Context
Across the sector, more than half of call centre volume concerned cards, and the main topics were standard, repeating ones: application tracking, campaign questions, limit and balance enquiries. This was a two-layer problem: a high-cost channel was carrying low-value work, and at the same time the moment of contact was not being converted into a sales opportunity. SMS, meanwhile, was losing effectiveness as a sales channel.
Approach
- The topic mix of inbound card calls was mapped, isolating the standard work that could move to digital.
- Campaign status tracking — how many more transactions, how much more spend to reach a target — was moved to a screen the customer could see themselves.
- The shortest access path was designed for core card data: limit, balance and points.
- A reactive, proactive and triggered campaign infrastructure was designed, with location- and behaviour-based offer scenarios defined.
- The platform was treated as a single design whole serving both as a service and a sales channel.
Outcome
- A structure was built to move repeating standard card enquiries to a lower-cost channel.
- Campaign tracking passed into the customer's own control, reducing the need to call.
- Campaign communication moved from bulk SMS logic to a targeted, triggered structure.
- Digital penetration was positioned as a sales channel, not only as a cost reducer.
This case study describes the project through its scope and approach. Client name, commercial figures and performance metrics are withheld under confidentiality obligations.
What This Project Left Behind
A channel's cost must be judged together with the value of the work it carries. A call centre is not an expensive channel; what is expensive is doing work there that a cheap channel could carry. The same analysis applies inside companies: which of your processes sits somewhere more expensive than it needs to?
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