As organizations strive to enhance customer support efficiency and resource allocation, understanding and measuring case deflection becomes crucial. Case deflection, the process where customers start to create a ticket but find their answers independently, not only lowers the volume of direct inquiries but also leads to more effective resource utilization within support teams. But how do we accurately measure this metric, and what constitutes an effective case deflection rate?
This blog will break down the formula to calculate the case deflection rate and discuss what benchmarks indicate strong performance in different industries. We will also explore how implementing strategic case deflection can lead to significant cost savings and improved customer satisfaction, with practical insights drawn from real-world applications and analytics tools like Zoomin for Salesforce. Whether you're looking to implement new case deflection strategies or improve your existing metrics, this guide will provide valuable insights into making your support system more efficient and customer-focused.
How to measure and optimize case deflection rates
Case deflection occurs when customers initiate case creation but resolve their queries independently before submission, reducing the volume of direct inquiries and leading to more effective resource utilization within support teams. Precisely measuring this metric involves analyzing the number of users who accessed a case form but opted not to submit a ticket. An optimal case deflection rate, which varies across industries, generally indicates that self-service resources are effectively helping customers resolve their issues independently.
If you're considering implementing case deflection or looking to enhance your existing metrics, adopting targeted strategies is essential. Regularly analyze user inquiries, particularly those that are knowledge-based and exclude bugs or feature requests. Ensure your search functionality delivers precise, relevant results that meet users' needs. Furthermore, optimizing the user interface of your support platforms and documentation is crucial to make them user-friendly and straightforward to navigate. Personalizing user interactions through a content delivery system that dynamically displays the most relevant content can significantly improve case deflection rates, ultimately saving time and resources while boosting customer satisfaction.
When customers start to create a ticket but find their answers before submitting it, this lowers the volume of tickets and leads to a more efficient allocation of resources in the Support organization. But how exactly is case deflection measured? Let’s break it down.
To calculate the Case Deflection rate based on the number of users who opened a case form page but did not submit a ticket, you can use the following formula:
For example, if 500 users opened the case form page, but only 400 of them actually submitted a ticket, the case deflection rate would be 20%.
What is a good case deflection rate?
A good case deflection rate varies by industry and company, but generally, a higher rate indicates that your self-service resources are effective, helping customers resolve their issues independently. A good case deflection rate should ideally lead to a noticeable reduction in direct customer support interactions, saving resources and improving efficiency.
An industry benchmark for an effective case deflection rate is around 58%, which indicates a robust level of customer self-sufficiency.
Calculating the estimated cost-savings with case deflection
Zoomin for Salesforce Case Deflection analytics provides the ability to continuously monitor your cost savings with case deflection.
Using industry benchmarks, and Zoomin's customer database, we estimate the average deflected ticket cost at $100. With support tickets that require additional handling time by the subject matter experts such as Product and research and development teams, we estimate the average cost per deflected ticket at $250.
For example, if a company receives 500 monthly knowledge-related tickets at a cost of $100 each, without case deflection, the monthly expense is $50,000. Applying the industry case deflection benchmark of 58%, the effective number of tickets reduces to 210 monthly. This results in a reduced cost of $21,000 per month. The monthly savings, therefore, are $29,000, leading to annual savings of $348,000. This calculation demonstrates the significant financial benefits of implementing effective case deflection strategies to minimize the volume of direct customer support interactions.
Want to implement case deflection or improve your existing rates?
Want to Implement case deflection or improve your existing case deflection rates? Here are some targeted strategies and tips on how to deflect cases effectively:
- Analyze user questions. Regularly analyze the top search queries and submitted cases that are knowledge-related (not bugs or feature requests, but rather how-to questions). Identify patterns and common topics. Use this data to refine the content in your knowledge base. Ensure that the language used mirrors the user's own language, making it easier for them to find solutions through search.
- Improve your search results. Make sure your search yields accurate, relevant results. Think of the top queries that you have identified and the ideal search results that a user should receive when typing in these queries. Implement advanced search algorithms that can understand natural language and deliver content that directly answers user queries. Focus on implementing synonyms used by users to effectively surface the existing content to your users.
- Consolidate all of your content and make it easily accessible. Consolidate all technical content, regardless of where it is sourced or what tools are used to create it. Then, place helpful resources and authoritative content where your users are most likely to need them—be it within your web application, community forums, or support site. Ensure these resources are easy to find and navigate to from any part of your service ecosystem.
- Focus on efficient user experience. Optimize the user experience of your support platforms and documentation presentation to ensure they are intuitive and easy and to navigate. Provide clear, step-by-step instructions and visual guides that help users resolve their issues fast and efficiently.
- Personalize user interactions. Develop a personalized content delivery system where users see content that is most relevant to their specific situation and needs at the right time. Utilize user data and behavior to tailor the content dynamically with metadata descriptions and tagging, increasing the effectiveness of self-service options.
In conclusion, case deflection is a strategic component of a sophisticated customer support system. To effectively deflect cases, provide comprehensive and easily accessible self-service options, such as FAQs, knowledge bases, and intuitive search tools. Implement dynamic case deflection widgets that suggest relevant articles and solutions in real-time.
Implementing case deflection effectively can drastically reduce the number of repetitive questions that escalate to live support, saving time and resources while improving customer satisfaction.
