Channel Shift The Poole Experience

1. Channel ShiftThe Poole Experience Public Sector Forums 7th February 2012 Chris Angell Service Improvement Manager

2. 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

3. 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

4. A number of years on… 1998 2005

5. New Website 2010

6. Web Usage 2000 – 58,000 unique hits 2008 – on track for 1,000,000+

7. Web Usage 2008 to 2010 Unique Visitors = approx 1m pa.

8. Web Usage 2008 to 2010 Total Hits - Reducing

9. Role of Our Website FOR 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

10. 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

11. 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’

12. Telephone vs Web TELEPHONE: • 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

13. Top areas are “Report It” and “Pay”

14. Previously these were A-Z Lists – not easy to find More options below

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

16. Yet to be updated Scope for major work

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

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

19. Gradually replacing documents with online e-forms

20. 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)

21. 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

22. Thank you