The challenge

TTEC partnered with a major airline to support its customer loyalty scheme. As we managed the program, we noticed high call volumes related to difficulties experienced by frequent flyers who had issues with their account PINs during login. When the system rejected their PIN, they were led on a long and complicated journey involving many security questions and delays as the systems refreshed their details. The issue led many to call the support team and even then, nearly half of the calls were not resolved satisfactorily due to technical issues.

Voice-of-the-customer feedback detailed frustrated and sometimes angry customers saying, “PIN reset was more difficult than changing my bank password.” The situation also affected the morale of the associates who found it difficult to resolve customers’ issues. These calls accounted for about 15% of the call volumes to the TTEC team. It was an area of opportunity if the issue could be fixed.

Our solution

As part of TTEC’s continuous analysis process, this problem was highlighted in the first quarterly business review as the No. 1 issue with the lowest customer satisfaction. Instead of just alerting the client to the issue, we recommended a solution.

We proposed introducing a one-time authentication code to the members' mobile phones, enabling them to reset their own PIN. This would remove the need for multiple security questions, forms, and delays to the resolution of a forgotten PIN scenario. This approach was recommended to our client following our own research into sample accounts and processes from banks and telco organizations.

Owing to the quality of the analysis and the quantified benefits of the proposal, the solution was quickly accepted by the client, and within two months the new process and systems were implemented.

The results

The results were immediate and dramatic. In the first two months following implementation, the volume of calls relating to PIN reset decreased by 33%, first call resolution (FCR) jumped by 26%, and customer feedback and satisfaction was transformed. And the company expects to save at least $80,000 because of the change.

The client was delighted with the proactive approach from TTEC. The client noted that it had not been offered this type of support during 10 years with a previous vendor. The solution proved so useful it was later extended to allow authentication of members in chat channels via a one-time code.