CRM - October 2007 - (Page 29)

Break Out The Measuring Tape A partial list of JupiterResearch’s recommended self-service effectiveness KPIs number of issues resolved, mean time to resolution, first-contact resolution, and customers who repeat (and how often). All of these are useful, he says, but the important thing to remember is that decisions can rarely be made on the basis of one report. “The value comes from a balance of objective and subjective data, or observed and perceived,” he says. “For example, customer satisfaction surveys are mostly subjective and give us a strong sense of a customer’s perception of value. If customers report that it takes too long to solve issues then there’s a problem regardless of what internal ‘mean time to resolution’ metrics are reporting.” Monitoring customers’ self-service activities can help organizations paint a picture of why those interactions fail— and then enable the company to take corrective action. Tom Sweeny, a principal at industry research firm ServiceXRG, notes that many packaged-search options have good tracking and analytics that record data such as search terms and documents opened, while some companies also collect session data such as clickstream. Often, though, “there’s a big gap in understanding what customers actually do when on a self-service site,” he says. Service-focused vendors such as InQuira and Knova deliver analytics-based Web self-service platforms, while moretraditional Web analytics vendors such as Coremetrics, Omniture, Visual Sciences (formerly WebSideStory), and WebTrends can also extract intelligence, enabling organizations to tweak the online experiences they provide. “The data is there,” says Tim Shelter, vice president of marketing at InQuira. “The best companies are monitoring their analytics and Web logs on pretty much a daily basis to try and spot issues and trends, and are actually looking for selling opportunities in addition to support issues.” Sales opportunities aren’t the only added benefit of solid self-service. The “new” AT&T is an example of how drastically a successful project can impact the bottom line. Before AT&T and Cingular Wireless merged, Cingular sought to strengthen its Web presence, integrating self-service options into its ATG www.destinationCRM.com Effectiveness Metrics Information-find conversion rates Definition Total visits to customer service success page divided by all visits Method of Use Use this metric to monitor effectiveness of customer service tools. Fluctuations may indicate problems with navigation or presentation of support material. Use to determine customer service query failure and/or customers’ dissatisfaction with support information. Monitor to identify gaps of knowledge content or suboptimal ability of search engine to understand customers’ queries. Ratio of search exits to search visits Total exits from searchresults page divided by total visits to search-results page Total searches that return zero results divided by total searches Percentage of zero-result and zero-yield searches Engagement Metrics Ratio of new visitors to repeat visitors Definition One-time visitors divided by repeat visitors Method of Use Use to determine self-service stickiness or affinity. High numbers of one-time visitors and a low ratio of new visitors to repeat visitors indicate awareness of self-service is high, but offering it is not effective enough to be sticky. Monitor for fluctuations to ensure access to site search functionality and gauge overall product information value and usability of site. Time length will vary based on nature of self-service tasks. Set realistic goals and monitor to ensure customers are engaging within a realistic timeframe. Percentage of searching visitors Total visitors viewing search results divided by all visitors Percentage of visits under a specified number of seconds Total self-service sessions under a specified number of seconds divided by total self-service sessions Directional Indicators Average response time Definition Sum of response times divided by all inquiries Method of Use Monitor for fluctuations, changes in response time, or site-related delays in processing inquiries. Should incrementally grow relative to improvements in self-service effectiveness. Use to gain sense of contribution of selfservice to escalated interactions. Time to resolution of given inquiry should result in drop of handling time for this same inquiry type through other touch points. Customers’ satisfaction Percentage of satisfied visitors divided by total visitors Time to resolve inquiries Call-handling time; other touch points Source: “Online Self-Service Effectiveness: Tactics for Measurement,” JupiterResearch (lead analyst Zachary McGeary, research associate). Commerce deployment. Realizing that most inbound calls were equipment inquiries, the company added a selfservice link to “phone and device support.” From this section of the site, a customer could select the make and model of her phone and link directly into tutorials and knowledge-base solutions. According to a 2006 report, nearly 45 percent of Cingular customers using ATG’s self-service offerings found their desired information and had no intentions of phoning the contact center. Leveraging that deflection rate and an average industry cost per call, the company estimated that the self-service initiative realized annual cost savings of more than $4 million. Another important component of any successful self-service project is capturing (and continually evaluating) the voice of the customer.“Companies will often run 29 CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT | OCTOBER 2007 http://www.destinationCRM.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of CRM - October 2007

Contents Front Office Reality Check Customer Centricity Coupons Without the Clipping Something Special in the Air Oracle’s Name Game Market Focus: Sports & Entertainment: CRM Scores for Sports Franchises Statistically Speaking The Pulse Required Reading Are We There Yet? Help Them Help Themselves The Chain Gang Pay Day OutClick Media Gets a Second Opinion Best Kiteboarding Makes a Splash with NetSuite True-Blue Service Documentation Secret of My Success The Tipping Point Re:Tooling Pint of View

CRM - October 2007

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