Call Reduction as a Result of Chat, How Do You Prove It?

My 2nd blog on the subject of Live Chat ( Starting Out With Live Chat ) went down really well, and thanks for all the feedback. For those that missed it, I discussed the piloting of Live Chat and some pit falls to avoid to ensure that your pilot and ongoing operation is a success. Read it here.

A question Iâm always asked by others looking to replicate the success that O2 UK has had with Live Chat is, 'how do I prove that Chat is reducing Calls & Emails?' This is obviously a very good question, if your aim with Live Chat is solely to reduce call / email volumes (this appears to be something that the UK Service companies are keen to do), it shouldnât all be about saving money. Additional Online Sales, an improved CX, and being in the place your customers expect you to be, are all potential benefits on top of Call & Email reduction.

As I work for a Telco, I have a bit of a head start on actually proving that Chat is reducing Calls & Emails. I use that unique customer identifier we have (a customerâs mobile phone number) to show that after having a Chat, the customer didnât go on to Call or Email over the next 7 days. Finding a customerâs unique identifier in your business is key to proving contact deflection. Itâs not fool proof, but itâs a great measure to use when you start.

After the launch of any pilot, itâs so difficult to prove that itâs having an impact, especially in an organisation as large as mine. Customer contact is in the millions each month, so even if the Chat pilot was removing a resonable volume of existing contacts each week, it would just make a small dint, and could be put down to seasonal variations, good weather...even day of the week, so itâs no good just presuming that Chat is having an impact. You have to prove it. Hopefully the unique identifier can help with that!!

The metric that O2 used to confirm that Chat was indeed having a positive impact on Call / Email reduction was called Deflection (Chat is pretty good at it.) In the early days, it started at around 50% â not particularly ground breaking, but there were some pretty significant processes that werenât completed in Chat. This meant the customer still had to phone in, so really Chat was leaking back into Voice & Email by design in the early days. As the business started to see the benefits of Chat through the Deflection reporting, additional investment was provided to upskill the operation further, thus increasing the number of "in channel" resolutions and therefore increasing that "Deflection" metric.

Finding a customerâs unique identifier in your business is key to proving contact deflection

As someone with a keen interest in all Digital Service channels, I see a lot of similarities between the Social channel now, and the Chat channel back in 2010. I hear a lot about Omni Channel these days, which I believe is great in the buying journey. Call me old fashioned, but my view of Service is that channel choice is important, and "in channel" resolution is key to any channel being successful.

Is there anything more frustrating than being passed from channel to channel, even if the previous channel was able to inform the new channel who I am and what my query is?!

Back to Chat in 2015, and our deflection score is today 85%+ on a regular basis. Most of the 15% that still call in within 7 days are for a totally different matter. As for email, I closed this channel down in 2014 after seeing 98% of the Volume removed by Chat.