Extend the hours, not the headcount

CUSTOMER SNAPSHOT

Elkjøp is the largest consumer electronics retailer in the Nordic countries (known as Elgiganten in Sweden and Denmark and as Gigantti in Finland). The customer centre handles 4.8 million queries each year. In 2019, the team decided to extend the customer centre's opening hours so that more shoppers could get help when it suited them. The in-house team had a finite number of agents to do it with.

THE CHALLENGE

Extending the customer centre's opening hours was straightforward in principle. In practice, the same team was being asked to cover more hours and more enquiries without growing.

Hiring more agents to staff the new hours would have lifted costs without changing the shape of the work. The team would still spend the same time on the same recurring questions.

THE SOLUTION

For Elkjøp, Nordic languages expertise was a deciding factor. "Expertise in Nordic languages was extremely important to us," said Kent Hafskjær, Senior Project Manager at Elkjøp.

Kindly's team began with Elkjøp's chat logs. The analysis showed that eight recurring questions accounted for half of all customer centre enquiries. Those eight questions became the foundation of what Elkjøp's team named Elbot.

From that point on, the AI Support Agent answered the recurring questions that used to fill the queue, and the team focused on what needed a person.

THE RESULTS

Since launch, the AI Support Agent has handled 2.3 million customer interactions a year. In Norway alone, it now takes around 3,000 conversations a day. Of those, 50% resolve without the customer ever asking for a person.

Hafskjær says the numbers have exceeded what the team had built into the business case.

The customer centre opens for longer hours without the headcount having to grow. Agents now spend their time on the enquiries that need them, and customer satisfaction has improved as a result.

When the same team can hold longer hours without growing, the work that needs a person gets the time it deserves.