Customer Experience Strategy and Program Progress Report January to December 2015 (D16/9882)

Transcription

1 INFORMATION REPORT COUNCIL 26 February 2016 Organisational Services & Excellence Customer Experience Strategy and Program Progress Report January to December 2015 (D16/9882) Background In July 2014, Council endorsed a Customer Experience Strategy. This document articulates a long-term vision associated with developing strong, organisation-wide customer focus. It also outlines: A future state for our customers Our commitment to our customers Our values High level research regarding our customers experiences A pathway for the next three years with actions clustered around customers needs, service delivery and relating/connecting to our customers. In essence, the concept of customer experience expands the notion that customer service is linked only to front line service provision and focuses on the overall level of service and the value for money we provide. It takes into consideration end-to-end service delivery, which comprises people, systems, structures and processes. Supporting the implementation of this Strategy is the internally facing Customer Experience Program and Activation Plan. The body of the report outlines the initiatives and projects that have been implemented over the last 12 months. A reporting structure has now been established for the Customer Experience Program and subsequent Information Reports will be provided to Council on a six monthly basis. Programs and initiatives January to December Website redevelopment A key project over the last 12 months has been the implementation of a new mobile friendly website. The website was last upgraded in 2012 and since this time we have seen visitor numbers increase by 160,813 visits over a 3-year period. Information Document 26 February 2016 Page 1 of 6

2 Figure 1 Trends in website visits July 2012 to July On 24 November 2015, the new website was launched to our customers. The benefits of the new website include: Responsive design Structure based on our customer needs (determined by customer analytics) Enhanced search engine optimisation Search based navigation Emphasis on services and call to action, not on our home page Integration of the report it/request it function (seamless customer experience). Feedback from customers has been positive. We will continue to monitor analytics and refine the site based on customer data and feedback. 2. Customer Service Municipal Benchmarking Initiative In February 2015, the City of Tea Tree Gully (CTTG) participated in a Municipal Benchmarking Initiative in the area of customer service. We were benchmarked against the following councils: Alexandrina Adelaide City Adelaide Hills Charles Sturt Marion Playford Port Adelaide Enfield Unley. CSBA were engaged to conduct this benchmarking initiative. This initiative used a Common Measurement Tool (CMT) that has been designed to collect feedback from the community relating to the provision of service they received. In order to undertake this initiative, CSBA have designed a standardised CMT survey to monitor and evaluate the service interactions of council departments. This standardised survey has been used as a benchmark across all councils involved in this initiative. 100 telephone surveys were conducted for each council with the exception of Adelaide Hills, which had a total of 345 surveys. The respondent demographics for the CTTG were relatively similar to the overall demographics for the all councils. The demographic profile of CTTG participants is outlined below. Information Document 26 February 2016 Page 2 of 6

3 Figure 2 Demographics of CTTG participants Source CSBA 2015 Tea Tree Gully Municipal Benchmarking Initiative High level results Figure 3 shows how we were ranked against other participating councils. Only CTTG results are documented below due to a confidentiality agreement established as a part of this initiative. Figure 3 Topline results Tea Tree Gully vs other councils Source CSBA 2015 Tea Tree Gully Municipal Benchmarking Initiative Information Document 26 February 2016 Page 3 of 6

4 Our results were positive with overall satisfaction with the entire experience for customers being 78 percent, the second highest of all councils. We ranked third in the area of First Contact Resolution with 63 percent, which shows room for improvement in the area of resolving queries during initial contact. The Net Easy Score is based on the metrics applied to the questions pertaining to how easy was it for you to get your query resolved?. Our score +64 placed us in top spot. It also demonstrates the effectiveness of our Customer Experience Strategy with an increase of +8 on the 2014 results of +52. Figure 4 outlines the satisfaction levels of customers as they move from interacting with the Call Centre to interacting with internal departments. Figure 4 Satisfaction levels of phone based service delivery Source CSBA 2015 Tea Tree Gully Municipal Benchmarking Initiative Information Document 26 February 2016 Page 4 of 6

5 The satisfaction with service delivered by our Call Centre is extremely positive with a rate of 88 percent (compared to all councils 84 percent). We can see as the service moves to a department level there is a drop of 12 percent. It is important to note that this was a common trend across the all councils result, as calls transferred to departments tend to be more complex and involved. Figure 4 demonstrates our customers experience as they move through the organisation and key actions from the Customer Experience Strategy will assist in addressing the drop in customer satisfaction between the Call Centre and internal department. Overall, the results were positive, but there is always room for improvement. Analysis of this data has allowed us to further refine our Customer Experience Program and ensure that resulting actions are delivered in line with our customers needs, perceptions and expectations. 3. Interactive Voice Response (IVR) In March 2015, we implemented an IVR for waste calls on Council s phone system. In brief, IVR is the recording message and selection menu you hear when you call many businesses. It allows your caller to respond to directives by the recorded voiceover. This could be by selecting numbers on the telephone keypad or using voice prompts. Since its implementation, approximately 27,997 (or 30% of calls) customers have been able to be directly connect to the service provider, which has reduced the double handling of these types of calls and improving customer response times. 4. Social media In 2013, Council endorsed a Social Media Policy and Framework. The strategic focus of social media is to ensure that this channel is used as a customer service and engagement tool. It has also provided the platform for Council to proactively release its own news and information. It has allowed us to release service information that has now moved from a model of one to one to one to many. A best practice approach has been applied to the management, moderation and monitoring of social media. At this point, we are the only council in South Australia that has our social media accounts monitored by a team of social media administrators made up of Communication and Customer Relations staff (with the exception of the Library s Facebook account). This approach will allow us to manage the growth of social media channels within existing resources and respond to customer trends and needs in this channel. Social media statistics are reported through our monthly Media Summary. 5. Proactive Communications Framework In mid-2014, the Proactive Communications Framework was developed and implemented. This framework is designed to provide a consistent and customer centric approach to the application of information provision and the marketing of services and initiatives within CTTG. Benefits of the framework include: Consistent messaging across all Council s communication channels Content driven by the customers needs, not internal constraints Centrally coordinated communication that has allowed us to improve efficiencies, streamline processes and control costs Activities and performance benchmarked against business objectives Focus on integrating customer and staff feedback into continuous improvement processes Council has become the creator and distributor of its own news and information. Information Document 26 February 2016 Page 5 of 6

6 In addition, communication based resources have been aligned to Council s spend. This has allowed a greater focus on communication regarding key Council services, initiatives and capital work projects. Implementation of proactive framework has resulted in an increase in the satisfaction with information provision from 62% in 2014 to 69% in 2015 (data taken from our Annual Community Survey). It has also contributed to the improvement for value for money in return for rates, which has increased by 10% from 37% in 2014 to 47% in Customer Experience Program next 6 months The focus for the next 6 months (January to July) for the Customer Experience Program is build our capacity to deliver 24/7 service. Key projects and initiatives to underpin this approach include: Digital roadmap, which will include increasing the services available from our Report It application on the website Further development of a knowledge base that will increase staff s capacity to answer our customers enquiries at the first point of call Streamlining communications to ensure all enquiries are responded to within 24 hours Multi-customer payments expansion of offering Process improvements in regard to our Customer Request Management System. Attachments N/A Report Authorisers Elissa Graves Manager Customer and Communications Ryan McMahon Director Organisational Services & Excellence Information Document 26 February 2016 Page 6 of 6