Eptica Email Management improves email efficiency and handling times

10 September 2008 -  As part of its drive to lead on customer service, Confused.com, the UK’s leading insurance comparison website, has implemented new intelligent email management software from Eptica (www.eptica.com).  The system uses advanced semantic processing to manage customer email interaction and improve the quality and efficiency of email replies. To date, repeat inbound emails have reduced by 25% and average email handling time by more than 60%. As a result, customers emailing Confused.com can now receive quicker answers to their email queries, improving service delivery. 

Confused.com has seen a dramatic increase in visitors to its website – which handled approximately 13 million insurance quotation searches last year.   With these numbers set to rise in 2008, the company needed a robust but easy-to-use, best practice email system that would provide complete visibility to all enquiries.  Confused.com selected Eptica Email Management following a rigorous tender process. 

David Williams, IT Director at Confused.com commented on the selection: “Online conversion ratios and customer experience are critical elements for Confused.com, and ones which we are constantly looking to enhance.  We were particularly impressed that Eptica’s email system uses advanced search technology and a dynamic knowledgebase to manage   email reply content: the core ingredients of a self-service system.” 

He continued: “Our agents are at the customer frontline and are best placed to capture information about what customers want and therefore drive the content for online service.  We plan to make the knowledge base available to customers on our Web site so they can find answers to the majority of their questions, without having to email us at all.  Because online service and email management will be completely integrated we expect to gain both on improved customer experience and efficiency.”   

During peak times and promotional periods, inbound emails can increase by up to 50% for Confused.com. Despite the increase in volume, Eptica Email Management has enabled Confused.com to maintain their high service levels, whilst improving efficiency. Agents can now easily edit standard replies, personalise responses and add further information and attachments as required.

Comprehensive and easy to use reporting is proving invaluable to Confused.com, providing complete visibility to queries. The contact centre can now run reports to see what questions customers are asking and which standard email reply templates are being used in response (approximately 60 templates are in use at present).  Analysis can be carried out to reveal the peaks and troughs in activity by day, time and particular queue.  Customer queries can be further analysed by drilling down to number and type, then individually, to view specific queries.  The contact centre is now feeding this information about what customers want, back into the business on a daily basis. In this way, the contact centre is playing a key role in providing information about customer requirements; this data is also being fed into a major website redesign.

Confused.com has been able to make use of comprehensive management information and compliance features to ensure full track and traceability of every enquiry.  A full audit trail of customers’ enquiries, including previous correspondence, gives agents a complete picture of customers’ issues, making it easy for them to resolve enquiries efficiently.  Automatic spell checks ensure accuracy and agents have the ability to attach additional notes to enquiries which are pending further investigation or require additional information from insurance providers. 

Paul Barnes, Managing Director at Eptica concluded: “With so many consumers using comparison Web sites, it’s vital to provide good information and respond efficiently to customers’ questions.  As the market leader, Confused.com’s investment in customer service will enhance the web site’s position as a fantastic resource for consumers looking to find the right insurance product”.