1st United Services Credit Union Improves the Customer Experience

In October 2012, 1^st United Services Credit Union started using Fonolo. By adding Fonolo to its website, 1st USCU empowered their members to connect to call center agents with just one click – no phone menus and no waiting on hold. Fonolo’s visual interface simplifies reaching 1st USCU for callers while its secure, cloud-based services make the process seamless for call center agents.

After a few months of getting acquainted with the Fonolo web widget, Mark shares with us some insight to the process, deployment and the reaction from his members.

Mark Edelman

Vice President Member Services

1st United Services Credit Union

What were you looking to accomplish before you discovered Fonolo? 

We wanted to offer new channels for our younger members.  Your click to call technology Smart Dialing seemed to be the right solution.

What was your motivation?  Streamlining operations, improving customer service? 

We wanted to expand our members’ options to contact us beyond just voice and e-mail.

What other companies/added services were you researching before deciding on Fonolo? 

We were exploring live chat options for the next step.  Fonolo seemed to be simple, yet elegant, so we moved Fonolo to the front of the queue.

What was it about Fonolo that encouraged you to move forward with them? 

Low cost, easy implementation, and very flexible. (Visit: Fonolo Pricing)

How easy is it to work with the Fonolo team? 

Extremely.

How many agents do you have in your call center? 

We have multiple call centers.  I have a staff of 9 in our service center.  The service center, which we call Member Services, handles the majority of our inbound calls.

Member Services process approximately 9K calls and 300 e-mails per month.  The other 4 call centers have a total of 20+ staff and are more focused on outbound calls.  We use Fonolo for members who wish to start the loan process or have some type of service issue.

What kind of changes did you need to make to your existing infrastructure to get Fonolo up and running to your members? 

No structural changes.  We just added the widget to our website and provided a script to the reps who would be handling the calls.

How easy was it for your agents to adapt to the new system?

Very easy.

Briefly explain how your agents were trained on receiving calls through Fonolo. 

It was very straight forward, which we nailed down into 5 easy steps.

We …

1. … explained how the system would work
2. … described the user experience
3. … scripted their greeting
4. … did test calls
5. … went live

Was there any downtime?

None.

How have the Pre-Call Questions feature helped with agent productivity? 

Not a big factor – so far.  On occasion, if callers provide their member number, we are able to pull up the account before we accept the call.  This is a small-time saving.

Do you feel that having Fonolo puts 1^st United Services Credit Union at a competitive advantage? 

The members who use this channel like this method of contact much better than calling the contact center.  When we initiate our formal launch, we anticipate having Fonolo’s widget on our site will improve perception of our business in the marketplace.

What are the benefits of offering Fonolo to your members and call center agents? 

The members who have been using the Fonolo web widget wouldn’t normally call us. Also, the members who use the widget really seem to like the service. There is no clear benefit for the staff, but moving forward with this new technology, puts a positive spin on the perception employees have towards the company.

Anything else you’d like to add? 

I believe Fonolo works because it addresses a need for some of our members and fills a gap with a younger demographic.

Since our interview with Mark, 1^st United Services Credit Union has deployed Fonolo’s latest product, In-Call Rescue (and they’re loving it).

For a more in-depth look at what 1^st United Services Credit Union is offering their members through Fonolo’s services, watch our free on-demand webinar.