Case Study: Automotive

Support for CSAT and complaint resolution for a major automotive manufacturer

Using omnichannel voice of the customer (including video!) and data analytics to resolve and differentiate

Overview

The Indian automotive industry is fast evolving, in terms of growth and innovation, while customer support and service are also becoming increasingly important. Companies have been providing in-house customer support; however, the industry landscape is broadening, with more options for efficient and effective customer care and domain expertise.

At a Glance

Client since January 2016
12/7 customer care support
9 FTEs for pan-India support
Languages supported include English, Kannada, Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam, Marathi, Bengali, Oriya, and Tamil
Inbound customer support, breakdown assistance, auto emails, post-service feedback calls, and complaint management for commercial, agricultural, and personal vehicles

Client background

The client, a leading Indian automotive manufacturer, wanted HGS to provide support in handling customer complaints and answering customer queries, with a focus on enhanced CSAT. HGS provides pan-India, multilingual support to the client, and agents are trained to transfer calls based on the customer’s language request. HGS sorts customer calls into categories like breakdown calls, service calls, and new enquiries, to facilitate easier and better resolution.

Business challenges

Current and would-be customers know the products, recognize the competitive options, and can easily discern high quality. The young affluent, worldly professionals the client seeks to do business with expect the best. They want elegant statement vehicles with style and power. They demand prompt, reliable, and tailored attention.

With these considerations in mind, the client chose to:

Facilitate voice, email, and text chat engagements to forge personal, unforgettable connections.
But, they also selected an approach quite new to the industry—video chat engagements.

The solution

Applied data analytics

Service level score of 88% vs. client SLA of 80% calls (in 30 secs)

How we do it
We used data analytics to ensure optimal workforce management during peak call times. Optimization of service provision during peak hours improved the time of response. The client was also able to improve productivity and efficiency.
Business result
Better workforce management resulted in service level improvement to 88% vs. client SLA of 80% calls to be answered within 30 seconds and an average speed of answer (ASA) rate at 67-70%.

Driving post-service feedback and CSAT

Acheived CSAT score of 83% vs. initial score of 77%

How we do it
The client provides HGS with the raw data seven days after the dealer completes the customer vehicle restoration. Two dedicated agents place outbound calls to client customers seven days after service, and HGS collates customer feedback. Using agents for the survey process provides HGS the flexibility of modifying the survey questions in real time based on customer responses. This ensures that we are accurately recording every detail of the customer’s feedback. It also helps agents better gauge customer sentiment. Each customer’s complaint is unique and will be handled differently, which changes the customer’s post-service experience driving the vehicle. We have segmented feedback categories into more areas. This is helping categorize customer responses more accurately. The CRM now categorizes customer responses into different segments. The client is now able to understand customer responses and more effectively resolve unique and recurring customer problems. HGS has also implemented strong and comprehensive training practices and quality enhancing practices to ensure better CSAT and quality.
Business result
Our dedicated efforts to follow-up with customers post service proved beneficial with CSAT score increasing to 83% vs. initial score of 77%. Our focus on commitment towards maintaining high quality standards helped us achieve an impressive 90% quality rate vs. client SLA of >85%.

Developed a CRM for better customer service

Abandon rate of 4% vs. client SLA of 5%

How we do it
HGS developed a proprietary CRM, which is used to record call data and generate reports and emails. Using the CRM, auto emails are triggered to the dealer, the internal team at HGS, and client headquarters. We tailored the CRM to suit the needs of an automobile manufacturer, specifically to suit the needs of this client by adding pre-populated automotive issues related to engine malfunction, spare part availability, electrical system failures, and gear shift problems, to help agents more efficiently record customer complaints. The CRM also tracks the time of complaint registration, dealer response, and restoration.
Earlier, the client was facing a delay while generating reports. With the application of the CRM developed by HGS, creating reports was easier with all the call and email data available on one platform.
Business result
The implementation of the HGS proprietary CRM helped in better data collation and report generation. The CRM was tailored to suit the client’s needs and their industry with building in pre-populated fields. Usage of the CRM led to increased efficiency and in dealer follow-up. Our CRM efforts helped keep track of customer call and email data resulting in an abandon rate of 4% vs. client SLA of 5%.

On-time support for customer complaints

Ensuring customer vehicle restoration within the client’s 12-hour and 48-hour timeframes enhancing CSAT

How we do it
HGS now supports service-related complaints such as providing roadside assistance for breakdowns, product complaints (where vehicle is running but with issues), dealer support complaints, general enquiries (about the client, nearest dealer, warranty queries), sales (vehicles enquiries, and calls about vehicle ads). Dealers need to respond to the customer within 12 hours, and vehicle restoration must be completed within 48 hours. HGS provides the client with end-to-end complaint management, from complaint registration to following up with dealers once the restoration is complete in a closed-loop process. The dealers send us a confirmation email once they finish the vehicle restoration process. The IVR sets the expectation that the customer will receive a call back within 24 hours (if they are calling outside the regular business hours of 8 AM and 8 PM).
When handling vehicle and spare parts sales enquiries, we use the CRM to record details of the customer sales query and then forward it to the client sales manager. We provide information about the vehicle and its features excluding the price details
Business result
HGS ensures that dealers respond to customers and restore their vehicles within the client stipulated timeframe of 12 hours and 48 hours, respectively. This effectively contributes to enhanced CSAT.

“A positive work culture that includes, but isn’t limited to, refresher training and one-on-one interactions with the team and comprehensive training programmes have contributed to low team attrition.”

~ Suraj Rajan, HGS Operations Team Lead