Market Research Case Study

CASE STUDY:        Humana, National Managed Care Organization
  
                                  Quality Assurance Program
                                  Call Handling Policies and Procedures Monitoring 

One of the most frequent consumer complaints heard in many large organizations is how a person is treated and how their call is handled when calling in to a facility for help or information.  Whether being put on hold too long, not being treated politely, being disconnected, given the run-around or transferred to multiple individuals none of whom can answer the question, or getting lost in an automated system, our client, one of the nation’s largest and foremost insurance and managed care organizations, recognized these as problems that could be solved.  Therefore, they set a goal to uniformly provide the best customer service and most courteous and efficient call handling possible across all of their facilities. 

Once the policies and procedures were established (all calls to be answered by a live operator, all calls to be answered within two rings, all transfers to be “courtesy” transfers, among others), a system was to be put in place to monitor the implementation of these policies and procedures. 

Through their telecommunications consultants, our client contracted Executive Communications to conduct a “secret shopper” operation, calling each of several hundred targeted facilities ten times per month, at different times of day on different days of the week, gathering specific quantitative and qualitative data during each call.   

Posing as plan members with frequently asked questions, our associates noted for each call: 

·                     the number of rings prior to answer,

·                     how the call was answered,

·                     how the operator identified him or herself,

·                     the number of seconds the caller was put on hold during transfer,

·                     the method of transfer (warm, courtesy, blind),

·                     level of courtesy,

·                     level of helpfulness,

·                     ability to answer the question or direct to someone who could,

·                     overall experience during the call,

·                     duration of the call,

·                     comments regarding each call, and other pertinent data. 

On a monthly basis, the data is organized into a master data file that is delivered to the client and analyzed by their research department.  Results provided in this monthly analysis show how well the facilities are adhering to the new policies and procedures, point out areas which need further attention, monitor and provide a true reading of how customers view their call experiences into the organization's facilities.

Executive Communications - making a difference.