How KidsLife is becoming the most customer-friendly player in its market
In an industry where every fund pays out the same amount, the Belgian child benefit fund differentiates on service — and rebuilt its organisation around customer feedback.
KidsLife is a Belgian child benefit fund. In 2018 it underwent a radical change from a B2B to a B2C market — and none of the players in the industry can differentiate on product or price, because everyone is required to pay out the same amount. Experience and quality of service are the key drivers of market share.
A customer who had previously been out of the picture was suddenly at the centre of the organisation, and every process, internal and external, had to be aligned with them.
Within our industry, we need to make the difference through service excellence. Hello Customer showed us what our biggest pain points were, and we have implemented several process improvements since.
What they needed to solve
Suddenly serving end customers instead of businesses exposed four problems at once.
Employees had to become advisors who help the customer correctly and in plain language.
Customers did not always find the right information, or found it presented too technically.
The lack of clear information drove call volumes up, so waits got longer and callers struggled to get through.
After the switch from B2B, all operational processes had to be aligned with an end customer the organisation had never directly served.
How KidsLife uses Hello Customer
Feedback showed answers were often formulated too technically. One small change did a lot of work: at the end of a conversation, the advisor now asks 'Was this an answer to your question?', so the customer can confirm or ask for more help. A contact form with prefilled FAQs points customers to the right information, and in many cases the form is never even submitted, because the answer was found along the way.
Feedback showed that getting through on the phone, and how long that took, were the biggest pain points, so KidsLife reorganised: advisors now work at team level and across teams, and when one team is too busy the schedule adjusts. The average answering rate rose from 75% in 2020 to 87% in 2021. Customer input also showed how important shared file notes are — which is why KidsLife is investing in a CRM system.
KidsLife measures on two levels: a CSAT score for pure satisfaction, and open feedback to actually work with. The survey is deliberately simple — a score and an open question — which is why so many people fill it in. Scores are shared with all the teams against the overall benchmark of 84, and a team of customer ambassadors from 20 operational teams dives into the feedback every two months to define quick wins and process improvements, like the revamped online portal.
Results
Process improvements came straight from the feedback: advisors work in teams that back each other up when the workload spikes, contact-centre scheduling improved so customers are helped faster, and the contact form and FAQ section cut call volumes — lifting the answering rate by 12 percentage points.
Customer feedback also drove improvements in attitude and customer-oriented mindset, with advisors coached on what customers say and information standardised so every manager can help the customer correctly and understandably.
Thanks to a high response rate of 26.31% and open text response of 69%, we collect a lot of feedback. Every two months our customer ambassadors dive into the feedback and define actions: both quick wins and process improvements, like improving our online portal.Ann HostensMarketing Director, KidsLife
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