Applying for a visa can be quite a complex experience, particularly if you are making an application for the first time and are not familiar with the process. A lot of information is available to customers on government websites and on our own platforms. However, the key to a smooth customer journey is making sure that the right information is available when the customer actually needs it. At TLScontact, we have adopted a data-driven approach to completely redesign our customer guidance, in order to improve availability, discoverability, usability and the level of detail provided.
Last year, we launched our Enterprise Feedback Management (EFM) programme, allowing us to collect customer feedback at key stages in the visa journey. Among other things, information obtained through EFM has helped us to identify specific areas where we can improve our online customer guidance.
Read our article: Enhancing customer care with Enterprise Feedback Management
Data analysis to identify customer needs
More recently, we carried out a detailed analysis of 1,500 customer contacts, to understand the different reasons why customers were reaching out to us. This analysis gave us an evidence-based map of every opportunity for us to improve our customer messaging and inform customers on the processes and policies relevant to their needs. Overall, there are 15-20 main reasons for contact, which represent around 80% of all customer questions. These include payment queries, requests for detailed information about our visa application centres, and process clarifications. Ensuring that we provide very specific and detailed answers on these topics will enhance the self-help options for our customers.
Interactive self-help to provide real-time information
As a complement to our static content, we are using the insights gathered to create a far more detailed knowledge base that will be made available to customers through an online interactive self-help platform. Once this is in place, later in 2021, customers will be able to type in their specific questions using natural language, then have relevant guidance delivered back almost instantly. Adding this online self-help function will allow us to avoid overloading customers with static content, while at the same time making sure that they can obtain the information they are looking for, when they need it.
Our analysis has also allowed us to identify recurring questions that relate to specific stages in the customer journey. This will help us to tailor our content during the online journey to assist customers as they book their appointment or consider the additional services that are available to enhance their experience. In the short-term, this will mean reviewing and simplifying our messaging and, where appropriate, adding proactive guidance alerts with content at very specific moments in the customer journey.
Customer-led content to improve the visa experience
Many sectors have seen a shift towards more tailored, customer-led content over the past few years and the visa sector is no exception. By adopting this approach, we aim to put the right information at customers’ fingertips as and when they need it, bringing genuine improvements to their visa experience. The data we have gathered through mechanisms like our EFM programme has allowed us to highlight the need for these changes. Once they have been made, EFM will also allow us to validate these improvements and make further adjustments if necessary. Our ultimate aim is to use this data-driven approach to bring meaningful evolution to the visa process and create an increasingly effortless customer journey.
Article written by:
Andy Escott-Carrington
Account Manager