Call it "walk in their shoes testing" or WITST for short (kidding on acronym). It can work in insurance and telecom customer service rep (CSR) scenarios with some caveats in stream of consciousness order...
*Parallel set-ups / Realistic simulation Given the legalities and unacceptable possibility that we'd annoy or lose real customers, we created a "parallel" environment, with a dummy phone that listened in on the conversation but was on perma-mute, and a view of the system and data, but didn't alter the customer's record permanently. (if you're working with an insurance/telecom company, they may have a training set-up like this already) It's not exactly the same as being on the front line, but it's close enough to feel the anxiety and panic if the customer needs something and you can't quickly find the options / info on the screen / product. (*from my experience, this is the key piece that helps it provide value over a CI - there will always be things that a real CSR / person forgets when they're being "watched" - if you have a chance to walk in their shoes, you can experience some of the things they forgot to tell you) *Be ready to sign an NDA (may want to proactively offer it, if you're an outside consultant) Companies protect their customers and their privacy voraciously, like a mother bear with her cubs. How they train CSRs and handle customer service is a bit proprietary as it can be their 'edge' over the competition. So on all counts, expect they'll want a non-disclosure agreement. *Basic training You do need some training, similar to what the CSRs would receive on starting the job. Given high attrition in some of these industries, that was sufficient to simulate a good portion of the workforce when we did the studies. *Can't simulate attitudes / motivation (or can you?) Marijke's point is well-taken - it's hard to simulate the true motivations and reality of someone for whom this *is* the job day in and day out. I suppose in the CSR scenario, you could potentially simulate a CSR's state of mind if you have colleagues give you a warm-up by yelling at you for something over which you have no control, much like a CSR on the front lines gets from real customers. *Can be expensive It can be expensive to set up the listen-in phone line, though I suspect now it might be cheaper given Skype and phone conferencing abilities. *May need to forewarn customers Your client may still want to forewarn customers that to improve customer service, etc., during a certain week, they may have another observer. (Some companies already have a message to this effect - "for training purposes, your call may be monitored/recorded") *Have someone be your notetaker / recorder It's not realistic to record or remember your thoughts/reactions in this situation, so either record yourself (including both parts of the phone conversation if possible) or have someone observing you and recording notes. Even though you won't get everything that goes through your mind at that point, you'll have enough cues to remember from recordings. *Allocate time every so often (e.g., every 2 calls or every hour, etc.) to capture your thoughts, reactions *More than one day may be excessive If you're working with high volume situations, several days could be excessive - may be better to do one whole day, or do a couple half days, again, with time every so often to capture thoughts / reactions. *Record the real CSR's reactions, if possible Really worthwhile to compare the real CSR to the newbie / simulated CSR's experience and see how they differ. You can't perfectly attribute what you did to what a newbie would do, again given motivations and different backgrounds, but interesting to compare nonetheless. *Let CSRs watch you! If you really want CSRs to appreciate what you do (and bring humor back into their lives), let the client invite some of the off-duty people in to observe, and even jot down their notes on all the things they notice that are wrong as you "experience" what they do and the system they must use. Could be eye-opening. Robert makes a valid point about all the "aside" tasks that a CSR / user may have (e.g., being their turn for lunch orders, etc.) - in some cases (i.e., small companies, tech companies, etc.) those are legitimate situations. In big companies, that's less the case and there may even be heavily restricted areas for CSRs where they can focus solely on customer service and handling as many calls as needed. Good luck! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=37492 ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [email protected] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
