– Kara Seymour, Director of Global Support at Forma“We had about a month to implement Forethought before we hit the busy open enrollment season. We rolled out with minimal personalization, and there were a ton of tickets nobody had to touch. It was insane what Forethought could deflect, and I was completely thrilled.”
Forma’s customer service team faces questions from two sides of the business: businesses looking to implement their flexible benefits plans and customers looking to understand more about their benefits.
Kara Seymour, Forma’s Director of Global Support, wants to see her team stop spending time on repeatable requests from both sides. She wants them focused on the complex issues that need a human touch. She knew automation could help but was picky about choosing a tool that would preserve the customer experience.
“I’m not a fan of automation, but I know I have to have it,” Kara said. It makes me way more skeptical than most people. I’m more cautious about selecting a tool that can preserve customer experience. It’s got to let customers quickly connect with someone if that’s what they want. And it must get the facts right while sounding conversational. Forethought immediately fit my vibe.”
Forma’s Deflection Rate Improved Even as Members Doubled
Benefits have predictable seasonality. Every October, the Forma team starts to ramp up for new enrollments and implementation, which lasts through January. The following months bring many customer questions and requests as new members learn to navigate their new benefits.
Forma planned to double its membership the year it implemented Forethought, bringing in thousands of new members. But it only had a month to implement, which meant sacrificing time spent on personalization. They rolled out based on the information from Forma’s knowledge base and learnings from the support team’s past interactions.
“We trained Forethought a little before the rollout, but not too much,” Kara said. “The nature of the benefits business is that we get a lot of repeatable questions. We first focused on building workflows for those, without any APIs.”
That January, 13,800 people reached out to the Forma team through Forethought alone. 5,081 customer service tickets were deflected. In October, their deflection rate was 30%. In January, it had grown to 37% and was 39% by March, reflecting steady improvement.
Memberships Will Scale Without the Need for More Headcount
Forma would need more than 60 customer service representatives at their current scale without any automation. They’re currently able to operate with 45 people.
Their goal is to maintain their headcount while memberships and customer service requests scale over time. Forethought’s automation has relieved a lot of volume from the customer side of the business, leaving their customer service team more relaxed and able to focus on complex business tickets.
“We’re putting Forethought in front of the benefits customers first because they’re the many,” Kara said. “Businesses tend to ask technical questions that require more time and attention. With Forethought, we can scale much faster without the overhead of additional headcount.”
The Customer Service Team Welcomed AI When They Saw an Increase in Their Effectiveness
Talk of artificial intelligence (AI) can unintentionally ring alarm bells. Employees might wonder if they’ll be replaced eventually. Kara emphasizes the importance of positive customer service and the human interaction that is often required.
“I told my team, ‘The things you have to do 30 times a day will go away,’” said Kara. You’re here because I want you to spend time on what AI can’t do. There was some initial hesitation, but it’s long gone now that they realize how much it helps them be more effective for the customers who really need the attention.”
Kara advises companies looking to implement automation for the first time to dedicate their first month to the tool. If the tool you buy is missing something you need, submit feature requests or work with them to find a workaround.
“Play with the product. Forethought AI’s implementation was so easy, but nothing is ever plug-and-play,” Kara said. “If you do nothing else, ensure your knowledge base is accurate. That’ll make or break your success in the early stages.”
Forethought Will Become the Frontlines of Forma’s Customer Service
Forma is working towards a future where every customer first chats with a Forethought autonomous AI agent. They may eventually speak with a representative, but their initial channels will consolidate into Forethought.
– Kara Seymour“We’re currently working on our knowledge base to improve our workflows in the tool,” Kara said. “Eventually, I want our customers to be able to get information about their company’s specific benefits. I also want them to be able to submit claims or edit them. The sky’s the limit.”
Kara chose Forethought because of our ability to build accurate workflows and integrate with Forma’s knowledge base. As the team works to improve the knowledge base, their future vision will quickly become a reality.
At Forethought, we believe the future of customer experience is generative AI. Forethought is the most advanced generative AI agent for customer support, trained on proprietary data, that automatically resolves more issues at a lower cost and elevates customer satisfaction with every interaction.
Request a demo to see how we can decrease your deflection rate and more.
