Revolutionising Customer Experience in Social Housing

In March, before deploying Liberty Converse, South Lakes had a call answer rate of 84.5% with 2,822 calls received. By August, using Converse, the call answer rate had improved to 93%, nearly a 10% improvement.

In the 8 months after deployment, the team took 18,745 calls and handled 96% with a low abandon rate of 4%. They have seen a reduction in wait time dropping from 4 minutes to 1 minute and can see improvements in performance, which they can now drill down to each call handler.

Call volumes had reduced to 2,310, a reduction of 18%. This was due to fewer follow-up calls, reflecting the improvements in first-time resolution. With improved visibility into caller history, customers no longer needed to chase up on unresolved issues.

In the past, advisers had to switch between different platforms to manage customer interactions. This siloed approach was causing inefficiencies and lengthening call times. In Converse, advisors can manage customer queries seamlessly from one dashboard.

Converse’s CRM integration has enabled advisors to access complete customer histories, helping them resolve issues during the first call. The ability to transfer calls between agents smoothly and efficiently, thanks to a seamless integration with MS Teams, has further contributed to higher resolution rates.

“Netcall is so user-friendly! Our team find it much easier to manage the call queue which has led to a reduction in wait times. We also have better visibility of what others in the team are doing which means we can communicate more effectively with each other. We have utilised dashboards so we can make sure we keep on track of our KPIs – something we haven’t been able to do before. We have also added a survey to the end of our calls, meaning we can identify great customer service or put things right instantly.”

Leanne Addison – Customer Hub Team Leader

There are plans to expand the system’s use across all service areas to gain a complete view of customer interactions and performance.

Using Converse’s voice and screen recordings, South Lakes were able to access omnichannel transcripts, showing the context of each interaction, to evaluate interactions. They introduced a system to track and review 10% of calls each week for quality control. They were able to use this to identify areas for improvement and reinforce positive actions, enabling training to continue to drive the team’s performance.

Using Converse’s customer satisfaction surveys at the end of each interaction, South Lakes gathered valuable feedback that helped to refine staff training and service delivery. Their 5-point scale for customer satisfaction ratings increased to 4.3 out of 5 (where 5 is ‘excellent’).

Using Converse, Advisers can see live dashboards showing how their team is performing. This visibility enables them to better support each other during busy periods.

With a unified view of all incoming communications, advisors can prioritise tasks effectively and switch between communication channels based on demand.

Converse allows South Lakes Housing to capture customer feedback at the end of each call, focusing on key indicators like whether the adviser explained next steps or asked the right questions. This ongoing feedback loop has allowed for continuous improvements in service delivery for the social housing provider.

We have been able to implement call quality assurance check based on Let’s Make it Happen framework embedding culture and behaviour principles – using Converse, the team leader can identify where an adviser has delivered this and where there are training needs.

Delivering insights into call volumes, wait times and first-time resolution rates has allowed South Lakes Housing to identify areas for improvement. Gathering more comprehensive data has enabled better tracking against KPIs. Converse has enabled them to share data on call volumes, wait times and customer satisfaction, which has helped to build transparency and drive decision making for further improvements.

A standout benefit for South Lakes Housing was the ability to extract detailed performance metrics which are used to report to the board of management as well as resident forums.