British Council Customer Care 2008 – BCIC

1. British Council Customer Care 2008 – BCIC

2. Methodology • Overall 100 telephone mystery shopping calls were made to BCIC • Overall 100 email mystery shopping mailings were sent to BCIC • Calls and emails were made between January and February 2008 (Global project) • Office details including access details and opening hours were confirmed with the office prior to the project start • Questions were designed by the relevant sectors of the British Council • A set of ‘control’ questions were used across all offices to provide reliable comparisons. For these, model answers were also provided Intersperience Research Ltd.

3. Methodology • All calls and emails were analysed using a specialised benchmarking tool, Soft Skills Benchmarking (SSB) • SSB is based on consumer expectations of customer service levels, reflecting the customer experience, expectations and relative importance of aspects of the call/email • Based on latest consumer research into caller expectations • SSB allows consistent comparisons between offices, countries and regions to provide reliable and objective benchmarking comparisons • SSB also allows deconstruction of the call experience to provide analytical detail on relative strengths and weaknesses Intersperience Research Ltd.

4. Channel substitution doesn’t exist Access Support • Driven by expectations of; • - convenience • - control • - ’24/7’ culture • - ‘DIY’ culture Dependent Interactions Autonomous Interactions Customer Service • Driven by expectations of; • - ‘being there when needed’ • - guidance, direction, advice • - support, help, knowledge • - resolution and promise • ‘Customer service’ is a global concept – covers all aspects of the customers encounters with a company • Underpinned by two pillars – access and support Intersperience Research Ltd. - April 2008

5. Summary of Performance • The BCIC was the top British Council performer in 2008. It had a good but somewhat mixed performance for phone calls and emails • 17% of calls reached a human within 45 seconds, compared to 56% for the British Council as a whole. A further 62% reached a human within 2 minutes after waiting in a machine. • 94% of emails received a reply within 7 days (35% within 24 hours) comparedwith an average of 76% of emails for the British Council as a whole • The customer support and handling has exceeded the British Council benchmarkand more enquiries are being resolved positively • There is some inconsistency in the level of knowledge across the areas of expertise, but overall, 86% of customers who spoke to someone gained appropriate answers to their query, 38% of which received extra customer care Intersperience Research Ltd.

6. Global Benchmark Comparisons

7. Summary of Global Performance The British Council overall had a mixed performance 56% of calls were answered within the 45 second access standard (61% in 2006). Roughly 33% were answered by a machine and then abandoned, whilst a further 11% were abandoned without any response Furthermore, 74% of emails received a reply within 7 days compared to 59% in 2006 Customer support, better handling and improved knowledge shows considerably greater customer focus A shift towards machine elements demonstrates a desire to improve customer service but actually gives another barrier and hurdle for the customer to negotiate Intersperience Research Ltd. - April 2008

8. Global Benchmark Comparisons • BCIC has out-performed the British Council benchmark for 2008 by far • The British Council performance has risen since 2006 as a result of better customer support Overall Experience Score Intersperience Research Ltd.

9. Consistency of Call Experience 5.00 4.00 3.00 2.00 Var. British Council 2006 = 4.9 Var. British Council 2008 = 5.5 Inconsistency for the British Council as a whole has increased since 2004 1.00 Call Experience Score 0.00 -1.00 -2.00 -3.00 -4.00 British Council 2004 British Council 2006 British Council 2008 Intersperience Research Ltd. - April 2008

10. Consistency of Call Experience 5.00 Variance British Council 2008 = 5.5 Variance BCIC 2008 = 3.8 BCIC is a lot more consistent than the British Council as a whole and has less negative experiences 4.00 3.00 2.00 1.00 Call Experience Score 0.00 -1.00 -2.00 -3.00 -4.00 British Council 2008 BCIC 2008 Intersperience Research Ltd.

11. Global Benchmark Comparisons • BCIC has a higher overall score than the British Council as a whole and exceeds the British Council benchmark for all aspects of the call Intersperience Research Ltd.

12. Global Benchmark Comparisons • BCIC is the best performing region within the British Council • It is the best for all aspects apart from call greeting Intersperience Research Ltd. - April 2008

13. Analysis of Customer Care

14. Summary of Customer Care • BCIC provides good standards of customer care and support, and achieves excellent levels of response • A consistent level of resolution is shown to customers’ enquiries • BCIC exceeds the British Council as a whole benchmark for all the areas investigated, and it is the best performer among the regions involved in the research Intersperience Research Ltd.

15. Summary of Access 17% of calls reached a human within 45 seconds A further 62% waited in a call queue for up to 2 minutes then reached a human 18% of calls were answered by a machine but did not reach a human so they did not receive any resolution to their enquiry A very small percentage (3%) of calls were not answered at all within 45 seconds Intersperience Research Ltd. - April 2008

16. Summary of Telephone Access • For analysis of customer experience, all calls that wait for 2 minutes in a call queue are treated as abandoned, i.e. caller hangs up. In these cases, resolution is marked as -5. Intersperience Research Ltd. - April 2008

17. Analysis of Resolution The standard of resolution effectiveness on answered calls was good Intersperience Research Ltd. - April 2008

18. Analysis of Resolution • The table shows some inconsistency in the level of knowledge across the areas of expertise • Overall, 96% of calls were provided with correct answers (38% received also further customer care) • Only 4% were offered no answer or were given an incorrect one • Excellent customer care was given for Teaching related issues Intersperience Research Ltd. Base: All calls that were answered

19. Analysis of Call Handling

20. Overall Greeting • Call greeting is an effective part of BCIC’s performance and the scores lie greatly above the average for the British Council as a whole • The strongest feature is Greeting style, as a full adjustment time greeting followed by a complete set of identity information were provided by agents in welcoming the caller Intersperience Research Ltd. Base: All calls that were answered

21. Overall Call Handling • The call handling has exceeded the overall British Council results • BCIC demonstrates high-quality ability in handling calls, showing good leadership skills, important grade of knowledge, and it makes efforts to be clearly understandable to the caller, to which individualised support is offered Intersperience Research Ltd. Base: All calls that were answered

22. Call Handling – Information & Knowledge • BCIC provides good quality of information and knowledge, and the performance is superior to the British Council as a whole • At present 96% of enquiries receive correct answers, 38% with excellent customer care • Handlers are able to fully and clearly explain the information to the caller, providing appropriate information in an easy to use way Intersperience Research Ltd. Base: All calls that were answered

23. Overall Call Close • Although lying above the scores of British Council as a whole, BCIC needs to improve in providing the enquirer with a brief resume of the points discussed during the call • BCIC applies excellent closing manners Intersperience Research Ltd. Base: All calls that were answered

24. Example Calls • good : “The call was answered after a few seconds by AFS, but shortly after transferred to a human. Full adjustment time greeting, ID information including handler's name. No holds, no transfers, excellent call handling. Friendly, polite and yet professional. Had all the information I required, presented in an easy to understand way. The agent gave me a telephone number of a test center, a website, and took my contact e-mail and number, but also arranged an appointment with a test center. Checked that I was satisfied, I thanked him he said "you are welcome, bye“. Great call from start to end. Good leadership and tailoring, plenty of information presented in a succinct way.” • average: “ The agent did not show much enthusiasm answering the call. When question was asked, there were a few silent moments and showed less knowledge on the query. Very fast and no confirmation of customer satisfaction. He did not know much about the query thus rushed and did not fully answer the questions with confidence.” • poor: “Agent did not really have an answer, after a few seconds of searching he said ‘I'm not so sure..’ and suggested to look at the British Council website. No helpfulness and leadership, he failed to thank and summarize, said just okay and bye. Did not really have an answer, demonstrating poor knowledge.” Intersperience Research Ltd. - April 2008

25. Analysis of Emails

26. Summary of Emails • Overall, BCIC replied to 94% of emails and its performance is much higher than the British Council as a whole, where 76% of emails received a reply • The majority of the emails (35%) were to replied within 24 hours, but the answers were fairly distributed across the 7 days • The quality of response was very good Intersperience Research Ltd.

27. Percentage of Emails Answered • BCIC answered a very high percentage of emails Intersperience Research Ltd. Base: All Emails

28. Email Reply – Time Breakdown • The email performance for BCIC is very good, 94% of emails were answered within 7 days compared to 76% for the British Council as a whole • However, BCIC replied to 35% of emails within 24 hours compared to 46% for the British Council as a whole so the replies are generally rather slower than the benchmark Intersperience Research Ltd. Base: All Emails

29. Overall Email Mystery Shopping Scores • The overall standard of email answers is good and shows high quality responses Intersperience Research Ltd. Base: All Emails

30. Email Handling • For the replies received, there was a very good standard of answer, across all the levels of email handling • BCIC showed high resolution rates to customer enquiries, use of excellent and precise language, along with attractive font and style • Although issues were fully resolved, the region could improve even more and reach excellent levels of content, trying besides to provide answers more individualised to the customers’ needs Intersperience Research Ltd. Base: Emails that received a reply

31. Analysis of Resolution • There is some inconsistency in the resolution of emails • 50% of those emails receiving a reply got a correct response with extra customer care • Still, 10% were offered no answer or an incorrect response to their enquiry Intersperience Research Ltd. - April 2008 Base: All emails that were answered

32. Example Emails • Good email:The reply was very fast (within 1 hour). Perfect grammar, contained polite, complete, clear and specific information. Answer was individualized and specific for my query, gave extra information and a website address to compliment it. • Average email:The email took two days to be replied to. Not very individualized, although deals with the issue directly. Perhaps could have worked on the construction of key points more, interpreted the questions better and given more examples to illustrate key points. Full contact details were provided and it is a well presented response.Answer does direct customer to more information via link however, and not all questions are answered on website. • Poor email:Reply was received within one day. Reply was very informal and contained some grammar mistakes. Agent referred to sending query onto someone else and so immediate resolution was not possible - promised further contact did not happen. Intersperience Research Ltd. - April 2008

33. Conclusions and Recommendations

34. Conclusions • Customer access is good: 79% of calls reach a human respondent within 2 minutes and 94% of emails are replied to within 7 days • The region shows great levels of customer care and knowledge across different areas of expertise: 50% of emails and 38% of calls received excellent and complete responses • This region is achieving a high standard of customer handling, it provides appropriate information and in a straightforward manner and at the same time meeting individual customers’ needs Intersperience Research Ltd.

35. Recommendations • BCIC is a good example for the other regions as it sets high standards for performance, being in fact the best British Council performer in 2008 • The region should keep performing to the present level of knowledge, but could also work towards an improvement of some lower scores such as a final summary of information provided in order reach levels of excellence overall and continue development • The region should also try to be more consistent in the level of resolution across all the areas of expertise Intersperience Research Ltd.

36. British Council Customer Care 2008 – BCIC