Electoral Enrolment
Making every vote count: CONTACT is helping the Electoral Enrolment Centre counter ‘enrolment apathy’.
A staggering 51 percent of all enrolment requests received
by the Electoral Enrolment Centre prior to the New Zealand 2005
general election were processed via a text messaging solution
deployed by multi-channel communication expert Datasquirt.
Datasquirt was asked to deploy a contact centre solution that
would help attract more voters by targeting enrolments from
traditionally hard to reach groups, including those who had just
turned 18, those who had moved house recently and people for whom
English was a second language.
The Electoral Enrolment Centre needed an SMS contact centre
solution capable of handling very high volumes of consumer contact
in short time frames, which could also support back-office
processing in multiple service bureaus across different
locations.
Datasquirt configured and deployed its multi-channel call centre
software CONTACT™, a solution that processes and queues inbound and
outbound text messages using a call centre's existing business
processes.
The hosted system ran off centralised servers and was accessed
via a secure internet connection allowing the Electoral Enrolment
Centre to significantly reduce costs and set-up time as its call
centre bureaus did not need to install new software or
hardware.
Customer contact history
During the enrolment period, inbound SMS contacts were delivered
to agents directly via the CONTACT solution for review and
processing. Detailed real-time reports outlining contacts and
traffic analysis (for workforce management forecasting and
rostering) were made available. In addition, the CONTACT solution
provided a full colour-coded contact history for each customer.
As a result of the Datasquirt solution, the Electoral Enrolment
Centre generated a significant improvement in the number of
enrolment requests it received prior to the election. The centre
received 72 percent more requests to enrol in the first two weeks
of the project when compared with the 2002 campaign.
Over 50 percent of all enrolment requests were
received via SMS, despite all consumers having the choice of an
0800 phone number, an internet/email service, and a freepost mail
service.
Consumer convenience
When compared with 2002, consumer usage of the mail and phone
channels was about the same, but the web/email channel usage was
down in 2005 by a significant 80 percent as consumers took
advantage of the more convenient SMS option.
The response to the SMS channel was unprecedented and the
volumes of contacts received were far greater than envisaged, so
much so that the Electoral Enrolment Centre was required to
contract additional outsourced contact centre bureaus to cope with
the customer demand.
Based on the results of the 2005 voter registration campaign,
the New Zealand Government has firmly established the SMS channel
as the preferred mainstream communication choice for the general
public. The Electoral Enrolment Centre was thrilled with the
results and the CONTACT solution is marked down as a key tool for
all future election campaigns.
Key solution features/benefits
- CONTACT was deployed as an 'on-demand' hosted solution allowing
the client to cope with extra demand easily. Each new site was able
to deploy the solution in minutes with agents accessing the
solution using web browsers over the internet
- The solution allowed the contact centre to queue and process
real-time two-way SMS contacts with detailed reporting and KPI
metrics (grade of service, wait times, handle times, etc)
- While consumer usage of the SMS channel was high, the set-up
and running of CONTACT was not. The average cost per customer
contact was up to 80 percent cheaper to process via SMS than via
voice
- An SMS offering stimulates customers to act faster than other
channels such as voice and email. Contact volumes were up 72
percent in the first two weeks of the campaign when compared with
the 2002 general election.
About the Electoral Enrolment Centre
The Electoral Enrolment Centre maintains electoral rolls and
conducts the Maori Electoral Option. The centre is a self-contained
business unit of New Zealand Post Ltd, under contract to the
Minister of Justice. The centre has a team of Registrars of
Electors - one for each electorate. The Registrars are responsible
for compiling and maintaining the electoral rolls for their
electorate. As well as maintaining the electoral rolls on a daily
basis and conducting enrolment update campaigns prior to all major
electoral events, the Registrars also work in their local
communities to encourage eligible electors to enrol. For more
information please visit http://www.elections.org.nz/
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