PCG Develops Channel Investment Model
Palo Alto, CA—May 2007
- How much should I spend on phone service? Web? Mail? Offices?
- How do my customers prefer to receive service?
- How can I migrate customer contacts to less costly channels?
- Is it possible to improve service while lowering costs? (The answer is YES!!)
These and similar questions have vexed managers responsible for keeping customer satisfaction scores high while controlling costs of service delivery. All too often channel investment decisions are based on extrapolating historical call, Web, mail, or visit volumes. The result is missed opportunities—opportunities to improve service, migrate service demand, and reduce costs.
PCG has developed a Channel Investment Model to help companies and agencies use scarce dollar and staff resources to improve the customer’s experience while reducing costs. The Channel Investment Model is based on conjoint measurement—the most sophisticated market research approach available for understanding customer preferences. Conjoint produces customer value ratings for different levels of important service attributes like speed of service, accuracy, and cost. With knowledge of how customers value different service channels for their various service needs, along with data on the costs of achieving different levels of service, managers can design a service delivery system that optimizes the customer experience.
PCG developed the Channel Investment Model for a federal client that currently spends over 1 billion dollars a year on customer service. The analysis showed that increased Web functionality would entice customers to use more e-services instead of more costly and time-consuming office visits or phone calls. It also showed which segments most preferred the Web channel and identified what features needed to be emphasized in promoting e-services. These results are being used to develop a forward-looking, comprehensive strategy for increasing customer value while reducing costs.
About Pacific Consulting Group
Pacific Consulting Group (PCG) is a management consulting firm specializing in helping organizations improve their customers' and employees' experience and satisfaction. PCG's flagship service is the proprietary Net Impression® process, which integrates measurement and action into a strategic approach that perpetuates change. PCG's services include designing customer/employee assessment strategies, conducting qualitative research, designing and administering surveys, analyzing and prioritizing improvement targets, and action planning to turn market research into successful innovations that improve the customer/employee experience and business results.