Not withstanding substantial investment in building digital service platforms  to encourage customers to use Self Service ,  the  influx to Assisted service is not on the wane.

To examine this phenomenon we need to retrace our steps a little. …Why does a customer (prospect or existing ) reach out to assisted service ? Quite simply, for  just 3 basic reasons : Enquiry , Request or Complaint ( ERC ) . The proportion within ERC does vary across industries but even after accounting for some   “ pollution “ and industry bias, “Enquiries”  by and large contribute 70 – 85% of all calls followed by  requests and  complaints  . Experience tells us that in mature or  well run businesses the complaints’ contribution is under 2-3% .

Having said that  digital self help investments by and large were anyway expected to largely impact and address customer Enquiries.

In this article we would like to bring into focus the continuing  influx of Enquiries  to assisted touch points ,  factors that trigger the influx and possible remedial action  as service professionals influence their reduction  . A note of caution – this is no way means that we force-fit the customer onto digital platforms  .. but rather , study how to make the investments in self service space intuitive and relevant for natural adoption . Ultimately we have to ensure that we build service infrastructure to meet the customer convenience and not vice versa !

It’s a fact that we  while review  Complaints and Repeats  rigorously , enquiries are given short shrift . There lies a deep rooted perception that enquiries are “benign “and are actually good for the business as they show customer interest.  In our view , in todays world  lack of insight on Enquiries may be counter productive from the service stand point , company strategy stand point as well as cost the brand millions in opportunity loss .

So what are the basic assumptions and business case are customer facing digital assets built ? Well ,for starters its supposedly built on rich content and  assumes that new age customers ( led by Millennials and Gen Y) prefer self- discovery and instant speedy information . It also is based on the assumption that  most queries that help customer in decision making , i.e. feature and brand comparison , availability , accessibility etc. if easily available and accessible will negate the need to reach  a contact centre . The metric then to watch would be a decline in call influx or walk-ins with enquiries for assistance thru manual modes .

The experience while on the upswing has not been as stark so far as evinced from query calls volumes or “hits” on digital modes . Seek answers for your self and discover the direction you need to take when you administer these simple questions  –

1. Is Content available in public forums and accessed by “ to be “ customers complete in information , are they any contradictions ?  
2. Does my company have the will and discipline to refresh and clean up irrelevant data  ? If we do, are our processes  robust  , measurable , do we have a single owner who owns content sanctity ?
3. Forget what everybody is doing – Is Digital media really the innate / natural medium of choice for my  targeted segment of customers ? If not,  then maybe the next best thing is to embrace enquiries influx  and leverage this opportunity .
4. Is the Comparative Content (price / features / availability / Dimensions / Range etc. ) available transparently which aids the purchase decision 
5. Do the Enquiries influx peak AFTER a ATL or a new  promotion is launched ? Examples below aboun

• Teaser ads with T & C  ( some  co- relation on  how much T *& C increase Service costs )
• The too – good – to be – true offer – Customer will now seek Assurance and confirmation of the offer  .
• New products claiming to be new / better / improved especially in electronics

6. Is digital conversion  showing and upward adoption ?  If not , evaluate  what works and why it does ( and doesn’t too ) . Some customers will continue to call rather than use Self Help out of plain habit .. factor those in and focus instead on the others .  
7. Is the web and app design and flow intuitive? Who have you tested it on? Hopefully your sole reference point is not just the design agency or the marketing department

• Take the test your self – That’s right ! Select a significant journey your self with a pre-determined objective and try out the service on the digital platform that your customers use and progress it as a curious customer and see if logically flows through and allows you to reach the end goal .

Once you have truly answered the above I expect that you will create your own improvement plan which in turn influence the influx  flow.

Another critical evaluation that needs to be closely monitored monthly is pouring money onto both  ; Building Digital Platforms  and Paying for Assisted Service .

Analytics will include trends of customer adoption which areas are more easily influence able to conversions to digital  . Customer Service professionals should be asked  to mine data to check incidence where the same customer uses a digital medium and then immediately calls or walks in . This must be evaluated with concern to throw light on where the digital medium used  has fallen short ( exceptional cases which say necessitates a visit for say document validation , biometrics check etc) . System down times or capacity issue as well as downloading ease are other infrastructure aspects that need be considered.

It is best  to establish handshake and ownership  between Marketing , Sales and Service heads together and not just the Service head to make digital medium work for enhanced customer experience .

Focus on a single matrix of just reducing the number of calls / enquiries can be simplistic , uni- dimensional approach  and may bring a customer back lash  .Till absolutely sure , its  better to set Influx tolerance limits rather than a totally drastic target for reduction . It is also better to harness the customer trigger to a conversation as a resource .

The problem with enquiry calls are paradoxically their very ease of handling  . These calls don’t cost too much , can be wrapped up quickly and any CSE prefers an enquiry call over a Complaint or request . But each enquiry call can blow money unless there is  a holistic plan to mine the opportunity of a customer 1:2 interaction.

As some level in industries like telecom , insurance and banking the CSE (customer service executive )  is tasked with probing for related needs and then offering a suggestion or a recommendation . While this  is referred to as pitching it is only when the customer actually uses the suggested pack or service in a pre- determined time frame  that it is considered a conversion . Thus ability to engage and  influence your customer is a welcome benefit !

For this program to be successful there are multi level considerations including

• data mining of previous call / sale history is a prerequisite
• uploading the “ recommended service “ on the system available to the CSE for reference based on “ need gap “ identified in the unique customer history  
• probing and soft skills training to offer the right solution
• reward mechanism for the CSE
• tracking mechanism of customer converts and their utilization thereafter

So,yes Enquiries can be selectively used to significantly  add value in a customer interaction .

To sum , it looks as if Enquiries influx ( often thought of being the easily lent themselves to  conversion to digital service ) will continue for some time more unless a fresh eyes approach . Enquires which are a cost drain due their sheer volumes can turn out to be a nice avenue for customer interaction ( especially with more customers opting for DND ) . Its now up to us to make that interaction pay at both Service and Sales ends.