SLAs for Talk to....

WIZE

I know all these companies have internal SLAs and display their response time but shouldnt they the user have an Option to rate Satisfaction as an SLA rather than Response.

Boards.ie: Nicola

We did consider adding in kudos or rep points when we redid the Talk To platform but felt it wasn't viable and would be open to abuse.

That's not to say we might not revisit it at some point in the future though.

WIZE

Is the Response time a Boards SLA or the Talk to Companies SLA? or just for show?

Boards.ie: Nicola

We don't technically have SLA's in place for Talk to clients, the response time is based on the time from OP to rep response over a 28 day average so it's not for show-it is intended to be an accurate metric to manage member's expectations and give clients an idea of how they are performing.

(For those who don't know, SLA stands for service level agreement which is commonly used as part of a contract and in this case would refer to Boards.ie and clients agreeing a minimum service level for their engagement through the Talk To channel).

WIZE

So its more of a KPI ( Key performance indicator ) for the initial response time.

so as an example I started a thread for a known issue that does not just effect me or a complaint and a rep responds to me with send me your details via PM and I never hear from them again they will meet the response time every time even if more people have the same issue and update the thread and no rep answers?

im just curious of this purpose?





*im an SLA Analyst :pac:

Boards.ie: Nicola

It is more of a KPI, hence me saying technically we don't have SLA's in place

You are correct in saying that the response rate time would be achieved from the first reply so long threads with ongoing issues technically skew the metric as the issue is not resolved and is persisting for multiple customers.

That said, the parameters for response rate and time have been tweaked a few times since we launched and I have a feeling that it may exclude certain threads-I'll check and get back to you.

The main purpose of the response rate and time is to manage customer's/member's expectations and show that the Talk to forum is an active and viable customer service channel.

When we redid the Talk to forums we could have gone for all the bells and whistles but we had to prioritise certain features over others and we thought the response rate and time was the most efficient metric to start with.

WIZE

OK . Thanks , I wont bore you with more Questions

TherapyBoy

Boards.ie: Nicola wrote: »

We did consider adding in kudos or rep points when we redid the Talk To platform but felt it wasn't viable and would be open to abuse.

That's not to say we might not revisit it at some point in the future though.

Would it be possible to keep the first response-o-meter as it is but add to that a timer for a satisfactory conclusion to whatever the problem was. For instance, when a problem is resolved in some way the OP could tick a box to say 'This issue has been resolved to my satisfaction' and an average time from start to finish could be calculated. To avoid abuse of the system there would be no negative option & the 'issue resolved' box could only be ticked within a certain time period from the last post.
I guess it would still be difficult to avoid it being open to abuse, just a thought.

knucklehead6

TherapyBoy wrote: »

Would it be possible to keep the first response-o-meter as it is but add to that a timer for a satisfactory conclusion to whatever the problem was. For instance, when a problem is resolved in some way the OP could tick a box to say 'This issue has been resolved to my satisfaction' and an average time from start to finish could be calculated. To avoid abuse of the system there would be no negative option & the 'issue resolved' box could only be ticked within a certain time period from the last post.
I guess it would still be difficult to avoid it being open to abuse, just a thought.

The biggest problem with that would be that not all customers are going to have their issue solved to their satisfaction. Look at the prison forum here, the amount of people who continually argue an invalid point until the admins get bored and lock the thread.

yes, people in customer service industries do try to sort out the customer but what if that suggestion had been implemented in one of the forums.

I had bought a flugelbinder off X Co. , but had not been using it in the correct manner and it broke. I come on to the forum all self righteous and indignant giving out about the flugelbinder and X Co.

It gets sent back to the X Co. repair group and they use some super dooper log file to figure out that i was using it as to bind floogels, not flugels, and i should have spent 4 times the money to buy a floogelbinder.

X Co. come back to me saying sorry, can't fix this, it wasn't being used in the correct and prescribed manner and has failed as a result of deliberate and constant misuse. I'M THE CUSTOMER, I'M ALWAYS RIGHT, HOW DARE X CO. TAKE MY MONEY AND NOT DELIVER PROPER SERVICE, I'M TAKING THIS TO JOE DUFFY AND ALSO THE THE HIGHEST COURT IN THE UNIVERSE.

Now I'm hardly going to tick "Closed to my satisfaction" in this instance. Even though it IS my own fault.

TherapyBoy

knucklehead6 wrote: »

The biggest problem with that would be that not all customers are going to have their issue solved to their satisfaction. Look at the prison forum here, the amount of people who continually argue an invalid point until the admins get bored and lock the thread.

yes, people in customer service industries do try to sort out the customer but what if that suggestion had been implemented in one of the forums.

I had bought a flugelbinder off X Co. , but had not been using it in the correct manner and it broke. I come on to the forum all self righteous and indignant giving out about the flugelbinder and X Co.

It gets sent back to the X Co. repair group and they use some super dooper log file to figure out that i was using it as to bind floogels, not flugels, and i should have spent 4 times the money to buy a floogelbinder.

X Co. come back to me saying sorry, can't fix this, it wasn't being used in the correct and prescribed manner and has failed as a result of deliberate and constant misuse. I'M THE CUSTOMER, I'M ALWAYS RIGHT, HOW DARE X CO. TAKE MY MONEY AND NOT DELIVER PROPER SERVICE, I'M TAKING THIS TO JOE DUFFY AND ALSO THE THE HIGHEST COURT IN THE UNIVERSE.

Now I'm hardly going to tick "Closed to my satisfaction" in this instance. Even though it IS my own fault.

What I meant was that only the positive satisfactory outcomes are counted. If your problem wasn't solved or you were otherwise dissatisfied there is no box for you to tick. It means the data is skewed a bit as you can only see the average time from initial contact to conclusion for solved problems, but it is at least an indicator to how long a solvable problem takes to solve.

For example:
I have a problem that was solved.
Initial response time = 30 minutes
Problem solved to a satisfactory outcome = 5 days

I have a problem that was not solved.
Initial response time = 30 minutes

In a negative conclusion your data isn't added to the average. It'd just have to be worded in such a way that users realise only positive outcomes are counted towards the average, "average time to conclusion in cases where all parties were satisfied" or something. Someone with a better way with words than me is welcome to jump in at any time :pac: