Example of segmenting the customer base

Last Updated : Apr 29, 2013 |

To increase profits, contact centers must balance the services levels and the cost of providing different service levels.

One way to reduce costs, especially when entering new markets, is to segment the customer base without adding skills.

This example describes how the following features meet the needs of contact centers:

  • Dynamic Queue Position (DQP) or Service Objective (SO) by VDN

  • Expert Agent Distribution-Least Occupied Agent (EAD-LOA) as an agent selection method

  • Predicted Wait Time (PWT)

  • Skill Level as a call selection method

Background

A company that sells home security systems is entering a new market. The company must increase sales and also offer superior customer service. Therefore, the Sales skill and the Service skill are equally important to the company.

As all agents can handle calls from the new market, the company decides to segment the customer base as follows.

  • Region 1: New market customers who need high levels of service before they buy security systems from the company.

  • Region 2: Current customers who abandon calls because of the wait time.

  • Region 3: Current customers who tolerate wait time.

Skill assignment

As all agents handle Sales and Service calls, the administrator creates a single skill.

The administrator determines the skill level for each agent based on the proficiency to handle a call type.

Service Objective by VDN

The administrator uses DQP to place calls from multiple VDNs to a single skill queue while maintaining the service levels for the VDN. Communication Manager places calls based on the service objective of the VDN from where the call originates.

Note:

DQP is also known as SO by VDN.

The following table describes how the administrator uses customer segmentation to assign the speed of answer for calls.

VDN

Description

SO in seconds

11

Sales VDN for Region 1

10

12

Sales VDN for Region 2

15

13

Sales VDN for Region 3

20

21

Service VDN for Region 1

10

22

Service VDN for Region 2

15

23

Service VDN for Region 3

20

Agent selection

The administrator uses EAD-LOA as the agent selection method. Communication Manager routes calls to the agent with the highest skill level and the lowest percentage of time on ACD calls since agent login.

The administrator does not select Service Objective at the agent level.

Call selection

As all agents must receive calls from all regions, the administrator:

  • Matches the skill proficiency of each agent to the level of skill required for the Sales skill and the Service skill.

  • Selects skill-level as the call selection method.

  • Uses PWT to determine how long must a call stay in the queue if an available agent does not receive the call.

The levels determine the proficiency for each skill. For example:

  • Level 1 indicates high proficiency.

  • Level 2 indicates average proficiency.

  • Level 3 indicates low proficiency.

Therefore, an available agent with the lowest occupancy and the highest proficiency for the Sales skill receives a call for the Sales skill.

If a least occupied agent with high proficiency for both the skills is available, Communication Manager delivers the call with the highest PWT.

Summary

With the EAD-LOA and skill-level field entries, the company ensures that agents receive calls based on skill proficiency.

With DQP, the company can match Average Speed of Answer (ASA) and the service objectives of the VDN from where the call originates. Therefore, Communication Manager can place a call from a new market customer ahead of most calls in the queue.