Are your Customer Communications Generating Unnecessary Customer Care Calls?
Customer communications should reduce costs associated with customer care calls, not generate more support calls and in turn, more costs. But, when communications are not designed to provide the information customers want, or they fail to provide key information in a way that is easy to find or understand, an increase in calls to the service center can be expected.
In many cases, documents such as statements, bills and letters were formatted and designed by the IT or operations team that manages the messaging platform or communication channel. This results in customer communications based on what the document generation platform could provide in the original set up project. So, while all the important information may be included in the document, customers cannot always find what they are looking for, and this results in calls into the service center.
In contrast, when communications are designed with the customer in mind, for the channel of delivery (e.g. mobile-first vs. mobile-friendly), the customer’s information requirements are addressed immediately and clearly, and the customer can drill down into the details, if required. This approach lowers the need to contact the call center to ask follow-up questions.
Customer-centric communication design helps reduce costs associated with customer care calls
A customer-centric design process considers the most valuable information and presents it in a simple, straightforward way. It also provides answers to the most frequent questions, thereby removing the need to call the organization for further support.
Why is this significant? Well, a fully loaded customer support call, which includes the cost of direct labor, indirect labor, facilities, phone lines, and other elements associated with a company’s internal or third-party call center, is expensive!
A 2021 study by Keypoint Intelligence found the following:
- 27% of respondents in medium-sized organizations estimate they pay $8 – $9 (USD) per customer support call (medium is 250k and 2.5M customers)
- For larger organizations (2.5M+ customers) the majority (62%) estimate their cost per fully loaded customer support call to start at $8 (USD) and increase to more than $21 per call.
It makes sense, then, to design customer bills, statements, and other documents, with vital information presented in a way that minimizes the risk of increased phone queries.
Will migrating from print to digital communication result in less support calls?
Interestingly, according to the same research by Keypoint Intelligence, a simple as-is replication of the print document to be presented digitally on a portal or sent by email will not generate fewer support calls. From the report, on average, 5.6% of all printed mailings result in customer care calls, and the figure is the same for digital communications.
The cost efficiencies of digitally transforming paper communication are only partially achieved by saving on postage costs.
The real return on investment (ROI) is achieved when customers are offered a better experience via designed-for-the-channel digital documents, where the most relevant information is easy to find and understand.
How to design customer-centric communications
Customer-centric communication design should not only provide a better representation of key information, but it also needs to add value to the customer, because this will drive engagement. When done well, the benefits of customer-centric communications design will be evident across the organization in the guise of operational efficiencies, well-informed customers, and of course, fewer support calls.
There are, however, some key considerations when redesigning your customer communications. First, you cannot really achieve customer-centric design without asking your customer what information is most important, and what is unclear on the current document. Customers typically focus on specific information from their bills and statements; so find out what that is and make it easy to find. Analyzing engagement with digital documents can be done with use of specialized technology that will reveal how consumers read the document, where they pause, parts they engage with, and other inputs one can use to optimize the document for engagement.
Involving all the stakeholders is also vital. Various departments have different agendas when it comes to customer communications and need to have a say in the design, as long as the requirement is always to please the customer.
Find an experienced customer communications management (CCM) partner that has specialist skills in communication design, technology to support engagement analysis, and years of experience with applying best practices for regulated verticals. Your CCM partner needs to bring industry knowledge, as well as accessibility, regulatory and security requirements to the table.
Doxim-designed communications put the customer’s needs first
Doxim is experienced in designing communications in a way that guides the recipient to the most valuable information or the call to action you have added to your communication or document, and clearly provides the next steps, should they want to find more information online.
Doxim experts are available to consult on creative design that promotes engagement and reduces calls to the call center, thereby helping to reduce costs associated with customer care calls and improve the customer experience.
