Automation of Customer Contacts Gains Importance with EasyCall’s Automation Platform
The customer contact automation platform can handle complex service processes without the involvement of a call/contact center consultant. Automated processes can be multi-step and require data collection and integration from multiple sources. We successfully implement debt collection, sales processes, and typical service (informational) tasks, as well as marketing or promotional actions.
Our experience shows that automation positively affects the efficiency of customer contacts, mainly by speeding up service, reducing costs, and significantly accelerating the completion of tasks previously handled mainly by phone consultants in call and contact centers.
Customer Contact Automation Platform
This tool is configurable via a graphical interface using the drag-and-drop method. Selected elements (e.g., voice announcement, voicemail detection, call forwarding, data retrieval, send SMS, email) are dragged onto the web platform’s desktop to create a process scheme that will be executed automatically. The text of the announcements is prepared on-the-fly using speech synthesis, and professional voice recordings can also be used. Tasks previously handled by call center consultants, such as sending SMS or mail, are successfully performed by the automatic process using VMS (Voice Message Service) and SMS.
Fig. 1 Management Panel of the Contact Automation Platform (web drag-and-drop interface).
The automation platform created by EasyCall can be used in various ways in contact scenarios:
a) Incoming (IVR inbound) – handling automatic customer service for incoming calls to the contact center.
b) Outgoing in mass campaigns using voice messages – VMS (IVR outbound) and SMS, email.
c) Mass combined campaigns VMS with another medium like SMS as a call-to-action tool (in combined campaigns, the next campaign element execution is tied to the status of the previous one, g., SMS is sent only if the VMS is not answered or voicemail is detected).
Advanced IVR in Incoming Contact Center Communications
Incoming calls to the call center can be intelligently directed to automatic service, where part of the customers will receive automated information about the offer, loan amount, repayment date, thus relieving consultants. Call routing can depend on the number the customer is calling from, the unavailability of consultants, or an outage. The caller can automatically go through a predefined process, such as declaring debt repayment, checking balance, or the status of a request.
Automation of Outgoing Contacts in Mass Campaigns
The primary use of the platform remains executing outgoing mass campaigns to the customer. Basic use cases include mass debt collection, customer satisfaction and preference surveys, and validation of internet leads. It is possible to automate any process that can be described by an algorithm, additionally pulling external data in real-time from other systems (e.g., debt amount, repayment date, status of implementation, account balance to inform the customer, and other data to verify the customer). The main advantage of using contact automation is handling thousands of contacts daily, where the scale of operations is incomparable to what even a large call center can achieve and will be significantly cheaper.
Clear online statistics provided by our platform show the most popular interaction schemes during customer interactions with the defined IVR (or virtual agent), e.g., how many people declared repayment, how many decided to contact a consultant, and at which stage identity verification failed, providing decision-makers with valuable insights to direct the process for maximum campaign effectiveness.
Application of the Platform in the Debt Collection Process
Below is an example of using our platform for automatic debt collection for one of the leaders in the loan industry:
- The client provides us with debtor data (name, phone number, debt amount), and the voice announcement text is pre-agreed but can be edited online and read by speech synthesis.
- The platform attempts several calls during the day to a maximum of three phone numbers of debtors.
- Voicemail detection plays a pre-defined message about the debt collection attempt.
- If a live person answers the voice message, they undergo identity verification (DTMF) using their name, surname, and date of birth.
- After identity verification, the customer receives information – via speech synthesis – about the debt amount.
- Automatic debt repayment declaration is possible from the IVR or transfer to a call center consultant.
- At any moment, it is possible to transfer to a consultant by pressing any key.
- Campaign realization data is sent to the client also on SFTP.
- Statistics show the interaction paths of debtors with IVR (arranged by popularity).
Fig. 2 Management Panel – automatic debt collection scheme (fragment).
It is worth noting that the above example of automatic debt collection only showcases the tool’s possibilities; we are not limited by the length of the scheme, data collected, or information provided to the customer. Voice announcements can be provided as professional recordings or prepared using speech synthesis.
Fig. 3 Statistics show the popularity of paths followed by customers (individual elements of the scheme can be colored, e.g., acceptance of repayment declaration or positive date of birth verification).
Sales Applications – Lead Verification
Another use of our IVR platform is to verify leads collected from the Internet or obtained from an external database. For example, after a customer leaves contact information in a website form, we send an introductory SMS thanking them and requesting they listen to a voice message containing a short survey within 15 minutes. The survey, embedded in the VMS, asks what offer the customer wants to receive, when to contact them, and if the data is correct. Survey summary data is available online. VMS can be retried until successful or a maximum number of times per day.
Customer Service Applications
The platform can automatically collect data related to investment profiles, e.g., MiFID, conduct opinion surveys, or perform satisfaction surveys using speech recognition, as shown below.
Fig. 4 Management Panel – IVR survey.
Multi-channel automatic campaigns using SMS and VMS with IVR (voice mailing with embedded interaction) are used in payment monitoring, pre-collection, and soft collection. EasyCall offers payment monitoring services in simple pricing packages; more information is available on the website.
For more information on debt collection automation, please refer to our case study and e-book describing the applications of multi-channel mass communication https://easycall.pl/automatyzacja-kontaktow-z-klientem-e-book/