Town Hall, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN1 1RS

Reducing customer contact and delivering a Behavioural Change workshop

Background

Gravesham Borough Council contacted Smarter Digital Services (SDS) to assist in reviewing available solutions being used in the Public and Private sectors to reduce the levels of incoming customer contact in contact centres, and encourage self-service.

 

At present, residents are calling through to the Gravesham Contact Centre with a requirement that, if the right solutions were in place, could be resolved by the resident themselves via self-service without the need to speak to Customer Service Officers.

 

 

In addition, Gravesham Borough Council invited SDS to facilitate a Behavioural Change workshop where SDS would provide an overview of the techniques to promote behaviour change, and explore ways to improve the councils’ communication with residents.

 

So, what did we identify as possible solutions to reduce customer contact?

Gravesham Borough Council were particularly keen for SDS to look at how best to deliver an effective IVR system as well as researching the potential of call-back systems.

 

IVR System

SDS Provided the following:

 

Research into statistics and feedback gathered from both the Public and Private sectors focused around user opinion and company use of IVR’s

  • SDS work with Gravesham Borough Council to look at the available solutions to reduce customer contact and delivering a Behaviour Change workshop
  • Detailed information and recommendations for best practise and most effective strategies for using an IVR system
  • How to increase resident interaction with an IVR system
  • SDS recommendations for creating the best IVR experience

 

Call-back Systems

SDS Provided the following:

 

  • A detailed view of what call-back systems are and what they do
  • A look at the benefits of having a call-back system in place
  • Why users prefer to use call-back systems and examples of where they have been used well
  • The call-back system solutions that are available on the market
  • How best to deploy a call-back system once the needs of the user have been understood

 

In addition to the IVR and call-back system research, SDS also conducted research into alternative solutions to reduce customer contact.

 

Here are some of the alternatives that were covered in the SDS research:

  • Website self-service
  • Smart phone self-service options
  • Web chat
  • Visual IVR
  • Text messaging

 

Conducting a Behavioural Change workshop at Gravesham

SDS facilitated a Behavioural Change workshop with 25 Service Managers and Team Leaders exploring ways to influence residents’ behaviour.

 

The team provided a detailed overview with working private and public sector examples of some of the key behavioural change techniques such as:

  • Nudge
  • MINDSPACE
  • EAST
  • Four E’s

 

SDS used eye tracking software to test a number of Gravesham’s letters with residents to get their direct feedback. In the workshop we discussed the findings from the eye tracking work and explored ways to improve the communications.

 

Gravesham are now using the techniques from the workshop to review more of their communications with the aim of reducing avoidable contact and encouraging self-service.

 

“I was really impressed with the workshop delivery and content. It was full of very useful examples that the attendees could relate to.”

Anita Tysoe
Service Manager
Gravesham Borough Council

 

For further information on any of the SDS research contained in this case study, please contact SDS directly.

Info

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9 March 2018
workshop, consultancy
Gravesham Borough Council