Metrics_ How to Improve Key Business Results - Martin Klubeck [93]
Now let's add the percentage values, for at least the most recent year. This makes the chart (Figure 9-10) easier to read.
Figure 9-10. Customer Satisfaction: the percentage satisfied with the values for the last year
A little easier to read. At a glance we can see how we faired vs. the previous year. We can also see if we have upward or downward trends (three data points in succession that move up or down). While you can still see trending (up or down) you won't know if the data is “good,” “bad,” or “indifferent.” So before we get to expectations, this chart already tells us to look at Aug–Oct 2010. What was happening? What was causing the steady incline? Was it something we needed to look at more closely?
One of the most important steps we had to take was to develop expectations. As explained in the chapter on expectations, you can't always ask all of your customers for their feedback on this topic. Depending on the size of your customer base, the expectations can range widely. SLAs help, but they don't always reflect the customers' expectations. Sometimes they only represent the contractually agreed-upon requirements.
If the Service Desk didn't know what the expectations for this should be, we could use the data to tell us. You can start with the SLA if you have one, collect customer feedback, and then bounce that against the department's opinion. I have invariably found that the department's expectations are always higher than the SLA or what I would propose. Most people are harder on themselves than their customers are on them.
We sat down with the Service Desk department. We met with the manager, the analysts, and the department's director. Our task was to develop a set of expectations for each measure from the customer's point of view. If the customers' expectations needed to be calibrated, a separate marketing effort might be required, but until they were successfully adjusted, we had to go with the current customer viewpoint. Figure 9-11 shows Customer Satisfaction with expectations added. As you can see, we set the expectation level between 90 and 95 percent satisfied.
Figure 9-11. Customer Satisfaction with expectations
As you can see in Figure 9-11, it is easy to see which points require further investigation. Besides the upward trend from Aug–Oct 2010, we can also look into the anomalies above 95 percent satisfaction. This was, for the most part, uneventful. Discussion was healthy and it was educational for everyone to see what each other thought of as the customers' expectations.
You can imagine how the discussion around how fast the customer expected the phone to be answered (by an analyst) ran. Some thought 60 seconds was adequate. Others thought that customers were willing to wait minutes. Others thought if it took more than 10 seconds in today's “now” culture, it would be considered far too long.
In the end, we came up with ranges of expectation for each measure. The key was to find a common language so that the expectations would be consistently presented. For each measure, we not only identified what was “good” or “bad” but what percentages would be expected.
Let's look at abandoned call rates, for example. The first question was, what is good and bad? Lower abandoned rates were good. Higher rates were bad. After we had established the direction of “good” and “bad,” we had to determine what the expectations were. What percentage of calls could