Why First Call Resolution is Key to Member Loyalty

Every credit union member wants their question or problem to be addressed quickly and easily—and on the initial phone call. First Call Resolution Rate (FCRR) is the percentage of calls resolved on the first call without being transferred to another agent. It’s a primary driver of member loyalty.

According to a 2009 report by The Ascent Group, “First Call Resolution is perhaps the most powerful call center metric. When you improve FCRR you’re improving quality, reducing costs, and improving customer satisfaction, all at the same time.”

The key to having a great FCRR is installing the proper tools to ensure the caller reaches an agent who can resolve their concern. This requires:
· A call routing system that sends questions about mortgages to the lending department or questions about password resets to the technical support department.
· Scripting to ensure that each call is handled both consistently and accurately.
· Specialized training to help Call Center representatives empathize with members and communicate concern.

Recorded calls should be used to evaluate representatives both to reward them for excellent service and to offer more training if needed.

Business continuity is also essential—not just for power outages or natural disasters but also for temporary situations like the recent San Francisco Bay Bridge closures, which affected the ability for credit union employees to get to work. What is your credit union’s business continuity plan for ensuring member support during an emergency or special event?

Many credit unions deliver great member service, but tracking and measurement tools are needed to validate the level of service provided. Successful Call Centers track wait times and abandonment rates, first call resolution and whether accurate and consistent information is being delivered to your members.

Bottom line: If you are able to resolve questions or concerns in the first call, your credit union is building a life-time relationship with its members.

Mobile Banking - it Is Not Home Banking!

Mobile banking will revolutionize retail delivery channels with a velocity similar to the sea change of ATMs in the 1980s. The simplicity of using a cell phone to conduct a wide variety of transactions – anywhere and anytime – will completely change the way consumers handle their finances.

The nation’s largest banks are already staking their claim to mobile banking adoption. According to interviews with Bank of America, the rapid adoption of mobile is a key factor in their ability and desire to shrink branches by 10 percent.

“2.8 million customers are now using the mobile channel which was introduced in mid-2007. That's an average of about 120,000 new customers per month. …. In early Feb, the bank said it had 2 million mobile banking customers; so in the past 5.5 month, growth has been just under 150,000 new users per month.”

TowerGroup and Online Financial Innovations predict that mobile banking will grow from 9-10 million users this year to 30-53 million users by 2013.

Unfortunately, many credit unions consider mobile and Internet banking to be the same. While there are some similarities, these are two very different channels. The advantage to mobile banking is convenience and simplicity. Just like the ATM opened up the ability to access cash, check balances and (now) make deposits away from the branch, mobile banking opens up the world of online finances to any location.

Mobile banking incorporates the best of online banking – checking transactions, transferring funds or setting up bill pay – and adds some key services, such as the ability to use the phone like a debit card to process payments or location-based fraud prevention.

Impact on Contact Centers

So why is a blog dedicated to credit union call centers talking about mobile banking? Simply put, if credit unions want to remain a viable option for new customers, they will have to offer their members convenient access. Credit unions need to offer mobile today!

Right now, anywhere from 20 to 40 percent of the calls to a credit union call center are for balance checks. These are calls from members who are out shopping or on the road without access to the Internet. Based on average call expenses, it costs a credit union as much as $4.50 to tell a member their balance by phone. If that member were to use that same phone to check their balance using a mobile application, it costs the credit union mere pennies. Call centers will then be able to focus on more complex service needs, including new account generation.

Credit union’s should drive down their costs, increase their member loyalty and improve their competitive positioning by deploying mobile technology.

How Does Your Call Center Measure Up?

How does your credit union handle member service at its largest branches? What about the call center? For most credit unions, the call center is easily one of the three largest “branches” in terms of members served.

Most credit unions are entering into their planning season. How does your call center measure up?

Take the following quiz and use your score to determine how effective your call center is – or where you need to make improvements. For any of the questions, if you do not measure that metric, use answer D.

Questions
1. What is your call center’s average speed of answer?
a. Less than 20 seconds = 15 pts
b. Less than 35 seconds = 12 pts
c. Less than 60 seconds = 8 pts
d. More than 60 seconds = 5 pts

2. What is your call center’s abandonment rate?
a. Less than three percent = 10 pts
b. Less than five percent = 8 pts
c. Less than eight percent = 5 pts
d. More than eight percent = 3 pts

3. What is your cost per contact?
a. Less than $4.15 = 15 pts
b. Less than $4.75 = 12 pts
c. Less than $5.20 = 10 pts
d. More than $5.20 = 8 pts

4. What is the average call handle time?
a. Less than 3.92 minutes = 10 pts
b. Less than 4.2 minutes = 8 pts
c. Less than 4.5 minutes = 5 pts
d. More than 4.5 minutes = 3 pts

5. What is the first call resolution rate?
a. More than 94.75 percent = 15 pts
b. More than 87 percent = 12 pts
c. More than 80 percent = 10 pts
d. Less than 80 percent = 8 pts

6. What is your call center agent attrition rate?
a. Less than 20 percent yearly = 10 pts
b. Less than 30 percent yearly = 8 pts
c. Less than 40 percent yearly = 5 pts
d. More than 40 percent yearly = 3 pts

7. What is your agent utilization rate?
a. More than 80 percent = 10 pts
b. More than 70 percent = 8 pts
c. More than 60 percent = 5 pts
d. Less than 60 percent = 3 pts

8. Do you have a business continuity plan?
a. Yes, and I can rely on the plan instantly = 5 pts
b. Yes, but it takes time to utilize the plan = 2 pts
c. No, I have no plan in place = 0 pts

9. What is your Net Promoter Score?
a. More than 50 percent = 10 pts
b. More than 45 percent = 5 pts
c. Less than 45 percent = 2 pts
d. I have not measured my Net Promoter Score = 0 pts

Results
Tier 1 – Gold: 100 Points
If your contact center falls into this tier, it is an effective, efficient machine. You’re answering calls in under 20 seconds while keeping costs per contact under $4.15. Agents are being utilized at a rate of more than 80 percent. Members are having their questions resolved during the first call 94.75 percent of the time, and the average call lasts less than 3.92 minutes.

Tier 2 – Silver: 75-99 Points
If your contact center falls into this tier, it falls just short of industry standards and needs a boost to help it succeed. Contact centers falling into this group are satisfying their members but may not be building member loyalty. You may be able to optimize your cost efficiency more by using an external call center to help better utilize your internal agents.

Tier 3 – Bronze: 50-74 Points
If your contact center falls into this tier it is not meeting standards and is costing you money, not making it. Contact centers falling into this category are considerably slower in the average speed of answer, and they are not always satisfying the member, let along building loyalty.

Tier 4 – Fired!: 49 Points or Less
If you contact center falls into this tier, it is failing and needs improvement in many ways. You are not able to provide your members with the service they need, and you could be spending too much in costs as well. It is highly advisable that you re-evaluate your call center or seek out an external one to help with the call volume.

Measuring the Intangibles – Improving Call Quality Increases Member Loyalty

In an earlier blog, we covered how to avoid being fired by your members – Build Member Loyalty with the FIRST Call. Tracking your credit union’s first call resolution rate is a necessary and objective way to measure member satisfaction.

When you are dealing with people, however, objective measures do not always tell the whole story. It’s also important to identify and measure a call center representative’s softer communication skills. Yes, you fixed a problem or completed a request, but was the member satisfied with the person-to-person interaction and overall experience?

How to Measure Softer Skills

Measuring the softer skills of communication can be subjective and, therefore, difficult to identify and track. My experience with credit unions and call centers has helped me to specifically identify and recommend ways for credit unions to score their agents in the following categories:

• General tone – Is the agent pleasant to speak with? Do they speak with the same rate of speed as the caller?
• Clarity – Is the agent speaking clearly?
• Listening skills – Has the agent shown they understand the member’s issue?
• Avoiding dead air – Does the agent avoid long, awkward silences during the call?
• Empathy – Does the agent relate to members? This is especially important for emotional issues such as stolen cards, late payments and other issues that could upset the member.
• Courtesy – Is the agent polite? Is the agent using the member’s name? Thanking the caller for being a member?
• Sticking to the correct script or process – Does the agent follow the procedures that will best resolve the member’s call?
• Timeliness – Does the agent avoid wasting time on the call?
• Additional help – Does the agent ask if the member needs help with anything else before ending the call?
• Survey – Is the member given the chance to share their opinion of how well the credit union met their service expectations?

Keep an Ear Out

The best way to measure call quality is to record and monitor calls. Agents can then be scored on a range of factors to arrive at a “quality score.” Monitoring call does not have to be time-intensive. Credit unions can add analytic software to their phone systems that identifies and flags calls with high emotional responses or long period of silence, helping identify agents or scripts that need to be improved.

It is important to set two levels of acceptable scores – a base score to establish minimum standards, and an incentive score to encourage agents to strive for high scores. Then, promote the rewards that come with those scores – loyal members and a job well done.

Credit unions with high call quality will better impress their members. This helps create memorable experiences and increase member loyalty, which drives both retention and new member referrals.

Related Articles
Building Member Loyalty with the FIRST Call
Is Your Call Center Solving Issues? Or Just Answering the Phones?
Don’t Think Basic, Think NECESSARY Call Center Metrics
Calls Cost, But How Much is Too Much?

Unhappy Customers Can Spread Their Gloom to Millions

We learn the lesson again and again…a negative experience can live for eternity in the hearts, minds and – now – YouTube accounts of those affected. Fail to serve a member’s needs, and you could end up seeing your credit union being ridiculed online by thousands – or even millions – of people. A couple of examples from this week have really brought this to light.

United Breaks Guitars

In 2008, musician Dave Carroll witnessed his band’s guitars being thrown around by United Airlines baggage handlers, which resulted in major damage to his custom-built guitar. In Dave’s own words, he tried to work with the airline’s call centers for nine months before giving up and making his video.





That video hit YouTube on July 6, and has been viewed nearly 3 million times in less then two weeks. In addition, the story has now generated more than 550 news stories across the country.

Bank of America – Making Customers Call Different Numbers

Think this couldn’t happen in financial services? Consumerist, a consumer focused blog from the publishers of Consumer Reports, shares three examples of customers getting nowhere with Bank of America’s call centers. Worse, even the bank’s own employees couldn’t work their way through the call center:

On May 14, 2009 I called the Risk Department around 1PM. … Immediately after this phone call, I walk into my local Bank of America branch. … I explain the situation. … She tells me there's no use in her calling the Risk Department as they will only tell her the same thing they told me. She gives me a card to Customer Solutions. She tells me to call the number, as it is my best bet at getting this issue resolved…I call Customer Solutions at 1-800-831-4419. I explain my story. They put me on hold as they contact the Risk Department. They come back on the line and give me the exact statement the Risk Department told me. … I ask her if I have ANY other options to get this issue resolved. She responds, "No."

That’s two different phone calls (to two different numbers) and a personal visit to the branch, still with no resolution.

The Consumerist story was read more than 12,000 times in its first week. Both of these stories have generated online comments and other blog postings, with most writers stating their intent to no longer use these companies. Maybe they can afford to lose the business, but could your credit union?

The best way to avoid having to deal with situations like this is to have a competent call center in place. Credit unions must evaluate their call centers, which often handle as much member business as a branch, and make the changes necessary to make them effective sources of true member service.