How NAB is conversing with customers in every channel

Measuring impact

A key benefit of more messaging channels has been dealing with the exponential increase in call volumes. Another is call deflection.

“Since launching all those channels in Covid, we have been able to deflect 90,000 calls into these new channels,” Katakis said. “It has given us the ability to churn through the volume. We are finding it up to four times more efficient than some traditional channels.” 

Customer satisfaction triggered at end of conversations via these channels is also sitting at about 80 per cent.

Then there are benefits in terms of extending digital capabilities, such as the digital bot sitting on NAB’s site. Katakis said the debut of NAB’s WhatsApp bot is the first time this has been used outside of a campaign or owned platform.

“It was good to do and provided us with learnings on how to use content and getting to market with a bot,” she said. Off the back of this, NAB created a Federal Budget bot on Messenger in late 2020 as a campaign-based initiative driving engagement.

Even as the thick of Covid has passed, Katakis expected this capability would continue to evolve and gain investment.

“I definitely think it’s here to stay because of customer appetite and the demand for these channels – customers are already active in them,” she said. “While we have seen a reduction in volumes from the peak of Covid, we are still getting customers coming in via these channels. And the nature of enquiries is different.

“For example, we had a gentleman ask if branches were opened during the [May 2021] Melbourne lockdown. We provided details but also asked if we could help directly in the channel. He had a cheque and needed to bank it, and we were able to provide instructions which saved him from leaving his house and going to a branch. It’s those inquiries that help us change customer behaviour.”

Another surprise for Katakis has been the ability to contain conversations within these channels. “I thought if you were a customer clicking to call, you would need to be connected to a colleague. But we’re able to maintain engagement in the platform you started in about 80 per cent of the time,” she said. 

Key to making social and digital channels work well in customer service is aligning technology use against strategy.

“It’s 100 per cent about alignment and having your teams internally all knowing why you are doing it,” Katakis said.

“We were technically ready to go [on iMessage and WhatsApp] before we had people lined up. As part of the pandemic, we were pulling in colleagues from across the organisation to get through the volumes we were seeing. Because we had FAQs and collateral in place, teams could go through quickly and people could ask questions if they needed to. So we were well set up.”

In all, Katakis’s team upskilled about 70 colleagues from very different parts of the organisation.

“Depending on where you were in the organisation, it gave you a fresh perspective in dealing directly with customer services,” she added.

This case study originally featured in CMO magazine Issue 1, 2021. To access your complimentary digital copy, click here.

Don’t miss out on the wealth of insight and content provided by CMO A/NZ and sign up to our weekly CMO Digest newsletters and information services here. 

You can also follow CMO on Twitter: @CMOAustralia, take part in the CMO conversation on LinkedIn: CMO ANZ, follow our regular updates via CMO Australia's Linkedin company page