All posts tagged number

Personalization Pays Off - Part 2

by Brian Moore on September 8, 2011 in Brian Moore, Call Centers, Consumer Svcs, Mobile/Telcom, Varolii News with No comments

When communicating with customers, does personalization  matter? Can you expect a return for the effort and expense of recognizing your customers as individuals?

In Personalization Pays Off - Part 1, we discussed the tension between your customer's desire for personal treatment and your company's need to keep costs low by delivering products and services that are essentially the same for large segments of your customer base.

Striking a proper balance between these two competing forces is critical to ensuring customer satisfaction and company profitability.

Whole books have been devoted to this topic; I'm not trying to boil that particular ocean here.

That said, there are a few practical adjustments to "business as usual" you can make that will pay for themselves by improving customer loyalty, lowering operational costs and driving better business performance:

  • Track and act on customer's explicit and implicit preferences. An example of an explicit preference is a customer request that communications be in a language other than English; an implicit preference might be inferred from the fact that they only answer your calls between 10AM and 2PM.
  • Provide time saving conveniences to reward customers who choose to self-serve. Offer to securely store their bank or credit card account information when they make a phone or online payment so they don't have to enter it again next time. Also, configure self-service menus on web pages or IVRs to provide easier access to previously used functions.
  • Look for any and every opportunity to treat customers as individuals. Start by using their name, not their account number, when you greet them. Reference the name of the unique product or service they are using. Be specific about account status, including reference to any recent conversations, payments and purchases - all the better to prove you are talking to them about their unique situation.

The importance of this last point is hard to overstate, particularly when you are automating communications via interactive voice messaging, SMS text or email. Personalization helps cut through the noise in these channels, allowing your message to stand-out as timely, relevant and respectful.

Consider the following experiment we ran with a wireless carrier (I'll call them XYZ Mobile) who uses interactive voice messages to encourage their prepaid subscribers to "top up" their accounts by making an immediate payment. In this experiment, the target customers were randomly assigned to either group A or group B. The only difference between the messages delivered to the two groups was in the greeting - Group A were asked to confirm they were owner of the assigned phone number, while Group B were greeted by name:

• Version A

“Hi. This is XYZ Mobile calling for the owner of <206-555-1212>. Press any key to continue.

• Version B

“This is XYZ Mobile with an important reminder.  If this is <Brian Moore>, press 1.  Otherwise, press 2."

Which do you think got better results?

If you said the one that asked for the customer by name instead of by number, you're right! Over three quarters more customers indicated they were the right party and almost two-times as many topped up their accounts in direct response to the interactive voice message in Version B than in Version A:

Greeting Test2 Personalization Pays Off Part 2

Needless to say, our client concluded the experiment by treating 100% of their accounts with Version B, no doubt with a nod to Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band.

Personalization pays off

by Brian Moore on August 26, 2011 in Brian Moore, Call Centers, Mobile/Telcom with 3 Comments
personalization_pays

Since all of us are consumers, at one time or another we’ve had to communicate with the companies with whom we do business about some opportunity or issue in our relationship.

Our satisfaction with that interaction often has as much to do with how, when or where the communication took place as it does with what was said.

We are most likely to feel valued as customers when the communication is to our liking in all these dimensions; in other words when we feel the companies we do business with treat us as individuals.

On the other hand, profit-driven companies who service customers numbering in the millions or even 10’s of millions typically think about customers in much broader terms. While we often talk about providing "1 to 1" service, in reality customers are more often dealt with as part of large segments aligned around some aspect of their prior or expected behavior such as potential value, loyalty or credit risk.

Given this tension between an enterprise’s need to carefully manage their costs and a customer’s preference for personalized service, it’s no wonder our popular culture has produced numerous examples of the individual’s fight against anonymity:

  • Facebook & Twitter's popularity is driven in part by our often unfulfilled need to be recognized by others as a unique individual.
  • Robert DeNiro channeled everyone's inner "nobody" in the film Taxi Driver when his character Travis Bickle angrily asked "Are you talking to me?!?!"
  • Finally (and you may hate me for putting this tune in your head) Bob Seger and his Silver Bullet Band railed against it in their hit song “I Feel Like a Number”.

If these and other expressions of desire for personal acknowledgement represent a universal human need, doesn't it make sense for companies to make sure all the messages we send to customers communicate appreciation of their unique individual attributes?

Or at very least, shouldn't we at least call customers by their name?

In my next blog, I'll share a case study illustrating the tremendous impact one Varolii client found in that simple act, after which no one could accuse them of treating their customers "like a number".

In the meantime, tell me about your favorite expressions of individuality in popular culture. Just enter a comment below...consider it part of your own fight against anonymity!

Banks Report Fewer Accounts Past Due - Why This Is Not Necessarily Good News

by Brian Moore on August 18, 2011 in Banks/Finance, Brian Moore, Mortgage with 5 Comments
credit_card

TransUnion reported this week that in the second quarter of 2011 the number of US credit card accounts that are seriously delinquent (>90 days past due) dropped to its lowest level in 17 years. This continues a trend that began six quarters ago, bringing the rate down to 0.6%, nearly 40% lower than it was this time last year.

So why is nobody smiling?

If you're a consumer, you've probably got concerns about the economy and your job, and as a result you are reducing your spending with both cash and credit to save for the forecasted rainy day. After all, it’s a lot easier to keep a smaller credit card account up to date, but this does not necessarily mean you are happy doing so.

If you are a card issuer, the lower delinquencies translate to lower future loan losses, which is a good thing. But when it comes as a result of customers reducing their borrowing, it means lower income from interest and puts increased pressure on bank operations (like collections) to do things more efficiently. So you are not happy.

And if you happen to also be a mortgage lender, the news is even worse. In contrast to the improving trend in credit card delinquency, the number of past due mortgages continues to climb. According to Lender Processing Services, the number of mortgages over 30 days past due has increased by 3% in the past two months. This means mortgage servicers have even more work to do as they implement the aggressive outreach to delinquent borrowers mandated by Fannie & Freddie's revised servicing guidelines.

No wonder everyone is grumpy. For me, that's strong motivation to take a look at operational strategies and tactics and adapt them to these new dynamics:

  • Consumers should take advantage of their reduced debt loads to improve their credit scores by paying every bill on time. If you've not already done so, get enrolled in your creditors auto-debit programs so you never miss a due date. And if your credit is already excellent, think about re-financing your mortgage at the lowest interest rates in modern history.
  • Credit card issuers should be sure to leverage their customer's increased awareness of their credit standing by treating delinquent accounts early in their aging, before it is reported past due to the bureaus. When you do, be sure to mention the positive  impact prompt payment can have on credit scores to incent the customer to pay today.
  • With the increased workload required by the GSEs, mortgage servicers must automate their customer outreach, using digital interactions such as interactive voice messages, SMS text and email to lead customers into profitable action. Even if the outcome is forbearance or loss mitigation rather than payment, it’s better than allowing the delinquent borrower to hide from the obligation and delay the inevitable day of reckoning.

What are Best Methods for Collecting Past Due Accounts?

by Varolii on February 25, 2011 in Airlines, Banks/Finance, Healthcare, Mobile/Telcom, Retail, Utilities with No comments

When it comes to money, size does matter. More is better, biggest is best.

It's important to keep this in mind when comparing alternative methods for collecting past due accounts. While cost efficiency is good, at the end of the day whichever approach yields the tallest stash of cash should win. Continue reading →