The challenge

A major healthcare provider and insurer that offers a wide range of health plans needed to eliminate costly inefficiencies that stemmed from misdirected calls. Roughly 10% to 15% of the call volume that the company's open enrollment sales team received was for non-sales calls. The resulting call transfers created a negative member experience, longer hold times, and increased the cost per sale as licensed sales agents spent time handling misdirected calls. The company needed a fast and effective solution that didn't compromise the member experience or enrollment opportunities.

Our solution

As a trusted partner that has helped the company transform its member experience and improve operational efficiencies to realize significant savings, the company turned to us for help solving this problem.

We proposed updating the client's interactive voice response (IVR) system to screen members on its voice and chat channels. The updated IVR asked callers if they were a member of the health insurance organization. For "yes" responses, the IVR automatically connected the caller with member services. This was a vast improvement since callers no longer waited to speak with a sales agent over the phone or on chat only to learn that they had reached the wrong department. Licensed sales agents were also able to focus on engaging qualified consumers and increasing conversions.

The results

Immediately after deploying the IVR update, non-sales call volume dropped to nearly zero, and the open enrollment sales team was able to complete more enrollment applications. In fact, with 10% less non-sales call volume, the rate at which the sales team completed applications rose nearly 39% year over year.