Customer support agent platform
The client
Lili is a mobile bank designed for freelancers serving more than 150k customers. Lili’s customer Service Center handles up to 30K inquiries each month.
This project was conducted as part of a UX course led by Tal Florentin. My partners were Olivia Dori and Shir Weil.
Business goals
Banking information turned easy
Lili Mobile Bank’s human support center uses three information systems: A ticketing system, a banking information system and a unique customer management system. We need to replace the last two with one integrated system that displays relevant information and allows operations to be performed.
The client strives to streamline the work of agents as well as to shorten the learning curve in order in order to integrate new employees faster.
During the work, we discovered that a banking information system for customer service agents can be very simple to use and thus, save a lot of time and resources.
Challenges
Rethinking the information architecture
Looking at the existing information system, we feared that we would have to apply a lot of professional and technical details to each screen.
After the research, we realized that the main objective in this project would not be to compress a lot of information on each screen, but to select the relevant information exactly for each type of inquiry, and to shorten the learning curve for new agents.
Research
1.
Discovery
Our starting point was a long conversation with the client about the customer service center and its daily operations. We asked about the room and the facilities, the people working there, and the company goals and KPIs.
The second part of the discovery was competitor analysis, which helped us understand what is expected from such softwares.
The final part was getting familiar with Lili app, so we can align the agents and customer experience and terminology.
2.
Surveys and interviews
In an attempt to understand the daily operations of customer service agents, we have distributed online surveys for people who have worked in customer service centers. The information we received helped us understand the goals, struggles, and challenges of running a customer service center.
Afterwards, we interviewed senior customer support managers to understand their work and main KPIs.
3.
User testing
Our insights were turned into wireframes and then shared with experienced customer service managers. Their feedback helped us decide the most effective way to visualize the information to give our users all the knowledge they need as fast as possible. This was important considering that it is a mobile app to be used out of the office.
Conclusions
High Pressure
The customer service center handles about 30K inquiries a month by about 10 agents on a 9-hour shift.
Prior knowledge
Turns out that in most cases, our system can anticipate the reason for the calls.
For example: if a card payment is denied, this is probably the reason for the call. Presenting this information to the agent will cut handling time and improve customer satisfaction.
Client Education is a Business Goal
Since Lili is a mobile bank, our client prefers that agents instruct customers to use the app’s self-service – rather than through the customer service center.
FAQ
Most calls are about the same few topics and have an easy generic solution that can be automated.
Motivation is Important
Customer service agents we interviewed told us that ugly and outdated information systems lower motivation and slow down the pace of work.
Pleasant and branded design may enhance employees’ sense of belonging as well as improve their performance.
Objectives
Faster ticket handling
Shorter learning curve
Educating the customers to use mobile
Drive motivation & sense of belonging
The solution
Proactive approach
Once we understood that Lili can anticipate the reason for the calls in advance, we knew we had to make a major change. No more “Please wait while I’m looking for it” – if there is a problem, an alert will be presented to the agent with the steps for solution alongside it.
Another solution we came up with is the “Smart Macros” – an illustrated guide for FAQs. The “Smart Macros” tool helps new agents solve problems from day one without any help. This tool also gives the agents the ability to see what the customers see and guide them visually (“Do You see the red button at the top right? Click on it”).
Research findings become key features
Zoom in
Homepage with smart alerts
Anticipating the reason for the call helps us shorten the duration of the call.
Smart Macros > Change Mailing Address
The “Smart Macros” tool helps the agents easily instruct the customers to get things done by themselves on the app. Using this tool, even an agent on his 1st day can instruct like a professional.
Another business advantage of this tool is that it helps educate the customers to use mobile self-service.
Transactions > Search Transaction
Instead of spelling names of businesses or long id numbers – asking the customer for the amount and date of the transaction.
Lili card
Customer: “Where is the card I ordered?”
Agent: “I see more than 2 weeks have passed by now. let’s check your address and send you another one”
