What song was playing during the Rolkrant? Can we get permission to broadcast World Cup matches? How can I sign up for the new ‘Homo Universalis’ on the website?
These are only a few example questions which are handled daily by VRT's customer service. A relevant and professional answer is always provided, yet the number of interactions is increasing every year. To alleviate some of the workload, VRT sought out ways to further optimize its customer service without compromising on its high quality standards. Who better to help them than our Möbius experts?
Our work could only begin after conducting a thorough analysis of the service itself. At the start of the project, the employees had already identified a number of thorny issues. Naturally, these were included in our analysis.
Analysis and survey
We began by exploring the current allocation of tasks within the team. We analysed the questions and complaints, the answers, as well as the available tools and channels. We examined all interactions in order to prepare a quantitative analysis. We gained insights in which programs and networks were the subject of most questions.
To better understand internal collaboration, we also talked to the departments that work closely with customer service. Other departments were sent an online questionnaire. The questionnaire and interviews confirmed a number of pain points and gave us a good idea about internal expectations.
Season 2 of customer service
The first part of the project provided our experts with enough information to identify concrete improvements, all of which pertained to the internal functioning of VRT's customer service: their collaboration with other departments, positioning and accessibility towards customers. A few examples of identified improvements are:
- Update of existing templates, FAQs and internal guidelines for optimizing the processing of interactions.
- Customer service needs to reposition and optimize various contact opportunities for customers on the VRT websites.
- Periodic meetings with other internal departments are needed to discuss the results and improvement opportunities.
- A chatbot can support the staff. Chatbots optimize much of the workload by quickly and accurately answering customer questions via automated response templates.
And... action!
We fully realize that the proposed improvement actions could never be carried out without the support of the customer service staff. The results were therefore discussed and cross-checked with the employees involved. A number of concrete decisions were made for the future functioning of VRT's customer service.
To determine which actions to take, Möbius developed a hands-on implementation plan. For a number of improvements, the concrete impact on functioning and customer satisfaction was estimated, together with a potential decrease in workload.
All recommendations and proposed actions were supported by the staff. VRT's customer service can now start its transition independently and successfully.
