Channel Shift The Poole Experience

Channel ShiftThe Poole Experience

Public Sector Forums7th February 2012

Chris AngellService Improvement Manager

Aim • Share Poole’s approach to driving channel shift via the web

• Discuss key topics such as:

Use of Telephony & CRM data Communicating To Reduce / Redirect Contacts Improving Web Content ‘Quick Wins’ to Drive Immediate Channel Shift Web / Self Service Promotion Establishing ‘Cost to Serve’ Developing a Business Case Channel Shift Targets

Key Poole Statistics• Unitary Council on the Dorset coast

• Part of a defined conurbation, inc. Bournemouth & Christchurch

• Around 138,000 customers & 64,000 households in 65 square km

• 40% of population over 50 (national average 33.4%) & growing fast

• Predominately white British population – 4% other ethnic groups, although seen recent influx of Eastern European workers

• Generally successful & well-rated Council for many years (4 Star in 2007)

• 71% of our population already use the internet – and still increasing

A number of years on…1998 2005

New Website 2010

Web Usage2000 – 58,000 unique hits 2008 – on track for 1,000,000+

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 20070

100000

200000

300000

400000

500000

600000

700000

800000

900000

1000000

Unique Hits

Web Usage2008 to 2010 Unique Visitors = approx 1m pa.

2008 2009 2010940000

960000

980000

1000000

1020000

1040000

1060000

1080000

Unique Hits

Web Usage2008 to 2010 Total Hits - Reducing

2008 2009 2010 20110

1000000

2000000

3000000

4000000

5000000

6000000

7000000

8000000

Total Hits

Role of Our WebsiteFOR CUSTOMERS:

· Accurate & readily accessible info for residents, local businesses / partners & tourists

· Portal to other local services of interest – eg. tourism, medical, jobs, etc?

· Convenient & easy to use transactional self service facilities, available 24/7

FOR US:

· Ready access to key service information for officers to effectively support customers

· Cost-effective self service channel integrated with other access channels

· Support for the general promotion & development of Poole town / area

Typical costs / transaction (LGN 2011)F2F £14.00, Phone £5.00, Web £0.17

Our Web Vision

• Seek to package and present Council service information / content intuitively

• In ways that help to solve users’ problems &/or better support their lifestyles

• Be attractive & easy to use for the vast majority of users, regardless of age or disability

• Encourage and deliver significantly enhanced self-service activity

• Substitute use of other (more costly & less flexible) delivery channels

• Integrate effectively with our other access channels & selected partner websites

• Strive for national excellence in design, functionality & content

• Ensure our Web / online presence supports our Customer Service Strategy

Quick Wins• Set challenge to improve our offer in two months – and spent just £3k

• Reviewed telephony & CRM data to identify best candidates for channel shift

• 14 titles changed & 47 ‘Also Known As’ titles created

• 94 bespoke forms created (previously one generic).

• 72 new titles created. ‘Bin Swaps’ alone will save at least 500 calls p.a.

• Changed from long A-Z lists to clustered services to ease navigation / selection

• All core service pages now have updated & more prominent self service links too

• Pages meta-tagged so can be found direct from Google

• Validation / multi section e-forms added to reduce spam from ‘spiders’

Telephone vs WebTELEPHONE:

· Reduced Telephone contact by 25% since 2007/8 (100k contacts )

· Removed avoidable contact by accurate signposting

WEB:

· Increased E-form usage since 2007/8 up by 82% (60k plus)

· Improved e-forms with embedded logic has reduced avoidable contact

Top areas are “Report It” and “Pay”

Previously these were A-Z Lists – not easy to find

More options below

Logic in E-forms is important, as is integration to CRM with high volume forms

Yet to be updated Scope for major work

A recent success is Green Waste. 40% plus online applications

Our on line booking is an area that we still need to develop

Gradually replacing documents with online e-forms

Next Steps Continue to promote new facilities internally to officers and members

Limited external promotion – mainly via email marketing, libraries & adult learning

Customer focus groups to review new facilities & identify further improvements

Agree ‘cost to serve’ formulae – for fully & partially automated web transactions

Continue to prioritise development

Extend CRM ‘Self Service’ integration to enable customers to create cases

Develop more ‘Pay for It’ & ‘Book It’ facilities (eg. weddings, beach huts, pest control, etc)

Summary Channel shift is achievable – and quickly too. 10% less calls in 2011/12

Review your CRM & telephony data to quickly identify key opportunities

Improved communication can reduce overall contact volumes immediately

Focus on accurate & well structured web content – and use Plain English!

Identify & address ‘quick wins’ for immediate benefit whilst you develop more functions

Promote website / online facilities actively – in publications, through staff, campaigns etc

Understand your ‘cost to serve’ dynamics

Use these to build a business case for further investment & development

Set clear channel shift targets for your front-line staff & involve them in design work

Thank you