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Call Center Optimization:

Explore strategies to increase paperless billing adoption rates through call center optimization. Learn about benefits, market penetration, adoption lag, and successful initiatives to drive customer enrollment. Discover tools like self-service options and online portals to enhance customer experience. Overcome challenges and improve performance metrics by leveraging innovative solutions. Unlock the potential of paperless billing with creative marketing techniques and effective customer engagement approaches.

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Call Center Optimization:

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  1. Call Center Optimization: Increasing Paperless Billing Adoption RatesApril 16, 2013 Peter Hampton

  2. Background KCP&L • 825,000 electric customers • Two operating companies • Legacy KCP&L territory • GMO (former Aquila-Missouri) • Operating two CIS systems • My Account, e-billing & online payment are home-grown

  3. Benefits of Paperless Billing Primary Benefits Issuing traditional paper presentment: 56 cents per bill Decrease manual payment processing Other Benefits Study of AccuData of 2 million Con Edison customers revealed that eBill customers are less likely to contact utility call centers more likely to look for answers online make timely payments Study by ePost and PriceWaterhouse Coopers found Canadian customers participating in ebill remitted payment 1.5 days faster

  4. Paperless Billing - Market Penetration KCPL paperless saturation (28%) is higher than GMO (16%), but continues to increase at a comparable rate

  5. ePayments - Market Penetration On the other hand, GMO is closing the gap in electronic payments. The gap has narrowed from 15% to 7% since 2008

  6. Adoption Lag According to Blueflame Consulting LLC in 2011, utility eBill adoption averages 14% across all customer segments while other industries are significantly higher Wireless service providers (39%) Credit card companies (31.2%) Insurance providers (19.8%) However, we are all restricted by our “non-existent” marketing budgets. So we have to be more creative witha 2013 goal of adding 20,000 accounts (threshold),24,000 (target) and 28,000 (max)

  7. Billing Enrollment Channel Success 2012 Non-Promotional Week (2/27 – 3/4)

  8. Paperless Billing Initiatives OCC The Printed Bill Bill Consolidators Initiatives Increasing the Value of the Online Portal The Call Center

  9. The Printed Bill Back of the # 9 Return Envelope Google Analytics: Unique Pageviews: 174 per month 3.39 minutes on page

  10. The Online Connection Center (OCC) Home grown Rolled out September 2010 Led by user experience design team with cross-functional representation (6 mos.) Outcome: slim product Available from KCP&L home page or AccountLink (My Account) Adopts a conversational, professional tone

  11. How It Works – Personal Information Name, SSN and telephone determine positive identification Email address is required to complete order Defaults to paperless billing

  12. Reaching Customers and Bill Consolidators • Partnered with doxoMay 2010 • A digital file cabinet with documents that can be accessed by computer or iPhone • Bill consolidators utilizing doxo – Cass and NISC 340 133

  13. Adding Value to the Online Portal Benefit for Paperless Customers only Banner promo in AccountLink Email

  14. Fostering the Online Relationship As customers become more accustomed to interacting with their utility, more likely to be open-minded to paperless billing Triggered emails Email reminders out to customers after they fail to access KCP&L’s online portal after signing up for it. If the customer has not logged in within 10 days after receiving the Billing Notification (or when billed), then a triggered email would be sent out. We will monitor any Billing Notifications that bounce back If the customer has NOT logged in within 30 days from the first triggered email then another one would go out. This would actually be 40 days out from the Billing Notification (or when they were billed)

  15. Self-Service Tool – Manage My Bill Web-based dashboard provides “One-Stop Shop” for answers to why a customer’s bill appears to be high Key Benefits: Reduction in calls to Call Center Higher first-call resolution on high bill complaints received Reduction in need for meter re-reads or site visits In terms of internal users, seasonal CSRs are the heaviest users of the tool In terms of external users, customers are hitting the site over 10,000 times a month with 13,000 hits in March.  Last month brought our external hits beyond 100,000!  A great milestone since it went live in August.

  16. Manage My Bill Tool

  17. Changing the Culture – The Call Center Paperless Billing Promotions Hurdle: Union shop with the following restrictions: Not able to recognize individuals for their performance Not able to give monetary rewards including gift cards Solution Create an individual performance reward where the top performers are entered into a drawing  Create a team competition with food reward for each winning team member

  18. General Call Center Metrics 2012 Call Volume Agent Call Volume – 1.8 million calls Metrics: 80% of calls answered in 20 seconds 67% is the minimum mandated by the Kansas Commission No guidelines set by the Missouri Commission Other metrics: Abandoned rate, Blocked call rate, Average Call Time, …

  19. Rep Enrollment Portal Through the eServices Express Enrollment app, the rep can sign the customer up for online access and paperless billing Through rep feedback, thecapability to add up 10 accountson one screen has been added

  20. Measuring Rep Performance Two programs are run each morning: 1:00 AM – a SQL program runs a query and pools the data 1:30 AM – a VBA in Excel picks up the EMPIDand Supervisor tags by day, week and month ACD Call Reports are generated Consequently, the following metrics are available: # of enrollments Conversion rate (# of enrollments/total ACD calls)

  21. Call Center Promotions • Design Variables • Individual vs. team • Performance metrics • Duration of promotion • Type of incentives for reps • Tying the promotion with other efforts

  22. Spring 2012 Promotion -- March Madness Winter blues getting you down?  Counting the days until Spring?Don’t worry, March Madness is just around the corner. What better way to celebrate than with a Paperless Billing Promotion!

  23. Tips from Paperless Billing MVPs How to “improve your game” Set yourself a Paperless Billing goal to meet each day. Just ask…the more customers you ask, the greater the return. Open the call with a genuine offer to help. Be friendly whether the customer is upset or not. Listen for customer cues such as, “I am online paying my bill…” Use the word “statement” rather than “bill”.  Ask, “Would it be easier if we emailed your statements each month?” During verification, ask, “Do you have an email address because we’re asking our customers to try Paperless Billing?” After verification, launch from CIS to see if the customer has an email address registered, if so ask, “Is the email address on record still good?  …We’re asking customers to try Paperless Billing.” During tax season, customers call in to inquire what they paid in 2012, it’s a perfect time to offer to register for online access. Advise them that if they agree to go paperless they get an extra perk which is a link they can click on for a year-end report. It will give them the total amount they paid in and they can also print it off for tax purposes.

  24. “March Madness” Quantitative Results

  25. “March Madness” Qualitative Results Qualitative Created a lot of excitement in the Call Center Most successful teams/members come from a sales background For new Connects, it is required for Call Center reps to offer Paperless Billing

  26. Summer 2012 Promotion – All Star

  27. Fall 2012 Promotion – Fantasy Football • A team competition with a level playing field • Franchise team with 8 – 10 core members of which one was selected to be its Head Coach • Head Coach involved in drafting three free agents • Free Agent Pool were determined from the “March Madness” and the “All Star” promotion • In the first round, the first draft selection was made by the Head Coach of the lowest performing team from the “March Madness” promotion • Information was provided to the Head Coach & the Franchise Owner (supervisor) prior to the draft on the paperless billing conversion rate history and planned scheduled time off • Created two different conferences which had weekly match-ups culminating in a Super Bowl

  28. Charitable Donation • The rep shared with the customer: • $1 donation to Dollar-Aide – KCP&L program that helps thousands of families pay their heating, cooling and water bills during financially pressing times to avoid loss of service

  29. Fall 2012 Fantasy Football Promotion Spin the wheel for “fun” prizes Royalty for a Day Robe/Crown Front door service Waited on by supervisor Complimentary lunch, snacks 30 minutes on the company (lunch) Movie “on the clock” Car washed by supervisor Dress code “Pass” sweats, etc.

  30. Spring 2013 Promotion – The Elite Eight March Madness Elite 8 Paperless Billing Promotion • The promotion will run from March 11th – April 14th. • Weeks 1 & 2 will track individual performance, which in turn determines how your team is seeded in the tournament. • Weeks 3 – 5 will feature seeded team match-ups. • Individual prizes will be awarded weeks 1 – 5. • Individuals must have 10 Paperless enrollments to be eligible for the prize drawing. • Individuals will receive one entry into the prize drawing for the first 10 Paperless enrollments, and an additional entry for each additional five enrollments. • Prizes may include LEGOLand tickets, AMC movie passes, Aquarium tickets, etc. • Team prizes will be awarded weeks 3 – 5. • Prizes will consist of snack items. • The championship team will win a team activity celebration.

  31. Billing Enrollment Channel Success

  32. “Paperless Billing” Measurement Metrics As of 4/1/2011 Paperless Billing offered on all Turn On calls Conducted deliberate quality performance review in a specific area Turn Ons are a specific call type to monitor April, May and December 2012 Attribute measured “Order accuracy and process adherence” (10 pts.) Attribute measured for other calls “Educate customer and answer questions” (7 pts.) Positive trend in offering paperless when appropriate. Occurred “most” of the time Overall monthly QM averages were 95%, 94% and 94% Prior to promotions/education, 403 enrollments per week by reps. Today 790 on average per week!

  33. Facebook Postings

  34. Peter Hampton eServices KCP&L Peter.Hampton@kcpl.com QUESTIONS?

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