TAMARA GALVÁN
MATT AYTON
Tamara answered the questions in the main part of the article while Matt provided information for it and in the accompanying BOX on remote agents.
TELL ME THE SEATTLE TIMES STORY.
A: The Seattle Times is one of the few independent and locally owned news media organizations in the U. S. We are multimedia with 47 % digital and 53 % print subscribers.
Alden J. Blethen purchased the paper in 1896( it originated as the the Seattle Press-Times, a four-page newspaper founded in 1891 with a daily circulation of 3,500). It was renamed the Seattle Daily Times and its circulation doubled within half a year.
By 1915, the circulation was around 70,000 and today the paper is still owned by the Blethen family and is now led by the fourth and fifth generations( Frank Blethen, Publisher and Ryan Blethen, Associate Publisher).
The Seattle Times has a strong history of independent public-service journalism and continues to serve the Northwest with principled, quality journalism dedicated to the highest journalistic standards. We tell uniquely local stories you won’ t find anywhere else: stories that have been recognized nationally for their exceptional depth and impact and have been the winner of 11 Pulitzer Prizes.
At the same time, Seattletimes. com is the most-visited digital information source in Washington State. More than 1.9 million adults in the Puget Sound turn to The Seattle Times each month for vetted news and information that is timely, relevant, and easy to access in multi-platform experiences.
The Seattle Times is a pioneer among news media organizations, creating innovative funding models for public-service journalism initiatives that improve our community.
We are a national leader in developing community funding for high-impact journalism projects that tackle urgent community issues head-on and create change. Our in-depth, solutions-based reporting has changed public funding and policy and resulted in action at the highest levels of state government.
" WHEN PEOPLE ARE HAVING ISSUES THAT THEY WANT RESOLVED, THEY WANT TO SPEAK TO A LIVE PERSON."
WHAT IS THE FUNCTION OF YOUR CONTACT CENTER?
A: Our contact center provides support to our customers and assists them with resolving delivery, billing, technical, and any other issues they may have, and does so in a timely and seamless manner, which helps us improve customer retention. We manage these interactions across multiple channels: IVR, calls, chat, email, etc.
Our contact center is a mix of in-house( five reps) and outsourced at Alorica( 25 reps). Alorica handles the initial contact for all subscribers and there are certain situations or subscriber issues where they escalate to our in-house reps. Alorica has been our call center vendor for about 20 years.
We also do outbound call campaigns that focus on customers with a high hazard score( a weighted measurement of number of contacts, complaints, open cases, etc. on a customer account), within a one-week period for the daily edition and a two-week period for the Sunday edition.
These calls are to ensure that the customers’ concerns and issues have been resolved to their liking and are not ongoing.
SPEAKING OF DIGITAL, WHY CONTINUE WITH VOICE AND LIVE AGENTS IN A TECH-SAVVY MARKET LIKE SEATTLE?
A: First and foremost, our commitment is to our customers. When people are having issues that they want resolved, they want to speak to a live person. They want and need to know that someone is listening, cares, and is going to ultimately solve whatever issue they are calling about.
WHAT WERE THE NEEDS THAT YOU HAD AND WHAT ACTION DID YOU TAKE?
A: Our first need was with our customer contact technologies, which had a CRM integration with Salesforce. Our old vendor didn’ t have capabilities we needed. So, in 2016, we moved digital subscribers and, in April 2017, print subscribers from our old vendor to VoicePort.
I UNDERSTAND THAT YOU HAD A CIRCULATION CHANGE. COULD YOU DISCUSS ITS IMPACT ON CUSTOMER SERVICE AND THE CONTACT CENTER?
A: This was our second need. Our print subscriptions have continued to decline, but we have managed to stabilize these numbers, including in areas affected by the shift to mail delivery. 8 CONTACT CENTER PIPELINE