How To Use A Phone Survey

Transcription

1 Phone Survey Operations Best Practices White Paper SER VICE S Accelerate Quota Completes and Improve Productivity with Call Blending and IVR Phone Survey Innovations Achieve dynamic enabling of phone, IVR, mobile and web surveys Reduce the need to Weight or Wait by managing callbacks from cell phones more efficiently LEARN MORE [Type here] m

2 Business Challenge Market research and opinion polling telephone survey operations must get enough survey completes in a limited period of time to meet their study requirements. Even within these time constraints, researchers are asked to satisfy rigid and complex sample stratification requirements. To meet these goals, researchers are increasingly turning to multiple-mode survey methodologies, utilizing online, on-device, and on-phone modes in their study design. By leveraging phone survey innovations, researchers can improve interviewer productivity, get quota completes faster, increase caller retention, and reduce the need to buy more sample as data collection deadlines for studies draw near. They can also provide more accurate results by reducing the need to weight responses the more responses you receive, the less need there is to weight the data. GOAL: Accelerate Call Back Conversion and Quota Completion Returned calls from respondents must be answered immediately and quickly routed to the appropriate interviewer. Delays can cause respondents to abandon calls, which jeopardizes the ability to achieve the desired quota completes in time and can lead to weighting responses or having to purchase more sample. Call center operations succeed by optimizing staff productivity and turnover. Survey design should take the interviewer into account. The longer the call, the more likely it could lead to interviewer fatigue, particularly if the respondent wants to discuss a complaint. The higher the turnover rate, the more costly it is for the phone survey organization to do training and get more interviewers upto-speed factors that can impact productivity. GOAL: Increase Staff Productivity and Control Costs Survey design should consider multiple modes within a single survey to better match data collection technique with question type. An interview can begin with a live interviewer to screen and gain commitment to take the survey, and then switch to IVR or let the screening be done by IVR and then transferred. Researchers can be creative and switch to IVR for privacy reasons or to remove potential interviewer bias in responses about controversial habits, preferences, or activities. The result is the same call center capacity is freed up for more calling. More and more, respondents are receiving survey invitations on their smartphones that enable both online and phone-based data collection. Providing multiple ways to take the survey should increase the likelihood that the invitee will engage. GOAL: Increase Response Rates with Choice of Survey Input Modes Researchers can design surveys that can be taken online or by calling a number that could lead to a live interviewer, an IVR system, or both. The caller may be given a choice or the choice is determined by call center load at the time of the call. 1 CfMC Copyright 2014

3 Callback Handling to Increase Conversion Callbacks from Cell Phones Surge Phone survey operations need to be prepared to deal with the growth in returned calls from cell phone respondents. For example, industry experts report that people contacted on cell phones are more than 10 times more likely to call back than from landlines. 1 Capturing and correctly routing these inbound calls immediately is critical to both the respondent experience and to filling quotas. Our research with CfMC customers indicates that on some studies about 20 percent of calls handled by the call center could come from inbound returned calls. Cell phone use will continue to expand. Almost 90 percent of the US population owns a cell phone. About one in three households do not have a landline phone and rely solely on cell phones. Fewer than 71 percent of people had landline phones in 2011, down from more than 96 percent about 15 years ago. 2 Based on industry experts, those most likely to own a cell phone include younger age groups and some hard-to-reach demographic segments. The key is to look at how many respondent returned calls you may be missing. If your call center is normally able to capture half of those inbound calls because they weren t answered or routed quickly enough, particularly during peak survey times, consider how that could impact your phone survey center costs and productivity. Business Solution Savvy researchers can leverage Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and inbound/outbound call blending to increase interviewer productivity, raise quota complete rates, and improve financial operations. These capabilities are now available with the v8.7.1 release of the Survox Dialer and Survent multi-mode survey management platform from CfMC. This technology includes automated callback answering to quickly identify and seamlessly transfer a caller to the next available appropriate interviewer blending inbound and outbound calls into a single queue. Phone survey operations can also augment phone interviewing by using IVR to screen, schedule, or conduct the interview, which increases call center flexibility and productivity. Next, consider what you d gain by being able to capture all of those inbound calls through call blending augmented by IVR: STUDY- SPECIFIC BENEFITS Purchase less sample to meet your quota. Increase caller retention and conversion to shorten study duration. 1 AAPOR, NORC s study The Cell Effect in Inbound Calling Behavior and Methods for Maximizing Outcomes, About 1 in 3 Households Has No Landline Phone, Wall Street Journal, Jeffrey Sparshott, September 5, CfMC Copyright 2014

4 Improve productivity, which reduces costs per complete and can give your business more pricing flexibility when bidding new jobs. Increase respondent satisfaction and survey participation rates by providing an inbound option and treating those inbound participants very attentively, versus not being able to answer calls or having respondents in long-wait queues. CALL CENTER STAFFING BENEFITS You no longer need to dedicate interviewers for inbound calls existing staff dedicated to outbound calls can be fed inbound calls as the next interviewer becomes available. Raise interviewer productivity and job satisfaction when IVR offloads initial screening and other tasks, focusing interviewers on high-value activity and reducing the overall time spent on each call. Reduce turnover by improving interviewer satisfaction so there is less burden on supervisors and QA staff to hire and train new interviewers. Strengthen your brand. Improving interviewer satisfaction has other benefits interviewers may be more responsive to customers and that helps to enhance your brand. Maximize Caller Conversions and Reach a More Diverse Population Market researchers can handle the growth in inbound calls, particularly those received from cell phone users, by using the blended dialing system available with the CfMC s release of the Survox Dialer and the Survent survey management platform. The Survox Dialer features integrated IVR to enable caller management workflows that can transfer between live and automated interviewing. Figure 1. Phone Respondents Transfer Between Live & Automated Interviewers The powerful combination of the Survox Dialer and Survent platform supports workflow automation for call handling, instant matching and identification of the case from the caller ID, and transfer to a live agent. Meanwhile, outbound dialing and the inbound call is optimally managed to blend into the interviewer queues. 3 CfMC Copyright 2014

5 Figure 2. Integrated IVR Enhances Call Center Operations With workflow automation that blends inbound calls with outbound calls in the interviewer queues, as shown in Figure 3 on the next page, you can eliminate the need for dedicated staff for inbound call fielding, and handling the following activities: Respondent identification Call transfer to the next available appropriate interviewer Wait time management to trigger actions that maximize caller retention In addition, IVR technologies can be used to maximize caller engagement by screening inbound calls, setting a callback time, and conducting an interview. How Call Blending Works In v8.7.1, the Survox Dialer/IVR system can, within the same study, field an inbound call and route it to the next available, appropriate interviewer, based on the interviewer s study assignments or special abilities, including foreign language speakers. Dedicated inbound lines are used to identify the study. The Survox IVR system nurtures the caller until the call can be transferred. Contact records are matched based on caller s phone number, whenever possible, providing the interviewer with the respondent s information when the call is connected. 4 CfMC Copyright 2014

6 The Survox Dialer keeps interviewers productive by placing outbound calls. The inbound call, when transferred, comes to the interviewer like an outbound connection with the contact information populated whenever possible. Interviewers stay productive by continuing to place outbound calls until an inbound call occurs. Figure 3. Workflow Automation Routes Inbound Calls to the Appropriate Study Call Blending and the v8.7.1 Platform Call blending is available with CfMC s release v8.7.1 of the Survox Dialer and Survent survey management platform. This release is offered on a subscription license basis or as a hosted service. The survey management platform supports several other dialers; however, the call blending features are available only with CfMC s v8.7.1 Survox Dialer. The Survox Dialer is managed through an easy-to-use, browser-based control panel to manage survey projects and operations and it is included with Survent for computer-aided telephone integration and web installations. 5 CfMC Copyright 2014

7 The Survox Dialer v provides enhanced operational control over prior releases of the dialer with full console integration. Audio monitoring, the dialer dashboard and other features are fully integrated with the CfMC web interface. Having the workflow streamlined with one interface makes dialer management more convenient. Operational reporting is also part of the v suite. In addition, CfMC webcati, which is included with v8.7.1, is used to centralize interviewing operations, regardless of the interviewer location. This solution provides maximum control throughout research projects from building sample, through fielding, all the way to analysis and reporting. Enhancements in v8.7.1 include dual-track recording, the Survox Dialer that can handle up to 400 concurrent users, and greater flexibility between IVR and outbound calling to mix and match survey modes. Conclusion Phone survey innovations become more critical than ever before as call centers strive to cost effectively provide early insights and meet quota requirements. The ongoing growth of cell phone usage and multi-mode surveys adds both complexity and opportunity in meeting these challenges. By using phone survey innovations such as call blending and IVR from CfMC, research organizations can adapt their operations to better manage cell phone sample, raise quota complete rates, and improve productivity. APPENDIX Some of New IVR Features in v8.7.1 Survox Dialer that Support Inbound and Outbound Blending IVR-based Blended Inbound and Outboard Calling Fields inbound call, matches contact and study, and assigns the call to next available interviewer. Provides the ability to dynamically and flexibly transfer calls between IVR and CATI interviewers. Allows for respondents to call in to a number and be routed to an interviewer. Library of Pre-Recorded IVR Greetings Includes an IVR message library with a few ready-to-use examples of call fielding, screening, and transfer messages, plus general question-type examples and music files that can be loaded to bring up a simple study. Single-Study Examples Provides quick-start documentation and a basic functioning example of how to set up an inbound/outbound call-blended survey. IVR Screener Has an easy-to-use example code for setting up a simple IVR screener. Provides automated inbound respondent call handling. Includes preloaded example code for setting up an inbound call, automating respondent record retrieval based on the respondent s phone number captured from the caller. 6 CfMC Copyright 2014

8 Enhanced Workflow Enablement between Modes RESPONDENT TRANSFER IVR TO PHONE Inbound calls are answered with a pre-recorded response and immediately transferred to the appropriate interviewer. This enables the seamless handling of inbound calls before transferring the caller to an available interviewer. This capability frees up resources that no longer have to be dedicated to answering inbound call and reduces call abandon rates since all calls can be nurtured until an interviewer is available. RESPONDENT TRANSFER TO A THIRD-PARTY A respondent can be transferred to another department/person/organization. With an attended transfer, the sender can introduce the transfer and confirm delivery before disengaging. With an unattended transfer, the sender can initiate the transfer and immediately free up time for another call. Similar to transfers between modes, this feature allows you to transfer respondents to IVR or a supervisor for quality validation. The caller can also be transferred to a support center for further assistance. About CfMC When Quota Matters CfMC provides industrial-strength data collection solutions and services for market research and opinion polling to companies of all sizes, including one-third of the Honomichl Top 25. We focus on organizations that have precise quota requirements, time-sensitive data collection processes, or require complex survey designs. We provide a unified platform for sample management; survey programming and execution; operational reporting; and client data preparation across a mix of data collection modes paper, phone, web, Interactive Voice Response (IVR), mobile and heterogeneous vendor solutions. Our solution (Survent ) provides precise quota and operational control that enables users to optimize their complex or time-sensitive data collection processes in real-time and perform on-thefly changes during a live survey without disrupting operations. The integration of our predictive Survox Dialer with IVR capabilities enables users to build highly flexible operations that cater to respondent preferences for interview modes, while ensuring project completion in the shortest time and at the optimal cost. Our offering is available on a subscription license basis or as a hosted subscription service. More details are available from Contact us online at or us at sales@cfmc.com. Survent and Survox are trademarks of CfMC and webcati is a registered trademark of CfMC CfMC 7 CfMC Copyright 2014