Outbound customer interaction pairing methods and systems

• US 10,225,403 B2
• Filed: 12/02/2016
• Issued: 03/05/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/02/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mattersight Corporation (Nice Ltd)
• Original Assignee: Mattersight Corporation (Nice Ltd)
• Inventors: Danson, Christopher, Gustafson, David, Mack, Charles Franklyn
• Primary Examiner(s): Hong, Harry S
• Application Number:
  US15/368,211
• Publication Number:
  US 20180159977A1
• Time in Patent Office: 823 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/402 Agent or workforce management
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/551 Call history recording a computer conference H04L12/1831
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/655 Combination of telephone service and social networking messaging within social networks H04L51/52
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5158 in combination with automated outdialling systems devices for signalling identity of wanted subscriber H04M1/26
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5175 Call or contact centers supervision arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5191 interacting with the Internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5232 Call distribution algorithms
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5233 Operator skill based call distribution

Abstract

The methods, apparatus, and systems described herein relate to routing outbound communications. The methods include receiving a list of customers to contact, determining a time that each customer on the list is available, determining a personality type of each customer on the list, determining availability of one or more agents at the time that each customer on the list is available, determining, by the one or more processors, a personality type of each available agent, matching the one or more available agents with each customer on the list based on the personality type of each customer on the list and the personality type of each available agent, and routing the one or more available agents to each customer on the list.

Claims

1. A system for routing outbound communications, comprising:

a node comprising a processor and a non-transitory computer readable medium operably coupled thereto, the non-transitory computer readable medium comprising a plurality of instructions stored in association therewith that are accessible to, and executable by, the processor, wherein the plurality of instructions when executed;

compile a list of customers to contact at a specific time for each customer;

determine which customers on the list are available at the specific time;

determine a personality type of each available customer;

determine one or more agents that are available to contact each available customer at the specific time;

determine, for each available agent, a proficiency for dealing with the personality type of each available customer; and

match one or more available agents with each available customer based on the one or more available agents'"'"' proficiency for dealing with the personality type of each available customer; and

a communication distributor in operative communication with the node that routes each outbound communication of the one or more available agents to each available customer based on the matching.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein determining the personality type of each available customer comprises one or more of retrieving the personality type of an available customer and applying a linguistic model to text of one or more past interactions or social media data of the available customer.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein determining which customers on the list are available comprises analyzing one or more of interaction history of a customer and demographic information of a customer.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the interaction history indicates what times of day a customer is available to answer an outbound communication from the available agent.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the demographic information comprises one or more of gender, race, age, education, accent, income, nationality, ethnicity, area code, zip code, marital status, job status, and credit score.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the proficiency for dealing with the personality type of each available customer comprises one or more of:

agent skills relevant to the purpose of an outbound communication, agent demographic data, and agent personality type.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the plurality of instructions, when executed, further determine the agent personality type including by using surveys, review of prior customer interactions, or both.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein determining the one or more agents that are available to contact each available customer comprises excluding available agents that have exceeded a predetermined work threshold.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of instructions, when executed, further communicate the matching of the one or more available agents with each available customer to the communication distributor.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the plurality of instructions, when executed, further update the matching of the one or more available agents with each available customer as outbound communications are connected.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of instructions, when executed, further optimize the number of outbound communications.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein optimizing the number of outbound communications is based on one or more of contact center return, customer satisfaction, and agent job satisfaction.

13. A method of routing outbound communications, which comprises,

receiving, by one or more processors, a list of customers to contact;

determining, by the one or more processors, a time that each customer on the list is available;

determining, by the one or more processors, a personality type of each customer on the list;

determining, by the one or more processors, availability of one or more agents at the time that each customer on the list is available;

determining, by the one or more processors, a personality type of each available agent; and

matching, by the one or more processors, the one or more available agents with each customer on the list based on the personality type of each customer on the list and the personality type of each available agent; and

routing, by a communication distributor in operative communication with the one or more processors, each outbound communication of the one or more available agents to each customer on the list.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein determining the personality type of each customer on the list comprises one or more of retrieving the personality type of a customer and applying a linguistic model to text of one or more past interactions or social media data of a customer.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein determining a time that each customer on the list is available comprises analyzing one or more of interaction history of a customer and demographic information of a customer.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the interaction history indicates what times of day a customer is available to answer an outbound communication from the available agent.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the demographic information comprises one or more of gender, race, age, education, accent, income, nationality, ethnicity, area code, zip code, marital status, job status, and credit score.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein determining the personality type of each available agent comprises using surveys, reviewing prior customer interactions, or both.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein determining the availability of one or more agents at the time that each customer on the list is available comprises excluding available agents that have exceeded a predetermined work threshold.

20. The method of claim 13, which further comprises updating the matching of the one or more available agents with each customer to be contacted as outbound communications are routed.

21. The method of claim 13, which further comprises optimizing the number of outbound communications.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein optimizing the number of outbound communications is based on one or more of contact center return, customer satisfaction, and agent job satisfaction.

23. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising a plurality of instructions, which in response to a computer system, cause the computer system to perform a method which comprises:

receiving a list of customers to contact;

determining a time when each customer on the list is available to answer an outbound communication from an agent;

determining a personality type of each customer on the list;

determining availability of a plurality of agents at the time when each customer on the list is available;

determining a personality type of each available agent from the plurality of available agents;

pairing a plurality of available agents with each customer on the list based on the personality type of each customer on the list and the personality type of each available agent from the plurality of available agents;

ranking the plurality of available agents based on the personality type of each available agent and one or more skills relevant to the purpose of the outbound communication possessed by each available agent; and

provide to a communication distributor in operative communication with the computer system, the ranking so that the communication distributor can route each outbound communication of the plurality of available agents to each customer on the list based on the ranking.

24. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 23, wherein determining a time when each customer on the list is available comprises analyzing one or more of interaction history of a customer and demographic information of a customer.

25. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 24, wherein the interaction history indicates one or more times that a customer is available to answer the outbound communication.

26. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 24, wherein the demographic information comprises one or more of gender, race, age, education, accent, income, nationality, ethnicity, area code, zip code, marital status, job status, and credit score.

27. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 23, wherein determining availability of a plurality of agents at the time when each customer on the list is available comprises excluding available agents that have exceeded a predetermined work threshold.

28. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 23, wherein the method further comprises updating the pairing of the plurality of available agents with each customer on the list as outbound communications are routed.

29. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 23, wherein the method further comprises optimizing the number of outbound communications.

30. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 29, wherein optimizing the number of outbound communications is based on one or more of contact center return, customer satisfaction, and agent job satisfaction.