Is Regular Outreach the Key to Customer Retention?

It’s all too easy to get caught up in firefighting contact volumes and – just like that – a whole year goes by and you’re talking to that same customer about their renewal.

Sound familiar? You’re not alone! Particularly in insurance, where it’s commonplace for customers to only talk to their provider once a year.

Yet this approach could be undermining your customer retention rates and putting unnecessary pressure on agents to deliver value at a single touchpoint!

So how do you turn it around? Routine outreach can make the world of difference, as we discovered when we talked to Jane Redgrave at BUPA about how she overhauled her customer retention strategy.

Outreach Really Needs to Happen More Regularly Across the Customer Lifecycle

The key issue is that if the only interaction a customer has is at renewal, there is little opportunity to build trust and demonstrate value, so outreach really needs to happen much earlier on and more often across the customer journey.

To address this, the team at BUPA shifted their strategy to introduce more proactive outbound communication at key moments throughout the customer lifecycle.

All to create meaningful conversations that help customers understand and use their insurance product more effectively.

“Our insurance products include so many additional features, but we found that many customers simply aren’t aware of them – despite us notifying them through email and leaflets.

And this is where our conversations have been most effective; taking the time to proactively talk to customers about all of the great things BUPA offer.

It’s been so great to hear them welcome these calls and even say, “Oh, I didn’t realize that was included!” – Jane Redgrave

As this example shows, many organizations often assume that sending emails or documents through the post is enough – but these marketing materials don’t always drive real understanding.

And this is where there’s real opportunity to add in human-to-human conversations to help cut through the noise.

Identifying “Moments That Matter” Engages Customers When They’re Most Receptive

Yet effective outreach is not just about frequency – it’s about timing – as identifying “moments that matter” allows agents to engage customers when they are most receptive.

For example, BUPA found that one of the most impactful touchpoints was to introduce an early welcome call.

As this example shows, this approach achieves several things at once – from providing clarity around any questions customers may have early on, to introducing them to digital tools they may not have realized were available. All helping to enhance their overall experience.

If you want advice on using welcome calls in your contact centre, read our article: Welcome Calls: A Simple Way to Increase Customer Satisfaction

Regular Check-Ins Help Ensure Customers Continue to See Value Over Time

And it shouldn’t stop there! Taking a more considered approach to customer outreach should continue across the year, with regular check-ins helping to maintain engagement and ensure customers continue to see value over time – transforming the relationship from transactional to relational, and bring the brand to life as a consistent and helpful presence.

The benefits are two-fold, as when renewal time does eventually come around, this layered engagement approach ensures customers are already familiar with the service and its benefits – ultimately making the decision to stay much easier.

And the results speak for themselves, as BUPA are already seeing clear upwards trends in their renewal rates!

Not only this, but this approach has also introduced some welcome call variety for agents too – resulting in unexpected boosts to employee engagement and reductions in attrition rates.

No Transformation Comes Without Its Challenges

Of course, no transformation comes without its challenges. One of the first hurdles the BUPA team encountered was technology – as initially, outreach efforts relied on manual processes that were not scalable, so investment in a dialling system was needed to kick-start the growth of this initiative.

Another key challenge was operational as, when it came to transitioning from a purely inbound model to a blended inbound/outbound environment, shifting agents between inbound demand and outbound activity proved to be more complex than expected.

However, introducing dedicated inbound and outbound team leaders really helped to improve the situation.

For more information on where leading contact centres are applying technology successfully, read our article: Where Are Contact Centres REALLY Seeing AI Success?

There Are So Many Opportunities to Do Even More With Customer Outreach

What’s most exciting of all is just how many opportunities there are to push this approach even further, as BUPA are now up and running with their proactive outreach and heading into a period of refinement.

Proactive Outreach Can Have a Profound Impact on Operational Success

As BUPA has successfully demonstrated, timely and proactive outreach can have a profound impact on operational success – helping customers feel more supported, valued, and ultimately far more likely to renew when the time comes.

Have You Seen Success With Customer Outreach?

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With thanks to Jane Redgrave, Head of Consumer Retention at BUPA, for taking the time to share her experiences for this article.

If you are looking for more advice on how to improve customer service in your contact centre, read these articles next:

• 3 Steps to Better Understanding Your Customers
• Successful Customer Retention Strategies From Specsavers
• Top 10 Customer Experience KPIs

Author: Megan Jones
Reviewed by: Xander Freeman