Inbound, Outbound, Blended, Contact Centre Software - Building … · 2013-01-08 · with all of your customers - including visitors to your web site. Online conversion rates can

Planning

Implementation

Execution

Topic

Armed with this guide, you will understand everything you need to know to create highly successful outbound campaigns – whether you already have an outbound call centre operation or not.

Highlight

“The guys at Rostrvm clearly knew their stuff and understood the challenges we faced in delivering something of this magnitude.” Cable&Wireless Worldwide

Introduction This guide is aimed at anyone in the call centre industry who has – or is considering introducing – an outbound call centre operation. We believe it is essential reading for Call Centre Managers and Campaign Managers; we also think that Marketing and Sales Managers will find the guide of immense value. This third edition has been updated following the issue of revised guidelines on the use of automated dialling from Ofcom in October, 2010 and subsequent regulatory activity. Why read this guide? We believe this guide is necessary primarily because it is still not widely understood that the dynamics of an outbound call centre are fundamentally different from an inbound operation. So to maximise your chances of success, the planning, implementation and execution need to take these very different dynamics into account. This point really is worth driving home: fail to understand these different dynamics – and however much planning you do – you will plan to fail. The myriad of regulation that surrounds outbound campaigns also present a potential minefield; but remember the legislation is there to protect consumers and so it is in your interests to comply with it!

There is another good reason to read this guide; outbound campaigns provide a great opportunity to optimise interaction with all of your customers - including visitors to your web site. Online conversion rates can increase by as much as 250% if you call people who are seeking information on your web site. That has to be another good reason for implementing an outbound call centre operation. Don’t panic However, there is no need to panic. Armed with this guide, you will understand everything you need to know to create highly successful outbound campaigns – whether you already have an outbound call centre operation or not. If there is anything in this guide or outbound operations that you want to know more about then just call us for a chat. About Rostrvm Solutions We are a leading provider of outbound call centre systems such as predictive diallers. They are part of our integrated call centre software suite so we know how they fit in to the bigger picture. And for more than 25 years we have worked with a wide range of call centres to optimise both technology and operational practice for both inbound and outbound campaigns. We are passionate about outbound campaigns! We really do know what we are talking about and we can provide the evidence to prove it.

It should be noted that the guide is written from a United Kingdom

perspective.

Building an outbound contact campaign: Balancing productivity & effectiveness. This guide is aimed at anyone in the call centre industry who has – or is considering introducing – an outbound call centre operation.

To find out more call us on 0800 6122 192 or visit www.rostrvm.com

© Rostrvm Solutions Limited 2008 –2011, Planning guide - building an outbound campaign – 2011.3

Who are you going to call? Finding the best time to call Targeting your efforts

Topic

Take every opportunity to capture contact details and gain permission to use these details to make contact. Make sure that all response mechanisms request at least a phone number and ideally request a mobile number and email address. Consider incentives in your inbound call centre to obtain contact details.

Tip

“We chose Rostrvm Solutions because they demonstrated the most flexibility and actually bought into the concept of it being a partnership.” Affinion International

Getting started In this section we are going to examine the fundamental dynamics of an outbound call centre operation. Once you understand how these dynamics differ from an inbound call centre operation, you are well on your way to success. So we make no apologies for spending some time on the basics. So what are the fundamental dynamics of an outbound call centre? Essentially they can be summarised as:

Who is called (and why they are called)?

When are they called?

Which agent makes the call?

What happens if the customer/prospect is not available?

Who are you going to call? At its most fundamental any outbound call centre is entirely dependent on having the target’s contact details – and in this respect mobile phone numbers can have at least as much value as landlines. Don’t under-estimate the value of contact details. For example, if you are selling a product or service valued at £250 and your contact conversion ratio is 2% that makes a phone number worth £5 of revenue. Remember too that in today’s multimedia environment, other contact methods are available to you – and some customers may even prefer to be contacted by SMS or email. Today, the leading outbound diallers’ can facilitate multimedia customer communications channels, giving you multiple options to create a dialogue with your customer.

Why are you calling? A really successful outbound call centre is able to run multiple campaigns using multiple agent groups. And we don’t need to tell you that making effective contact with your customers or prospects is central to ensuring the profitability of your business. Just to get you in the mood we have put together a list of some possible outbound campaigns:

Use the dialler to contact new prospects, follow-up direct marketing campaigns to qualify leads, or even make appointments on behalf of your sales team

New customer ‘welcome’ calls to ensure that initial purchases are satisfactory and encourage both repeat and up-sell business

Maximise staff utilisation by ensuring consumers are available for visits by service engineers and deliveries

Confirm repeat orders to reduce errors and create upsell opportunities

Contract renewal in environments with a predictable product or service life such as car & household insurance, and end of loan period

Credit control; calling clients for debt collection purposes

Increase online conversion by calling visitors to your web site.

And this list really is just the tip of the iceberg. We are confident that you will find many more opportunities to create profitable customer interactions, based on the dynamics of your business and industry sector.

The fundamentals In this section we examine the fundamental dynamics of an outbound call centre operation. Once you understand how these dynamics interact you are well on your way to success.




Topic

To optimise results you need to call at the time that your audience is in ‘buying’ mode. If you are following up an inbound enquiry then it makes sense to look back at call data to find out what time the decision maker chose to call you!

Tip

“What I like about Rostrvm is that, before the install, they worked with us tirelessly until they understood exactly what the business needed” Brookson

When are you going to call? It is fairly obvious that while inbound campaigns are all about having agents in place to respond to incoming calls, the success of outbound campaigns hinges upon reaching your customers – or prospects – when they are available to take your call! Sounds easy, but in practice this simple fact presents the single most important challenge for successful outbound campaigns. Typically around 50% of all attempts to contact individuals will fail. So how you deal with those failures is critical, not only because of campaign productivity and staff resourcing issues, but also to ensure you comply with the regulations governing outbound contact. We will talk about this in more detail later. In this section we are going to look in detail at the issue of timing. In our experience timing is the issue that is most widely misunderstood, so we are going to deal with it comprehensively, upfront. If you take this information on board you will be ahead of the game. Outbound campaigns are essentially sales campaigns; you are aiming to secure a result from your customer, even if that is an indirect result such as checking that your customers are happy or asking them to settle a debt. So to optimise results you need to call your audience, not only at a time they are likely to pick up the phone, but also at the time that they are most likely to be in ‘buying’ mode. Using customer information Finding the best time to call is as much an art as it is a science, but is one area where clichéd thinking works! Pretend that your audience is a personal friend - think about when you would pick up the phone and expect to reach them – now focus your outbound call centre activities at that time. Information in your data list can be used to target your activities and enhance Decision Maker Contact rate. As we already hinted, this is an area where clichéd thinking can come into its own. Whilst perhaps not quite politically correct to make the point, it is frequently true that female decision makers tend to be more available than males in the afternoon. Similarly older decision makers are easier to reach during the day than younger consumers. If your target audience is employed people, then it is worth remembering decision makers in the south-east of England tend not to be available until later in the evening. Another technique that can significantly increase the success of your targeting activities is to know or infer the Decision Maker’s preferred call time. For example, if you are following up an inbound enquiry then it makes sense to look back at call data to find out what time the decision maker chose to call and use that information to set your campaign parameters.





Topic

It’s not a surprise to see that the best time to call otherwise-unstructured data is the late afternoon/early evening. Peaks and troughs also occur when contacting individuals in businesses

Tip

“We have found that customers like to be called back at a certain time to discuss the contract in more detail. This gives them the comfort of being able to talk everything through at a time that suits them.” EDF Energy

Finding the best time to call Finding the best time to call is central to the success of a sales campaign. Using technology such as a predictive dialler significantly improves efficiency, but diallers cannot perform magic; if the target audience is not available to take your call at the time you make it then the basic contact objective will not be achieved. The ‘best time to call’ varies dependent on your target audience but for the majority of campaigns the success in reaching people – the connect rate - follows the pattern shown below.

It’s not a surprise to see that the best time to call otherwise-unstructured data is the late afternoon/early evening. Equally it doesn’t take genius to forecast the dip in connect rate in the mid afternoon when many consumers are out shopping and collecting children from school. Similar peaks and troughs occur when contacting individuals in businesses. In this case the connect-rate troughs are attributed to the targets being busy doing core business activities.





Topic

Pretend that you are trying to get hold of a personal friend - think about when you would pick up the phone and expect to reach them. Now you know where to focus your efforts.

Tip

“rostrvm has given us the opportunity to talk to more people and therefore convert a higher ratio of insurance quotes." Autonet Insurance

Targeting your efforts If you take the previous page on board, you are half-way there. Only half-way? Remember, the crucial balance is to target your data to call your audience at the best possible time. In the previous graph we showed that there are usually peaks and troughs in the connect rate. But it is also worthwhile looking at the ‘quality’ of the connections. As shown in the chart below there can be periods when, despite a high connect rate, reaching the right person (Decision Maker Contact - DMC) is low. In the earlier example the connect rate is high in the early morning, but the DMC rate is relatively low.

Outbound campaigns are essentially sales campaigns; you are aiming to secure a result from your customer, even if that is an indirect result such as checking that your customers are happy. Pretend that you are trying to get hold of a personal friend - think about when you would pick up the phone and expect to reach them. Now you know where to focus your efforts.




What management information & when? What do agents say and do?

Topic

If you are not measuring it then you are not managing it. The first thing to do when planning a campaign is to identify how you are going to measure success for each interested party

Tip

“rostrvm makes my job easier to plan ongoing resources and when I’m looking at specific projects I have the supporting information I need”.” London Borough of Wandsworth

Campaign planning Before you dive in, work out how success is going to be demonstrated. Different audiences will look at campaigns in different ways and require different ‘Management Information Systems’ (MIS). Team leaders will want to look at how individual agents are performing. Administrators want to see how supporting processes and system are performing. Individual agents will want to see how they are performing – particularly if there are bonuses and other rewards available. Business managers just want to know results and don’t care too much how they are achieved. It’s also important to consider when Management Information is needed and how it is delivered. Does everyone want to see information now? once a day? once a week? as and when? on paper? on their PC? on their mobile phone? Management Information is vital Once you have established what type of management information is required for your internal audiences the next step is to establish the detailed data to be recorded. Automated diallers routinely collect telephony related data such as the number of call attempts that don’t get answered, connections to live callers and so on. However, you may well want to capture additional information that will give you insights into campaign success; whether individual calls were effective for example. You need to establish the detail of where in the call process other business information is to be recorded. The most efficient method of recording data is during the call and with the minimum of user interaction. Using a guide, or even a full script, for your call centre agents provides points in the process to collect business outcomes. Systems such as rostrvm CallGuide simplify the process of gathering business data. For example:

When the system presents information about the target customer and the agent confirms that the right person has been reached this fact is recorded

If a particular objection is raised the system can present a response and make a record of common objectives and the rejoinders that can be made

When a sale is made the value can be captured

The system can note that a process such as providing a quotation or providing a regulatory statement has been completed

Management Information requirements often change as campaigns progress. Collect more data than you think you need…. But do not make data collection a burden on the agents as this can reduce campaign performance.

Campaign planning It’s very tempting to leap straight to honing your ‘script’ to get the agents off-and-running. That approach almost always leads to heartache later on!



What management information & when? What do agents say and do?

Topic

Spend time to imagine all the routes that a conversation could take and work out what you want your agents to say and do. A useful starting point is to create a flow chart showing all the points where the conversation and activity might take a new direction.

Tip

“CallGuide helps us to refine our offering. We can modify our customer proposition on-the-fly confident that our agents have the right information in a consistent format. Call centre agent training time and costs are significantly reduced.” Insurance Dialogue Limited

What do agents say and do? Now that you have identified how success is going to be demonstrated and the detail of data to be recorded you have the foundations of the required conversation between your call centre agents and your customers. Designing the ideal conversation is fairly straightforward and can be summarised as follows:

Confirm that you have reached the correct person

Make your proposition

Handle any objections

Ensure that all process requirements are completed

Complete the transaction But in the real world few conversations follow the straight-line-path of the ideal conversation. In addition to preparing your agents for ‘perfect’ conversations you need to be ready for the ‘What if?’ elements of the conversation. Spend time to imagine all the routes that a conversation could take and work out what you want your agents to say and do.

What if you have reached the wrong person? Do you continue? Politely hang up? Try to find out when the correct person is available?

What if the person is too busy to talk? Do you politely hang up or try to arrange a specific time to call again?

When the system presents information about the target customer and the agent confirms that the right person has been reached this fact is recorded

What if the person does not want to talk to you and asks that you do not call again?

What if the conversation takes a different course from that you would normally expect?

…..and so on What else do your agents need? Agents require access to supporting IT systems, such as quotation applications and accounts applications, to complete campaign actions. To optimise campaign performance you need to identify which applications are required and establish the most efficient method for the agents to retrieve and process information. A tool like rostrvm CallGuide makes your business systems more useful and accessible to your agents.

Campaign planning It’s very tempting to leap straight to honing your ‘script’ to get the agents off-and-running. That approach almost always leads to heartache later on!



Who are we contacting? How are we making contact?

Topic

Provide as much information as possible in your lists to support contact targeting. As your campaign progresses you will learn more about your target audience; information in your list will allow you to focus activity.

Tip

“The structure of our organisation has to be adaptable and it is crucial that the technology infrastructure that we operate reflects the same ability to move quickly to take advantage of any opportunities.” Asia Risk Technologies

Implementing you campaigns When you are implementing the campaign you will need to generate a list of contacts for your agents to call. At the basic level all you need are names, telephone numbers and the reason for the call but to make the best of your campaign, your list(s) should contain additional agent information to support active targeting and fine tuning. Examples of additional information that you should consider are:

Address data

Demographic information such as sex and age

Employment status

Preferred contact time

Alternate contact phone numbers and email addresses and depending on the type of campaign you might consider including business data such as

Date of product/service renewal

Age and value of a debt

Delivery date With additional information you can focus your outbound activity to maximise success. Take every opportunity to capture contact details and gain permission to use these details to make contact. Make sure that all response mechanisms request at least a phone number and ideally request a mobile number and email address. Consider incentives in your inbound call centre to obtain contact details. (Yes, we know this is a repeat of an earlier tip but in our view cannot be repeated often enough… operating an outbound campaign without accurate contact details is like trying to run a marathon with your ankles tied together).

Implementing your campaigns In the implementation phase we look at the processes used to ensure that the volume of contacts – the contact rate – is as effective as possible.




Topic

rostrvm OutBound provides a range of dialling modes including progressive, preview and predictive. The dialling mode is set on a campaign-by-campaign basis, allowing you to use the mode most appropriate for each dialling application.

Tip

“The Rostrvm solution has quickly become a pivotal component in Aviva's General Insurance strategy across multiple brands, products and customer touchpoints.".” Aviva General Insurance

How are we making contact? Automated or predictive diallers are highly recommended if you want to create a really productive outbound campaign. Diallers such as rostrvm Outbound not only increase productivity, they also allow you to create multiple campaigns simultaneously with a rules-based approach so you can focus activity. You will also need to think about the three different options offered by an automated dialler and which one will work best for your campaigns: Preview dialling Once an agent has indicated that they are ready for a call, information about the call is presented to the agent, which is then automatically dialled after a pre-defined period; the agent is given time to preview the customer details before the call is launched. Preview dialling is used most often in campaigns where each customer case is complex – for example collection of late debt where the agent needs to be aware of a complex case history before making the call. Predictive dialling Predictive dialling is the most productive form of dialling automation. A predictive dialler launches calls at a rate so that the system connects to ‘live’ callers as soon as an agent completes the previous transaction. The dialling rate for each campaign is controlled by a campaign-specific pacing algorithm, which automatically monitors activity, and calculates when the next contact(s) should be dialled. The dialling rate is automatically adjusted, to maintain a contact rate that is synchronised with operator availability. Predictive dialling is most effective in campaigns that are fairly straightforward such as commodity product sales. Progressive dialling Progressive dialling offers similar productivity to predictive dialling whilst removing the risk of nuisance calls. Once an agent has indicated that they are ready for a call, information about the call is presented to the agent, which is then dialled immediately. Calls that do not result in ‘ringing’ are automatically and immediately disconnected, whilst ‘no answers’ are disconnected after a predefined number of seconds. Software call control minimises agent involvement in the dialling process and improves call-handling efficiency. Progressive dialling is most often used in campaigns addressed to current customers where the objective is to renew or upsell a product or service.





Topic

Typically half of all attempts to contact consumers on the phone will fail to connect to a live person. Determining the redial rules for your outbound campaign is another area where ‘common sense’ provides a good starting point.

Tip

“rostrvm allows us to offer value-added services by giving us a platform that’s not just about telephone and voice-based facilities. It enables us to develop a new range of multimedia services such as email and other web facilities.” Telefocus

What happens when contact fails? Typically half of all attempts to contact consumers on the phone will fail to connect to a live person – there could be no-one available to answer the call, the number could be busy or you might reach an answer machine. To ensure that you make as many contacts as possible you need to set some rules for what should happen in the case of a non-contact. Where you are using an automated dialler these rules should be programmed into the system. Determining the rules is another area where ‘common sense’ provides a good starting point. No answer If you don’t get an answer there’s no-one free to take your call. The ‘common sense’ thinking in this case is to make the next attempt in a subsequent ‘session’, that is if the first call attempt is made in the morning make the next in the afternoon and so on. Busy Whilst it’s frustrating to get a busy tone it’s actually a reasonably good sign. Someone is there, but they are on the phone. The logic here is to try again fairly quickly, typically within 15 minutes. But if you repeatedly get ‘busy’ then it makes sense to gradually lengthen the time between call attempts. Answer machines You call your customer and reach an answer machine. What does it mean? A few years ago the answer was simple, the customer’s phone has rung and nobody is available to take the call. You should probably wait a while before calling again. But things have changed. With today’s ‘in network’ messaging systems, such as BT 1571, reaching an answer machine can also mean that the customer is available but busy on the phone. You should set your campaign strategies so that the first redial of an answer machine outcome should match your ‘Busy’ strategy and that subsequent redials match the ‘No answer’ strategy. You have tried, tried and tried again… .. so what do you do next? Sometimes you can’t make direct contact with some of your audience in the time available. In today’s multimedia environment other contact methods are available to you. If your data includes mobile phone numbers and email addresses you could use text-based media (SMS and email) to get in touch.




Supporting your agents Making performance visible

Topic

Make a list of all the information that you might need on a call. Work out how this can be made available easily to your agents. Provide effective feedback to your teams, their leaders and managers.

Tip

“The dialler solution ensures productivity and structure for our agents.” TUI

Supporting your agents In recent years outbound campaigns have changed from simple transactions to complex interactions. This means that from the call centre agent’s perspective, the types of call handled are less routine, more challenging and time-consuming. The agents’ skill sets are less about dealing with the mechanics of transactions and much more about maintaining good relationships with customers using all the available information. Managing and applying structure to a seemingly unstructured set of data sources is a major challenge for call centre agents. Make a list of all the information that you might need on a call. Work out how this can be made available easily to your agents. This is where systems such as rostrvm CallGuide comes into play. CallGuide extends from simple call centre scripts to a unified customer interaction without being strait-jacketed by the underlying IT systems. At the same time as presenting context-and-customer-sensitive data from multiple sources, such as your IT systems. CallGuide also supports business processes to ensure the right information is given and received at the right time Making performance visible In the planning phase we identified the Key Performance Indicators for the campaign. Now make sure that performance is visible using Management Information systems to provide effective feedback to your teams, their leaders and managers.

Use personal wallboards to make real-time performance visible to each agent allowing them to compare individual performance against their peers

Make detailed operational information immediately available to team leaders, supervisors and call centre managers

Distribute business outcome data to the wider management and client community

Using technology to optimise performance Outbound campaigns have changed from simple transactions to complex interactions. Applying technology to support your agents and making performance visible helps you to manage your processes.



Ofcom

Telephone Preference Service

The Information Commissioner

Topic

A number of regulatory bodies have set standards and guidelines for operating outbound dialling campaigns. These measures have been put in place to protect consumer interests and, in particular, to prevent outbound call centres becoming an unwanted intrusion.

In summary

Ofcom guidelines Outbound call centre campaigns that use predictive dialling techniques create a risk of generating ‘abandoned’ and ‘silent’ calls – that is, there is a possibility that the dialler system will make a call to a customer but no call centre person is immediately available to talk to the customer. In 2006 Ofcom announced “the implementation of new measures designed to strengthen consumer protection from silent telephone calls”. These guidelines have been updated several times. The full statement of policy is available at the Ofcom web site – click here to access the document – but, in summary, the policy gives the following specific guidance to automated dialler users.

The abandoned call rate shall be no more than three per cent of live calls per campaign (i.e. across call centres) or per call centre (i.e. across campaigns) over a 24 hour period

In the event of an abandoned call (other than an Answer Machine Detect (AMD) false positive), a very brief recorded information message must start playing no later than two seconds after the telephone has been picked up or within two seconds of the call being answered

Calls which are not answered must ring for a minimum of 15 seconds before being terminated

When an abandoned call (other than an AMD false positive), has been made to a particular number, any repeat calls to that number in the following 72 hours may only be made with the guaranteed presence of a live operator

When a call has been identified by AMD equipment as being picked up by an answer machine (including AMD false positives), any repeat calls to that specific number within the same 24 hour period may only be made with the guaranteed presence of a live operator

For each outbound call a Caller Line Identification (CLI) number is presented to which a return call may be made which is either a geographic number or a non-geographic number adopted as a Presentation Number which satisfies the Ofcom Guide to the use of Presentation numbers

Any call made by the called person to the contact number provided shall not be used as an opportunity to market to that person, without the person’s consent

Ofcom expects that records are kept for a minimum of six months that demonstrate compliance with the policy and procedures

Dialler users should clearly understand that their business could be held responsible for their own call centres and any outsourced call centres calling on their behalf irrespective of the call centre location.

Regulatory issues Outbound contact management is possibly the most regulated area of any call centre. We have provided a quick overview of the primary regulators.



http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/consultations/silent-calls/statement/

http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/consultations/silent-calls/statement/

Ofcom



Topic

In our view the revised rules sound the death knell for Answer Machine Detect. Ofcom has not banned the technology but for the vast majority of campaigns continuing to use it would be madness and will reduce overall productivity.

Our opinion

Ofcom and Automated Answer Machine Detect Most automated dialler systems, including rostrvm OutBound, support facilities to automatically detect answer machines. The revised Ofcom guidelines issued in 2008 introduced a requirement to include “a reasoned estimate of Answer Machine Detection (AMD) false positives” when calculating abandoned call rates. In 2010 Ofcom introduced an additional requirement that “When a call has been identified by AMD equipment as being picked up by an answer machine (including AMD false positives), any repeat calls to that specific number within the same 24 hour period may only be made with the guaranteed presence of a live operator.” How does this impact predictive dialling campaigns in practice? To quote Ofcom (2008), no matter which current technology is applied "...Ofcom recognises that at present, and until accuracy rates improve, it will be very difficult to use AMD technology without breaching the three per cent guideline." In our view if you want to be sure that your predictive dialling campaign complies with the Ofcom guidelines then do not use automated Answer Machine Detect. So is Answer Machine Detect banned? No. Ofcom have not banned the use of Answer Machine Detect, but the guidelines are so arcane that continued AMD use requires very significant thought for each call centre and even each campaign within your call centre to understand and mitigate the associated implications and risks. Don’t use Answer Machine Detect OK, Ofcom doesn’t say “turn it off!” but there are sufficient subtexts in the statement to reach this conclusion. The October 2010 statement discourages AMD use by providing specific guidance regarding how often each dialler user should test their AMD technology [every time you add or change a campaign, every time you change your settings]. This could be a sizeable overhead in dynamic contact centres! The statement also encourages turning AMD off by giving positive support to a specific abandoned rate calculation for non-AMD users. The statement doesn’t use these words but the calculation basically supports ‘Turn Answer Machine Detect off and you can be a bit more relaxed on the 3% rule’.




Ofcom



Topic

In almost any real-world

campaign where you want

to make more than one

dial attempt in a day

keeping Answer Machine

Detect turned on will cost

you efficiency.

Our opinion

Is turning off AMD a bad thing? We know that there may be wails of anguish from the call centre agents suddenly having to handle lots of answer machines. But is removing Answer Machine Detect a bad thing from the business process perspective? Let's look at the possible downsides to using AMD (over and above the £2 million risk of breaching the Ofcom guidelines).

AMD is not perfect. There is the distinct possibility that AMD systems can 'decide' that a live answer is an answering machine and disconnect the call; you have not only run the risk of irritating someone you have also missed an opportunity to make a sale or collect a debt. In an environment where any live contact has a high business value then Answer Machine Detect can have negative impact on the business-effectiveness of your campaign.

When a dialler connects the call and AMD is being used there is a short delay between the call being answered and the agent being connected. Whilst the delay is mere milliseconds consumers are very aware of dialler campaigns and there is a growing prevalence of consumers identifying the 'AMD silence' and simply hanging up. Again, in an environment where any live contact has a high business value then you've lost your chance to deliver your message. Answer Machine Detect's short pause may cost you money!

Answer Machine Detect ignores valuable business information. For example, you may be attempting to contact someone on their office number; listening to the answer machine rather than simply dropping it could give you an invitation to call on a mobile number. You can then make an immediate call and make that sale.

If AMD is on and the dialling campaign is not dialling aggressively - for example the number of agents on the campaign is low and the campaign is running at a time with high answer machine contact rates such as during the day- then the agent-waiting-time between calls can increase counterbalancing some of the performance gain. Your agents might perceive that the dialler is running slowly when in fact it is working its socks off dealing with answer machines.

If you are trying to reach someone on a specific day for a specific reason. For example: insurance may be due for renewal, you have a special offer, you are about to make a delivery, a prospect has just visited your web site, the customer owes you money….. then automated Answer Machine Detect reduces productivity.

Keeping Answer Machine Detect (AMD) on will cost around 20 seconds per connected call when compared with turning it off. If you would like to understand our reasoning, give us a call or conact us via our web site (www.rostrvm.com) and we’ll take you through the statistics in grizzly detail. We’ll even help you to work out the specific implications in your campaign.




http://www.rostrvm.com/

Ofcom



Topic

Create a list of ‘tame’ telephone numbers such as your office and your mobile. Before setting a new campaign live run the campaign against the tame numbers and check that your campaign complies with regulations. Dial the return call number(s) and make sure that they work.

Tip

Telephone Preference Service (TPS) When calling consumers, you must check that the telephones you are planning to call are not excluded via the Telephone Preference Service (www.tpsonline.org.uk/tps/). The Telephone Preference Service (TPS) is the central opt out register on which consumers can record a preference not to receive unsolicited sales and marketing telephone calls on home or mobile telephone numbers. It is a legal requirement that all organisations (including charities, voluntary organisations and political parties) do not make calls to numbers registered on the TPS unless they have the consumer’s consent to do so. For business-to-business campaigns telephone numbers need to be checked against the Corporate Telephone Preference Service (www.tpsonline.org.uk/ctps/what/). Automated diallers, such as rostrvm OutBound provide facilities to dynamically cross check your data with Telephone Preference Service information. The Information Commissioner’s Office The Information Commissioner’s Office has a range of responsibilities including protection of personal information. This area encompasses the obligations of the data protection act and, in the specific context of outbound call centre campaigns, provides guidance on opt-in opt-out procedures for consumers. In 2006 the Information Commissioner issued “updated guidance on the sending of direct marketing messages by electronic means.” The guidelines cover telephone calls as well as faxes, emails and text messages. The guidelines can be accessed here. The Information Commissioner’s guidelines are wide ranging but from a call centre perspective cover the opt-in and opt-out procedures you need to consider in all areas of customer contact such as maintenance of Do-Not-Call lists – not to be confused with Telephone Preference Service (TPS). The rostrvm dialler has extended Do-Not-Call functionality to support automated enterprise-wide Do-Not-Call number suppression. Other regulations and guidelines Specific industries and outbound campaign types are further regulated by industry bodies and general consumer protection laws. For example Financial Service Authority (FSA) guidelines and the related Acts are likely to apply to a campaign marketing financial products; debt collection campaigns are subject to Office of Fair Trading (OFT) guidelines as well as a number of Acts protecting consumers from harassment.




http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/tps/

http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/ctps/what/

http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/library/privacy_and_electronic/detailed_specialist_guides/pecr_guidance_for_marketers_dec06.pdf

Flexible commercials Truly integrated functionality Future-proof and cost effective

Topic

Our applications allow our

customers to work profitably,

productively, efficiently and

with accountability. Start from

scratch or use rostrvm to work

in harmony with your existing

technology and add new

features and functions at a

fraction of the cost of other

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Just add rostrvm rostrvm simplifies your existing call centre and back office technology and processes so that they play well together. We do this with innovation and flexibility; qualities that are all too rare in a market that is largely served by traditional offerings from the traditional vendors with the traditional limitations.

We deliver tailored solutions and a unique combination of benefits that leave our competition standing:

Commercial frameworks that really benefit your business. rostrvm works on site or hosted in the cloud and can be acquired on a capex, opex, subscription or pay-per-use basis.

Support and improve any telephone system and IT environment. Why throw away your existing investment when you can enhance it cost effectively and with minimal risk.

A truly integrated platform that supports truly integrated functionality. One administration, configuration and information environment for total control of inbound, outbound and back office contact and processes.

Our company We’re a British software company. We design, develop and support the rostrvm suite of applications with a dedicated team of experts all based in Woking, Surrey UK. We have a very demanding and loyal customer base who rely on us for the provision and support of their core call handling and process management functions. They include Aviva, Cable & Wireless, EDF Energy, London Borough of Wandsworth, Next Directory, Nottinghamshire County Council, RAC, Telefocus and West Bromwich Building Society to name a few. As a privately held company we maintain a strong culture of independence which is increasingly rare in our market sector. We see our independence as a major benefit to our customers and partners - it guarantees the openness of our technology and the objectiveness of our approach and advice. What now? You can find out more about our stuff and what we do with it on our web site. If you like what you see why don’t you drop us a line or give us a call to arrange a meeting? – we’ll make it worth your while. All of our people are call centre and process management experts with years of experience. We’re used to dealing with all sorts of people, from those who know exactly what they want to those who haven’t got a clue! You can be sure of the knowledgeable approach and the can do attitude that consistently meets and exceeds the expectations of our customers so they can do the same for theirs. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Rostrvm Solutions Limited is ISO 9001:2008 accredited for all

business processes and procedures.

About Rostrvm Solutions:


rostrvm®, CLIPboard®, Invex®, Switchless®, CallManager®, AdVisor®, rostrvm CallGuide®, ScreenPhone®, OutBound®, CallDirector®, rostrvm CallBroker®, ControlCentre®, InterAct®, AutoAgent®, ToneType®, rostrvm AuditLog®, ReportWriter®, SuperVisor® and rostrvm InterFace® are all registered trade marks of Rostrvm Solutions Limited.


Inbound, Outbound, Blended, Contact Centre Software - Building … · 2013-01-08 · with all of your customers - including visitors to your web site. Online conversion rates can

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