Incorporated in 1996, Community Care Behavioral Health Organization (Community Care, ccbh.com) is a non-profit behavioral health managed care organization headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Community Care’s mission is to improve the health and well-being of the community through the delivery of effective, cost-efficient, and accessible behavioral services.

Due to the sensitive nature of Community Care’s work, customer service is of paramount importance. “A lot of calls that come in are community care and behavioral health calls, so we deal with people who have time-sensitive challenges to their mental and physical well-being. It’s very important that our calls are effective and that our callers feel we take them seriously,” said Virginia Bernaciak, Director of Member Services for Community Care.

Virginia has been with the company for six years and has 28 years of experience in the contact center space. She manages multiple 24/7 contact centers, which include 46 customer service agents and 250 care management agents spread across the company’s Pennsylvania offices. In total, 72 different lines come into their contact center, providing after-hours support for other business units. They average around 25,000 calls per month, with an average call time of four minutes and 38 seconds.

“There were so many things that the C1 team brought to the table that I didn’t even think about, and when I came to them with a request, they went above and beyond to make it happen. I would tell them what we’re looking for, and they’d make it come alive for us. We were always on the same page, and it was very collaborative. I loved when they would come into the office to work with us —it was invigorating.”

Virginia Bernaciak | Director of Member Services, Community Care

Objective

To ensure Community Care Behavioral Health Organization's contact center will continue to provide the best service possible, with the ability to identify and resolve any customer service issue that arises on the phone in the timeliest manner possible.

Timeline

May 2017 to May 2018

Summary 

C1 implemented the INI Post-Call Survey application to provide Community Care with real-time, tangible data that resulted in a more accurate understanding of the quality of their customer service.

Benefits

• Allows callers to provide real-time feedback about their experience
• Provides the opportunity for a real-time resolution to caller issues
• Improves team morale and company culture

Solution: The INI Post-Call Survey Application

Community Care partnered with C1 and Interactive Northwest, Inc. (INI) to deploy the INI Post-Call Survey application. The customer service and care management teams now utilize the survey after every call to ensure that every customer has a great experience. The survey allows Community Care to provide real-time customer complaint resolution, leading to a more holistic customer experience. “The first question of the survey is, ‘Were you treated with dignity and respect?’ If they select 1, meaning no, they are automatically sent to a supervisor or team lead. We immediately handle it, or if we are not able to answer it live, we guarantee a response to their voicemail within one hour. We don’t care if it’s 4 a.m. We want to resolve the issue as quickly as possible,” said Virginia.

The INI Post-Call Survey application has led to immediate improvements, filling the gaps left by the written annual survey. “This survey is truly about the call that the customer just had with my representative. This is live. The other survey didn’t provide information that we could use, and this survey solved our issue because now we have real-time feedback. If we fail our caller, my supervisor talks to them to understand the complaint, apologizes, and works to improve it. I now have the data to back my team up on how they’re doing in customer service. We implemented this survey last year as a way to determine where our issues were. Still, so far, we’re seeing that our customer service isn’t the problem, so it helps us to come back and say what’s actually happening in real time with real data,” said Virginia.

Indeed, the post-call surveys paint a very different picture than that of the annual survey. Community Care’s customer service team is averaging a 99.8% satisfaction score for March 2018, with 44% of callers participating in the survey. To promote participation, the survey is offered at the beginning of each call, and agents must emphasize the importance of the survey at the end of their call. Each agent has two sets of goals based on the post-call survey: an overall satisfaction score of 98% and a participation rate of at least 35%. The team has succeeded in achieving and exceeding both benchmarks.

The survey also helps Virginia determine areas of improvement for each individual agent. “Even if an agent fails, it’s good because we can identify the issue and fix it. It’s a learning opportunity. The supervisor can pull up the data and share with the agent where the call went south and address how to improve in the future,” said Virginia.

A Secondary Benefit: Team Morale

“After the survey was implemented, we found that the benefits were two-fold. Not only is Community Care getting amazing customer experience survey data that helps them continue to improve the business, but they get this wonderful feedback to present to the agent that boosts morale and improves the company culture,” said Lisa Wilkie, National Account Manager, C1.

At the end of each survey, the caller is presented with the opportunity to record a 30-second message providing additional comments or questions. “It’s really nice to have that feedback live, to hear the voice messages. We got 287 voice responses in March alone. When you hear them, it provides satisfaction for all the long hours and hard work,” said Virginia.

The recordings have been so positive that Virginia has shared them with her team. “I wanted to prove to my team how good they were. Oftentimes, it gets lost in translation, and people think, ‘You just answer calls.’ We’re there to help a person in need and answer a question, help them, and guide them. When one of my team members heard the recordings saying, ‘She went above and beyond. She took her time. She explained it perfectly to me,’ it’s a totally different experience than me preaching to them. It’s a great morale booster for my team that their extra effort doesn’t go unnoticed,” said Virginia.

The C1 Difference

Virginia credits the seamless implementation of the post-call survey to Community Care’s partnership with C1. “From my perspective, the project was easy, and I never got frustrated or aggravated. If I had a concern or issue, I knew it could be resolved by the C1 team. They are the best people to work with because they’re professional, dedicated, and truly want to help us with our causes and issues. C1 shares our same principles and ideas.”

“The success of a project starts with the blueprint. JoLynn LaCoursiere, C1 Customer Experience Architect, invested on-site listening time and talent from day one that set the stage for the expanded team to produce a valued deliverable,” added Lisa. “Listening to what Community Care desired as the end game application provided accurate design framework, with measurable goals to take the project over the finish line and ensure that we built the best solution for Community Care.”

A True Partnership

Shared values led C1 to partner with INI for this implementation. “We chose to work with INI because they share the same commitment to the customer that we do,” said JoLynn. C1 and INI provided Community Care with the same experience the company strives to deliver to its members. “From the beginning to the very end, it was effortless,” said Virginia.

C1 remained involved and on-site throughout the process, with a C1 field services engineer building specialized software for survey handling. “What differentiates us is that we made it look like one—we were all one team. It was a true partnership,” said JoLynn. “We were providing guidance, recommendations, and best practices throughout the process, from conception through implementation and follow-up, to confirm that everything was working correctly for Community Care and to assist them with achieving their goals.”

A Bright Future for Community Care

Virginia believes that the implementation of the INI Post-Call Survey application will have a lasting impact on Community Care’s call center. “We want the best for our members, and with this survey, we’re showing that the member is the most important thing to us. The survey captures exactly what I’m looking for, especially when it comes to resolving issues. How our members are treated is so important to me because it does not matter if you’re intoxicated or impolite, you need to be treated correctly when you’re looking to receive care.”

The survey data also provides Virginia with the chance to see the positive impact her team is making. “When I look at the surveys and the data we receive, I have a moment of smelling the roses,” said Virginia. “It’s nice to see everything that we’ve done. It’s a great feeling to have.”