switching volume from one channel to another in call centers

Pam,
Can you clarify what you mean by moving? Are you talking about starting on chat and converting to phone call or simply having someone call instead of chat?

I’m not sure if the volume difference is the big factor in determining if the comparison is logical. Using the appropriate statistical test should account for the differing sample size. I would be more concerned with the stability of the volumes in recent history (i.e.has one or both been increasing/decreasing recently). If both populations were stable and met the other assumptions of the statistical test then I would think you could test volume before vs. after for a statistically significant difference which would indicate the effectiveness of your solution.

I’m have no experience with call centers so I hope that the more experienced people out there will keep me honest and let me know if I am steering you wrong. On a side note, I am curious why you would want to shift volume from chat to phone call as it seems live chat might be a more efficient, though sometimes more impersonal, way to handle support requests.

Nick

I see. I think it might be difficult, but not impossible, to compare the metrics one for one between the two. You would have to take a careful look at each metric before making the statement that one performs better than the other. If you are comparing a metric such as the number of issues resolved then you must normalize according to volume so it is a fair comparison due to the drastically different volumes.

There may be other reasons other than volume why a direct apple to apple comparison doesn’t work. For example, it might take two minutes to resolve a certain type of issue on the phone but to resolve that same thing via chat it might take four minutes. No difference in the level of service (or satisifaction) but it just takes longer to type instructions than it does to speak them…

Another thing to consider might be the cost per incident.

I would also take a hard look at the metrics and make sure that they are customer focused. I am making no judgements about the relevancy of the metrics you are using but many times organizations get caught up in meeting/exceeding metrics that mean very little to their customers.

Good luck!

Pam:

I’m a tad confused. You declare that you are making the switch based on “better phone metrics”, but then say that statistical tests on the metrics considered relevant are inconclusive. What then does “better” mean? What evidence is there and how is it evaluated?

I do believe it is valuable to consider volume (amongst satisfaction, TAT, accuracy, close rate, and any other relevant variables). It is hard to say without data how valuable it is in making this decision, but I fear ignoring it would be an error.

You state that there exists a vast discrepancy between the chat volume and phone volume, but have you investigated WHY the phone volume is 100k and the chat volume is 500k? For example, does the discrepancy exist because chat is actually preferred by those using it (good) or because you were unable to handle the call volume and customers received faster service using chat (bad)?

Are there other metrics that, upon analysis, indicate that moving all volume to voice lines is a “good decision”?

BBinNC raises a valid point. You may want to dig deeper into the “why” to determine the root cause for the numbers between call and chat.

Our company has several call centers, all handling calls from the same 800 number. We added a chat feature on our website, but found that customers prefer the call option as the subject matter requires an extensive dialog that can take longer through chat. We now know that in order to decrease calls (costly) and increase chat (cheaper) we need to adjust our business model of how we deliver information to the customer in order to make it possible for chat to be simple.