A major finance company intent on helping consumers achieve financial independence determined its nearshore customer support solution was insufficient. Inbound call volume was rising. Knowledgeable associates who could quickly decipher customers’ needs was essential, as the loan application process could be an arduous exercise, especially for first-time borrowers.

Customers didn’t know which forms to complete under certain circumstances. And if they were interacting with multiple financial institutions, they encountered a wide range of rules, processes, and policies.

The organization was intrigued by the benefits of offshore delivery and partnered with TTEC to bolster the customer experience and improve support for customers during complex interactions.

The challenge

A well-trained workforce, robust knowledgebase, and solid QA protocols form the bedrock of an exceptional customer experience. However, our assessment revealed there were opportunities to improve on all three fronts. Standard operating procedure wasn’t exactly standard as associates invented their own workarounds trying to access the information they needed to assist callers.

Knowledgebase resources were not optimized, due in part to the format of documents stored there, leading to inefficiencies that prolonged call-handling times. Contact center associates were inconsistent in how they handled challenging conversations, such as when a customer’s loan application was declined.

Associates struggled to find needed documents in the knowledgebase. Search delivered sets of links, requiring numerous, time-consuming click-throughs to find the relevant data.

Our solution

We organized and created master documents containing essential information and curated links that served as comprehensive “one stop shops” for certain call types. Requirements outlined in succinct table format, rather than lengthy narrative, provided an easy-to-review checklist. When a loan applicant was missing a particular document, for example, the associate quickly identified which form was needed and sent it directly to the customer to facilitate loan application processing.

By providing talking points for difficult calls, such as notifying customers their application was denied, associates interacted with empathy, respect, and offered useful suggestions about next steps a customer may consider to ensure the call concluded on a positive note.

We partnered with QA and training teams to identify challenges associates encountered, created one-page tip sheets, conducted focus groups to discuss best tactics for resolution, and developed engagement activities to build relationships within the team.

The results

Our associates’ quality scores for student loans exceeded 96% while quality scores for personal loans rose above 95% month after month, well above the client’s goal of 90%. Similarly, compliance for personal loans reached 99% and 98% for student loans.

Knowledgebase optimization, real-time intervention and coaching, and a focus on continuous improvement enabled TTEC associates to perform at the same high level as the client’s own embedded associates who had far longer tenure. High quality and NPS scores were maintained even as we moved our associates to additional lines of business and promoted associates to new roles as Team Leads.

We’ve now expanded to four lines of business and are exploring opportunities to leverage automation to replace manual processes for greater efficiency and cost savings.

Open and continuous dialogue has been key, the client told us. Among the accolades — and emojis — from our client:

“Kudos to TTEC for helping out with SOP updates and improvements.”

“Communication is fantastic between [us] and TTEC!”

“Feedback is received and quickly handled !!!