PREEMPT 5

WHAT IS “PREEMPT” AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

Preempt is the third of the five strategic actions and it represents a very different approach to how customers interact with organizations. Preempt is about moving the organization from reacting to customer issues and problems to being proactive to prevent the need for customer contacts. Preemptive actions reduce friction because they reassure customers that the organization is looking out for them and serving the customers’ interests. Eliminate actions stop irritating impacts and hopefully fix them “once and for all,” and Digitize actions automate routine transactional needs. In contrast, Preemptive actions recognize that things do go wrong and that situations change but that organizations can anticipate these changes and reach out to customers to warn or inform them. For example, while Eliminate actions prevent a customer from ordering something that was never in stock, a Preemptive action notifies the customer that delays somewhere in the process will make an order late and thereby reposition the customer’s expectations.

To some extent, Preempt can overlap and assist with all of the other actions (Eliminate, Digitize, Simplify, and Leverage), which is why it is shown bordering the other four strategies in the overall schematic. Often, executing the other actions may be more complex and take longer than a preemptive strategy, so this can be an interim solution. For example, a company may get many calls if orders are frequently delivered beyond the promised two-day window. It could look at two ways to eliminate these contacts: reset all expectations for the delivery time or revisit the entire logistics and delivery chain. These two solutions are hard, time-consuming, and expensive. A temporary preemptive strategy might help manage expectations on orders that go over the two-day mark by messaging the customer whenever it occurs. That may help, but it isn’t a complete fix and does not get rid of customer disappointment. In addition, a permanent Preempt strategy may still be needed for events outside the organization’s control, like bad weather even after the logistics are fixed, to keep customers from getting nasty surprises.

Preempt is therefore about having mechanisms to manage customer expectations and needs. It also suggests a different approach to manage current or potential problems proactively rather than reactively. It requires a deliberate mindset for a business to ask these three critical questions:

■ “What could go wrong here, and how can we manage it?”

■ “If we can’t always meet customers’ expectations, how can we help them?”

■ “What will customers want to know before they ask us?”

Frictionless Organizations think in this proactive way. They not only preempt issues of their making, but they also guide and influence customer behaviors for their own good. For example, a telco using Preempt will suggest when a customer might need to upgrade or downgrade a plan that consistently doesn’t meet their data needs. A frictionless company would rather have customers on the right product than receive higher fees or charges from customers on the wrong product (sometimes called “toxic revenues”). They recognize that lower short-term revenue from a happy customer produces better long-term returns than short-term overcharges.

Over the last 20 years, capabilities to enable Preemptive actions have increased significantly. SMS, text, mobile apps, portals, messaging in many forms, automated calls, and emails all represent cheap, fast, and simple ways to alert customers compared with old methods like sending letters or making calls to the customer. Other mechanisms are also now available, such as community forums and proactive software updates. Analytics and AI enable organizations to understand much more about customer behavior and trends, enabling smarter and better targeted interventions.

Situations Where Preempt Applies

There are many situations where proactive Preempt strategies are nearly always applicable, illustrated by these eight categories:

■ Customer expectations need to be managed, particularly when an agreed-upon timetable can’t be met (e.g., delayed flights or deliveries).

■ Events or issues that impact the customer are known to some of them but not to all of them (e.g., software bugs or system faults).

■ Long-running processes have variable timetables that customers want to track or understand (e.g., insurance claims, loan applications, or job applications).

■ Customers need prompting or reminding of future events (e.g., appointment reminders).

■ Customers could make mistakes or be impacted (e.g., warnings of missed car services or plans about to expire).

■ Customer actions could put them at an advantage (e.g., preregistration for tickets for in-demand events or early health interventions).

■ Customers may be out of date on how the business operates (e.g., new hours, new terms and conditions, new locations and new offers).

■ Organizations can help customers achieve positive outcomes (e.g., in areas like health and wealth management).

Well-executed Preempt strategies do more than just prevent contact; they also demonstrate respect for customers and their time. They show that the organization is concerned about their customers and values their time and efforts. Preemptive strategies put customers in control of their time and, if done well, build loyalty. They also save time and money, since a 20-cent text costs far less than an eight-minute “Where is my X?” phone call. Preemptive strategies can therefore be a win-win for both the customer and the organization.

The proposed approach to use Preempt intervention has three stages:

1. Decide what to preempt. Look at which issues lend themselves well to preemptive strategies, and consider whether there are unpredictable situations that the organization must prepare for.

2. Select the best Preempt mechanisms. Work out which mechanisms will be timely and effective, whether one or more mechanisms will be needed, and how these mechanisms can be used in combination.

3. Increase the success of the Preempt mechanisms. Refine the messages and mechanisms used.

The benefits of Preempt are both reduced costs and increased customer loyalty. Informing customers quickly about situations will prevent inbound contacts and related complaints and therefore reduce costs. Showing a genuine concern for things that impact the customer will drive loyalty and advocacy. As some examples will show, Innovators go further and are willing to forgo revenue rather than create disappointment (e.g., allowing a customer to cancel an order that can’t be delivered before Christmas). Using many Preempt solutions will build a customer-focused mindset in an organization.

GOOD STORIES

National Care Preemption

Two Australian government programs represent excellent Preempt strategies to deal with breast cancer and bowel cancer, two of the most frequent and lethal cancers. The Australian government designed a Preempt program to ensure frequent screening, which enables earlier intervention that saves lives. All Australians are sent bowel-testing kits every two years from age 50. They don’t have to complete the test, but over 42%¹ of them do, even though it involves sampling and storing feces in a complex and unpleasant procedure. Australian women are invited to a free breast cancer screening every two years, and 54% take up this test.

Both programs have contributed to reduced rates of cancer deaths in Australia: breast cancer fatality rates fell from over 17% in the 1980s to below 10% today, with early identification and treatment being a major contributor; likewise, bowel cancer fell from 35% to well under 20% today.² These programs illustrate the benefits of a well-defined Preempt strategy. Bowel and breast cancer testing are unpleasant procedures, but well-designed processes and great education and promotion have made the programs a success.

Outage Information Mechanisms

In a broadband and media business like Renovator Cable One, outages will occur. Unfortunately, outages frustrate the customer who wants to stream a documentary or manage their business, and they generate avalanche levels of contact as they also do for electric utilities. Cable One has employed the Preempt action by populating websites and IVRs with outage information as soon as possible. Their network operations center notifies customers using multiple mechanisms (text and email) if any outage occurs. They’d rather customers find out quickly than have to deal with calls that overwhelm their support centers. Field techs can also update the status of the network, and customers can opt in to various notifications systems. These are all excellent and useful Preempt systems. In a similar way, most of the electricity distribution companies in Australia provide outage information through multiple mechanisms such as websites, text notifications, and email. Blizzard Entertainment, a software business, points to its outage notices as one of the key reasons its contacts per gamer have dropped so dramatically over the past five years.

Vodafone Relaxes Credit in a Crisis

During the COVID-19 lockdown, all of the Vodafone markets (country operations) came under stress from serving customers who worked from home. Many of these subscribers also lost their jobs, and in some countries without safety nets, they suffered a big drop in income levels. By closely tracking reason codes like “I cannot pay now and want to set up a payment plan” and identifying at-risk customers (using big data and predictive analytics), Vodafone markets created a series of preemptive messages to reassure customers that they would have more time to pay their invoices. In some cases, they also automatically placed certain customers on a payment plan. Customers were surprised and delighted, Vodafone experienced fewer contacts for these payment reasons, and customers have remained loyal. Many other companies also relaxed their credit strategies through the COVID-19 crisis, including power utilities and insurance companies that reduced premiums during or after the lockdowns.

Tesla Goes the Extra Miles

Tesla’s electric vehicle division has put into place a wide range of Preempt actions to reduce “range anxiety” and prevent its customers from spending time in the service shop. Because of the company’s always-on telemetry that monitors battery usage and remaining charge, Tesla emails or texts customers when their car’s battery falls below 5%, alerting them to charge as soon as possible.

Tesla also takes one-off actions to help customers in need. During Hurricane Irma, in the U.S. state of Florida in 2017, Tesla “unlocked” additional battery power for customers fleeing the huge storm. Many customers had 60-kw models but actually had a 75-kw battery in their car. The 60-kw model was cheaper, but Tesla thought buyers might upgrade later. When one customer reached out and asked for the extra range to escape the storm, Tesla realized that many customers needed this extra range and remotely unlocked the extra 15 kw for all drivers fleeing the storm. This “preemptive” unlock won Tesla great kudos for literally going the extra miles!³

Tesla now demonstrates other preemptive characteristics, partly in response to complaints that it was getting harder to book appointments in their service centers (even though this is needed far less often for electric vehicles). The head of automotive, Jerome Gullen, quoted a familiar mantra: “For us, best service is no service. So, we spent a lot of efforts trying to improve the quality and the reliability of our cars. In the last two years the frequency of service visits are reduced by one-third, so customers have to come less frequently into service, which is really the goal—no service.” Tesla made two other changes: they increased the number of potential mobile services so that 40% of services were done at a customer’s home, then increased the functionality of the app so that it could notify the customer of the need for service and help book an appointment, a great example of preemptive care.⁴

The Best Delivery of Delivery

Amazon has defined and led the way in demonstrating how to manage customer expectations through the processes of online order and delivery. The mechanisms pioneered by Amazon are now common in many online retail businesses. Early on in the late 1990s, Amazon started to send order and shipping confirmations via email immediately after various steps in the order-fulfillment process, such as at the point of shipping from a warehouse or leaving a depot. Amazon still provides a range of updates at different stages of the order and shipping process and offers a range of alerts in case of shipping delays, including identical alerts from its drop shippers (who deliver directly to Amazon customers) and from its warehouse deliveries.

Many shipping and delivery businesses, such as FedEx and UPS, now also allow order tracking and alerts, and there has been a tight handshake between online retailers and the delivery companies they use. Many other businesses have copied aspects of Amazon’s notifications to manage their customer expectations. Some companies use similar messaging in long-running processes like insurance claims or mortgage applications to keep the customer in the loop.

BAD STORIES

Many organizations have the potential to analyze usage and other data in order to adopt preemptive strategies, but they choose not to do so. Some organizations don’t even bother to collect these data. Many are also happy to blame weather events or other issues rather than help customers deal with disruption, even if it is outside the organization’s control.

Whose Software Is It Anyway?

There are software companies that think they are being preemptive by releasing new operating system versions, but they often do so in very inconvenient ways for their customers. For example, some will inform users that updates will be installed upon their computer powering down but not warn users of the delays or lost bookmarks when the machine powers back up. Sometimes it can take several minutes to install updates, but users are not warned of the process or told how long they should allow for it. This can be very frustrating if users have an urgent task to complete when they restart. It would be so simple to warn the user of the likely impact with a message like, “When restarting your machine, you may need an extra five minutes to reconfigure.”

Previous mechanisms for updates used to take control of the machine and force a power down after a countdown period. The users had almost no choice but to stop using the machine for a software update that may not have been urgent for that user. It is a delicate balancing act between offering the best protected software and taking control of a device in situations that only the end user can know. A frictionless company would place more control in the hands of the end user and make the reasons for the updates clear.

Missed Deliveries

One of the leading UK-based daily newspapers delivers to the United States, and its weekend edition is particularly popular. On occasion, the weekend paper is delayed, but the paper never sends any alerts to its subscribers. Instead, the customer can extend the subscription only if they call to report the missed delivery and do so before its East Coast contact center closes; there is no email option or opportunity to register a “missed delivery” in the customer’s online account, and there is no way for the paper to process a refund. The customer service agent always reminds the customer that the online version is available, but sometimes holding the physical paper is what weekends are all about. Too much friction!

’Air-Raising Experience

Airlines have become better at providing preemptive contact for weather events (e.g., warning passengers via texts or emails about flight schedule disruptions so that they can make alternative plans). However, it’s when the really bad weather events hit that other preemptive strategies come to the fore. The Sydney-Melbourne air route is the third-busiest domestic route in the world. In 2019 bad storms forced the closure of the Sydney airport on a busy Thursday afternoon, leaving thousands of passengers stranded. One of the two major airlines acted in a preemptive manner and booked hotels for all out-of-town frequent flyers to save them the angst. The other major airline was slow to inform passengers of the airport closure. By the time passengers were told that they were stuck, the other airline had scooped up most of the available hotel accommodations.

The sudden rise in demand for hotel beds and a very limited remaining supply sent prices skyrocketing. All of the second airline’s out-of-town passengers were on their own, scrambling for accommodations and trying to negotiate revised itineraries for the next day. Passengers paid up to 200% of the normal hotel price out of pocket while having their plans disrupted. In effect, the preemptive strategies of one airline created a bad experience for the passengers of their competitor. One looked caring and organized at a time of customer need, while the other left their customers in the lurch and appeared to not have any kind of plan for such an event. This illustrates the value of anticipating possible problems and having Preempt strategies ready to go.

Is This Text from You?

Recent legislation in Australia meant that pension funds had to contact many customers with low balances to allow them to opt in or opt out of product options such as life insurance. Many funds notified customers using text messages as well as email and letters. They did the right thing by using multiple channels to try to get the customer’s attention; however, one fund worded the text so badly that many customers called in thinking it was some form of fraud. The contact center was flooded with calls, many of which started with questions like, “Is this text from you?” The wording of the text didn’t explain who was sending the message, why, or what was required from the customer. Worse still, it had wording similar to known fraud attempts like, “Your fund savings will be sent to the tax office.”

The wording was so limited that customers feared the links provided would take them to some rogue site that put them at risk. It appeared that the company never tested how customers would react and used terminology that customers didn’t understand. It was an attempt to Preempt that backfired, and it resulted in the flood of calls that the contact center had originally hoped to avoid and which they struggled to answer in a reasonable time.

HOW TO PREEMPT

Figure 5.1 shows a series of three steps that organizations can take to determine what to preempt, how to preempt, and how to improve the effectiveness of Preempt interventions.

Decide When and What to Preempt

Preempt is used to complement the other four strategic actions. It can work in five ways:

■ As a temporary alternative to other actions like Eliminate and Digitize (e.g., providing information proactively while other solutions are being built and deployed)

■ As a more cost-effective solution that achieves a partial outcome but may be more cost-effective than other actions

■ As the only answer to unavoidable situations

■ As an effective way to manage a process

■ As an effective way to manage the customer relationship

Each of these ways requires different thinking and analysis. All of the Eliminate or Digitize contact reasons on the Value-Irritant matrix need to be assessed to see if a Preempt solution could work as a temporary alternative or a partial outcome. Delays that cause customers to call are an obvious place to look, since proactive updates to customers may prevent customer contacts, disappointment, or churn. Preempt mechanisms are great ways to keep customers informed and reset expectations. Preempt solutions also work well for Streamline contacts where many customers are impacted but have not yet found the problem, such as for software bugs, product faults, or network outages.

Frictionless Organizations have mass-notification mechanisms ready to go when unavoidable situations occur. They have recognized that they can’t be perfect, but they try to minimize the impact of these imperfections. If they fall behind on shipping products or detect a fault, they notify customers and try to reset expectations. They also work on preempting the problems and may follow risk-averse solutions like piloting new products to iron out problems before they impact all customers.

Frictionless Organizations also take the time to consider how they may help customers, even in situations outside their control, such as in extreme weather events or when experiencing problems with suppliers or third parties. It takes a different mindset for an organization to sit down and consider, “What could go wrong here and how can we help the customer in those situations?” For example, some airlines now send out warning messages as soon as 24 hours before a flight when extreme weather events are forecast that might impact schedules. They know they can’t control the event but have recognized a responsibility to help customers prepare or make alterative plans. The more forward-thinking utilities have prepared for how they will notify customers during extreme weather events and outages.

The fourth area of thinking is around expectations management across long-running processes. This could be, for example, a complex insurance claim or passport application. Frictionless Organizations try to provide as many proactive updates as possible to keep the customer informed and to prevent status queries. For example, a loan application process might inform the customer of stages like document receipt, assessment completion, and final approval. This thinking might also include using outbound communication to inform the customer if any delays occur or any exception conditions are hit that would extend the process. These organizations constantly challenge themselves by asking, “What would keep me informed if I were the customer?”

FIGURE 5.1. The Preempt Approach

TABLE 5.1. Preemptive Message Examples

Examples of these types of messages are shown in table 5.1.

The management of customer relationships requires a different approach to analyze how customers are using products and services. This can make great use of analytics to assess situations such as the following:

■ Which customers are on the wrong product or service for their needs and would benefit from an upgrade or downgrade?

■ Which customers have risks that might need to be managed (e.g., possible fraud)?

■ Which customers should be rewarded for loyalty?

■ Which customers may be experiencing some form of difficulty that the company could help with?

This analysis needs to look beyond short-term customer profitability because it may well be the most profitable situation to leave the customer on the current product or service, and not notify them. Alternatively, Frictionless Organizations recognize the long-term benefit of showing a customer how to save by spending less. They may also give discounts if they recognize that customers haven’t received the full value from their products. The best example of this is when telco and broadband providers offer to downgrade or upgrade customers to products that suit their usage patterns rather than charge them for services they don’t need. Not many organizations do this, since most of them prefer to take the penalty fees and extra margins. However, this can leave the customer vulnerable to better offers from competitors.

A pension business gave a different example of this preemptive behavior. They completed analysis of the age profile, balances, and portfolio profiles of all their customers. Then they reached out to customers who they believed were on investment profiles (e.g., high risk or low risk) that didn’t match their stage in life and accumulated assets. They didn’t force the customers to change investment profiles, but they did suggest the alternatives and rationale. They left the customer in control, but they showed that they had the best interest of the customer in mind.

Select the Best Preemptive Solutions

Solution design for Preempt requires the right message, the right mechanism and channel, and the right way to assist the customer. There are different levels of complexity:

■ The simplest preemptive actions merely provide information such as the status of a process or a reminder of an upcoming appointment.

■ Slightly more complex is information that may lead to an action or choice for a customer (e.g., “To confirm your appointment, reply yes”).

■ More complex are solutions where customers have a range of action choices, and this may need a more complex dialogue or set of controls to confirm a choice.

■ Last, some preemptions may invite the customer to make contact, as this is the only way to resolve an issue. For example, if a customer is being warned of a fraud, they may need a call to unlock an account or confirm transaction activity. Table 5.2 shows examples of each.

TABLE 5.2. Types of Preempt Solutions

Next, it’s important to find the right trigger and timing for each proactive intervention and then calculate the appropriate time lag. For example, for known delayed flights, the airline might want to text the passenger immediately and follow up with their preferred second channel—perhaps, a voice message. Other preemptive strategies may need to provide a warning X days before an event, while others need to be notified only after the fact. The organization must also consider whether alerts are sent too often to be sure that they will still be effective. They may saturate the customer with messages that they learn to ignore or miss the boat on the required actions. Some countries such as Turkey now limit the number of text messages that organizations can send to their customers per year, so it is critical to sort out which Preempt messages will have the greatest impact.

Customers can now easily block texts, emails, and phone calls, so it’s important to reach out with a compelling message that the customer will want to receive. Some organizations now allow customers control of their notifications. For example, stored-value transport cards may offer the customer a choice of how to be notified about their balance falling to a certain level and what dollar trigger point to use.

The structure of the wording and format of messages is also critical. Unfortunately, fraud and spam are increasing so that customers are more wary of the messages they receive; therefore, messages to customers need to be credentialized and explained. The customer needs to know and trust that the message is genuine. The reason and actions must also be clear, and it can help to have links to other information that adds detail or confirms the identity of the organization that sent the message. Testing the wording and format of messages reaching many customers can help an organization ensure that the wording will be understood by customers. Thinking through the language and wording that customers will understand and avoiding jargon makes these strategies more effective.

Channel Choice and Mix

Selecting the most effective Preempt tool or channel that fits each reason is critical, but some organizations may have limited choices. They may not have all of the contact details for customers or they may have opt-in strategies that need to be invoked before some channels can be used. The channels available include synchronous or asynchronous text messaging, SMS, email, alerts on apps or in customer portals, IVR scripting, automated calls, chatbots, outbound phone calls, or old-fashioned snail-mail letters. It’s important to think through whether multiple channels will be needed and ways that the channels can work together. An organization may consider that a message is so important that multiple channels should be used in parallel. This works better if the messages can acknowledge that they are linked (e.g., “This message has also been sent to your mobile phone”). Messages designed to prompt action or further contact in another channel need to be simple, with links and buttons that enable customers to talk to someone or send the requisite information. If a message is important enough, the organization may just want conformation of receipt. Thinking through the two-way nature of the dialogue is another part of the right preemptive design.

Increase the Success of Preempt Tools and Approaches

One advantage of Preempt as an action is that it is usually in the organization’s control. Because they are taking action rather than reacting, they can often adopt a more experimental approach. This allows them to fine-tune messages and the mechanisms used. For example, they can send a text message to a limited number of customers to assess the reaction. They can also stagger messages that will provoke action so that they are ready to respond.

To increase the success of Preempt actions, organizations need to measure and report post-alert contact rates in different ways. For example, preemptive actions that produce a response can be easily measured by their response rate. Preemptive actions that prevent contact may be measured by the contacts that remain. Organizations may be able to measure opening an email or acknowledging a message on an app, but they can’t measure whether a customer opens a letter.

The ability to measure an alert or preemptive message may dictate whether this channel is effective or not. For example, when testing a new message, an organization may ask for an acknowledgment merely as a measurement tool, even if this acknowledgment isn’t really needed. This will help determine right away (literally within minutes after dispatching the message) whether or not the Preemptive strategy engaged the customer. The organization may also need to measure negative reactions to the strategy, such as subsequent calls to assisted channels including unexpected reactions (e.g., customers asking “What is this message?” or resentment that they were interrupted).

When results are below target or customers complain about the Preempt message, the organization will then need to consider how to do the following:

■ Modify the Preempt tools and channels to reduce the rates of unwanted contact.

■ Adjust messaging to make it clearer or reduce fears and concerns.

■ Provide more choice and control.

■ Readminister the pilot and/or gauge success carefully.

■ Reset targets.

■ Repeat the experiment!

Prevent Repeat or Further Contacts

Another category in Preempt is melting snowballs, as described in the Understand chapter. Every organization knows that resolving problems or answering questions in the first contact is an essential ingredient to satisfy customers. Achieving an FCR of 80% to 90% still means that 10% to 20% of the contacts are not resolved the first time. Figure 5.2 shows the extended duration in Average Handle Time (AHT) of repeat contacts in a typical operation.⁵

FIGURE 5.2. AHT for First-Time Versus Subsequent Contacts

The main way to prevent snowballs is to resolve the issue the first time. Part of the reason to analyze repeats, as described in the Understand chapter, is to enable organizations to assess why resolution wasn’t achieved. Every repeat represents nonresolution and therefore enables analysis of the causes. The reasons for repeats may include the following:

■ Agents fail to resolve issues because of lack of training or poor behavior.

■ Processes don’t allow resolution, because staff aren’t allowed to execute them fully or processes aren’t available

■ Customers are confused by apparent resolutions that aren’t well explained.

■ Processes are not resolved in the time frame that customers expect (in which case, time frames either need to be reduced or expectations need to be reset).

This is where the analytical techniques described in the Understand chapter can come into their own, to report levels of repeats and resolution by contact type. However, analyzing why this resolution isn’t achieved often requires more manual techniques, including listening to calls, holding workshops with frontline staff, following processes across the business (such as in the classic Harvard Business Review article “Staple Yourself to an Order”⁶), using speech and text analytics, and conducting more detailed customer research. The solutions can vary from coaching and training individuals and processes to redesigning end-to-end processes.

One reason that many organizations fail to resolve contacts the first time is that they have separated taking a request or inquiry from the process requested. The idea is that taking the call should be separate from the more complex data processing or calculations that may follow. A common example is that a phone-based team receives a claim but other areas process the claim. The temptation to move processing to cheaper back-office or offshore locations has exaggerated this trend.

A way to tackle this is “back-to-front” reengineering. Through this mechanism, all handoffs to other areas are analyzed for processes that could be resolved quickly by the agent. New forms of automation like RPA may assist by making these processes easier for frontline staff. The latest technologies therefore add to the potential for greater FCR, because the time-consuming back-office work is now automated. This puts long, complex processes at the fingertips of frontline staff and thereby enables resolution.

The second preemptive mechanism is to ensure that if staff do receive a second contact, they are in a position to sort out the problem once and for all. There are many mechanisms that organizations can use to achieve higher levels of resolution to melt snowballs:

■ Knowledge systems that are easy to search and can be updated in real time as new problems emerge (e.g., as a Wiki)

■ Measurement systems that let frontline employees take more time to resolve repeat contacts

■ Skill structures and routing mechanisms that match highly skilled or tenured employees with the tougher issues and repeat contacts

■ Feedback and coaching for the frontline staff member who failed to resolve the initial problem

■ Measurement that makes visible who is solving or causing repeat contacts

FIGURE 5.3. Solvers versus Repeat Creators

Figure 5.3 shows an example report: agents in the upper left melted more snowballs than they created (the “solvers”), versus the lower-right agents who started more snowballs than they melted (the “creators”).⁷ Creating a grid of this sort can provide an organization with valuable insights, such as how solvers are able to perform at such a high level and whether training or knowledge access needs to change.

HINTS AND TIPS

Six techniques look at every aspect of Preempt, from channel selection to timing and language choice.

Use Multiple Tailored Channels

To appeal to the widest range of customers and get their attention, Preempt solutions need to use multiple channels and use them in complementary and integrated ways. Today this includes techniques like the following:

■ Acknowledging that messages have been sent in multiple channels (e.g., “You may also receive an email with the same message.”)

■ Providing links to other channels within messages (e.g., a website link in a text message)

■ Making outbound calls, leaving messages, and providing the customer with other channel options

This idea in practice. Text messages today are mostly received on smartphones, where customers can follow links and get more information. Banks sending warnings about fraud risks provide links to information and to the customer’s online login. The banks offer links to call centers for more information, and realizing that they need to differentiate their messages from fraudsters and scammers, they may quote a masked part of an account number, useless by itself, but sufficient to be confident that it is your bank (e.g., “This message is in regards to your account number ending in XXXX.”).

Messages That Are Concise, Complete, and in Customer Language

Customers are far more likely to act when messages are concise, complete, and in their language. To create such messages, organizations have to put themselves in customers’ shoes. For example, rather than use a formal product name, the company might want to use the common name for the account type that customers use. Good short messages tend to focus on the “what and when,” with little information about “why and how” because those need a conversation.

This idea in practice. Notifying a customer to collect a package at the local post office reminds them to bring the correct identification. This avoids a wasted or frustrating visit. Good medical appointment reminders include time, location, and everything else you will need. In COVID-19 times, reminders also included all safety-related requirements.

Obsess about the Timing

It seems like a good idea to reach out ahead of events to warn and help the customer, but as Bob Hope once said, “Timing is everything.”⁸ Too far ahead of time, customers will feel annoyed and hassled. Too close to an event, and the prompt may be ineffective. Timing is something that organizations can experiment with to see what works best.

This idea in practice. A major insurance company prompts a customer two months prior to renewal to ensure their details are up to date. This is the gentlest of reminders in a product that can be almost frictionless because it may need no contact all year. This reminder helps the company engage with the customer before a critical renewal event. Likewise, a broadband provider has different trigger points in a monthly payment cycle. The messages typically link usage-level warnings to the stage of the month. They won’t tell you if you are 50% through the plan halfway through the month. However, they will warn you if you are 70% through the quota halfway through the month or 90% through with 10 days remaining. The nature of these warnings is all about timing combined with various limits.

Communication Needs to Be Two-Way

Organizations can get lazy and use text, email, and messaging as a form of one-way communication. “No reply” type email addresses or “Do not respond” messages show this lack of willingness to have a dialogue. It takes only a little more effort to allow some form of confirmation or to provide links that allow conversation. It’s much more polite to enable a two-way conversation than to make it hard for the customer.

This idea in practice. Good appointment reminders enable a positive affirmation response. Many dentists or surgeons now invite customers to “Type Y or say yes” to confirm. They may even have a process to follow up with those who haven’t confirmed. Two-way text messaging allows customers to request alternative dates or to pose questions and thus establish a dialogue with the organization.

Allow Customer Control

In many situations, customers need to be given control to propose, or at least to approve, how they receive preemptive contacts and what they receive. Most companies encourage their customers to tailor profiles and channels, accessing their profile to select mechanisms to be used for different reminders and statements. Some even allow customers to dictate the thresholds (e.g., “Remind me when my balance is $X.”).

This idea in practice. The simplest example of this kind of tailoring is the dental surgery center that offers customers a choice of reminder mechanisms. As you make an appointment, they ask if you’d like an email, text, or phone call reminder. They even offer the oldest reminder of all: a handwritten appointment card. Similarly, a major public transport card offers the customer a choice of how, and at what level, they will receive reminders of their balance. This lets every customer tailor their profile.

Walk in the Customers’ Shoes

When an organization sends customers a prompt such as, “We’ve received your X and will complete it in Y business days,” they assume that they will have it in their hands at that time. They may not take the time to calculate what “business days” means, let alone allow for extra time in the mail. If you “staple yourself to the order,” you might discover that it goes to the mailroom, relies on snail mail for a further period, and may then go through multiple departments, each of which allows a certain number of business days more. Customers hate waiting and will fill that void with many contacts to check status, clearly adding friction.

This idea in practice. The best organizations set expectations on the outside and then beat them on the inside. One company walked itself through the process and realized that mail-based delivery was adding uncertainty to the process. It changed its process to always use email as the outward send mechanism so it could control when customers received their information.

SUMMARY

Preempt complements and reinforces the other four actions, either by providing welcomed alerts and updates for customers before they realize that something has gone awry or by reminding them to make contact when it is needed. This gives control back to the customer and saves unwanted contacts and unpleasant surprises. It can also encourage customers into actions that the organization wants. Making Preempt work is tricky, but it is well worth the effort to determine what to preempt, how to preempt, and how to increase the success of Preempt tools and approaches.

Preemptive actions will produce a significant cost reduction despite the investments needed. Channel choices are now plentiful and almost instant, making Preempt far cheaper and more feasible than having to handle contacts in assisted channels. However, customers don’t want to be swamped, and regulators are looking to control how these channels are used to prevent spamming and abuse. Therefore, preemption has to be used wisely and with restraint. Every message or email is an interruption or intrusion on the customer and should be treated carefully.

When done well, customers will notice the outreach and the attention, and it will please them when Preempt strategies are offered in their interest. Customers do not need to make as many contacts, but they will recognize when an organization is trying to help them save time or use products cost effectively. They will “vote with their pocketbook” and reward organizations that are easy to work with and collaborate with them through disciplined and well-organized preemptive interventions.