How an Insurance Provider Improved the Customer Experience with Call-Backs

The General significantly reduced abandon rates and improved handle time on over 170,000 calls a month.

Decreased

Average Cost per Call

Reduced

Abandonment Rates

Improved

Average Speed of Answer

The Company

Industry

Insurance

No. Of Employees

850+

Location

Nashville, Tennessee

Founded in 1963, The General Automobile Insurance Services is a licensed insurance agency offering policies online and over the phone. The company is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, with offices across the US where their mascot, an army general, is a well-recognized figure. With a focus on drivers seeking insurance on a tight budget, The General is known for offering affordable monthly payments.

The Challenge

The General handles 170,000 customer service calls per month – and experiences regular spikes in call volume. During these unexpected call surges, the company has seen an increase in hold times, abandon rates, and, accordingly, customer frustration levels. For The General, improving the customer experience during periods of long hold time was a key priority, but increasing headcount was not a viable option.

The Solution

To solve this problem, The General turned to Fonolo’s Voice Call-Backs and Web Call-Backs to offer customers the convenience of a call-back without making them wait on hold during busy periods.

Now online customers can easily schedule a phone call via the online “call-back widget” on The General’s website. Callers phoning into the call center can simply “press 1 for a call-back,” and Fonolo will hold their place in line until an agent is available.

The Result

The General significantly reduced abandonment rates in the call center by giving customers the option to keep their place in line – without waiting on hold, courtesy of Fonolo. Additionally, the call-back option successfully delivered callers to the correct kind of agent every time, leaving customers happy and agents engaged. The solution has improved The General’s customers’ experience and is viewed by the company as a competitive differentiator.

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“We wanted to offer our customers the convenience of a call-back without consuming time actively waiting in a call queue. We also wanted to mitigate our abandon rate on busy days. Fonolo’s simple implementation and subscription-based model encouraged us to move forward with this solution.”

Allison Garretson
SVP, Operations & Customer Engagement