. This is obviously a big frustration.
    3. Phone access: most admitted they can't get members on the phone with nurses or call center staffs, at the right time or skill level they want. So they know they are trying to accomplish a Sysiphean task. ( remember, rock up the hill Greek guy ? )
    4. Most admitted they need to do more outbound, proactive interception of the patient/member.

In sampling about 40 people in one meeting, a high percentage admitted they hadn't yet achieved the right balance between personal dialogue with members and automated intervention. And economically, they all admitted that their budgets for staff are NOT going up at a prolific rate. Yet they are under pressure to do "better" next year. So there is a real squeeze going on. They have to do more, but with flat budgets at best.

It is clear that our healthcare economy spend can't go up. In one CCA executive meeting, CEOs and senior vice presidents of major health management companies, insurers and industry consultants acknowledged that cost has to come out of the service chain somewhere. At 16 percent of our U.S. GDP, we can't have costs continue to rise. There just isn't the money.

All companies are on the hunt for better efficiency. Efficiency came to the car industry. To the financial industry. Now efficiency is "in" at healthcare companies. And patient/member interaction is a huge potential cost zone. Talking to 100 million disease management members a year, just in the U.S., could cost up to $25 billion. Companies just can't absorb that cost. They need to put that money into their member communications infrastructure, considering the regulatory mandates they are all urgently striving toward.

So more, personalized, targeted, patient reminder technology has to happen. Our economy has digital consumers; who are now "digital" patients. For instance, a recent study out of the University Health Network in Toronto shows patients are far more likely to use their blood pressure monitors if they receive automatic phone calls or texts reminding them to perform the checks, or alerting them to negative trends in their results.

My Prediction: patient/member digital engagement will continue to rise, and accepted methods for reminding, informing and "nudging" patients into action, will only get more frequent, more accepted, and more sophisticated. What do you think?

Page 5 of 17« First...34567...10...Last »