Adopt North West is a collaboration between 22 local authorities across the North West of England from Greater Manchester and Lancashire to Merseyside and Cheshire. The group came together to encourage all kinds of people to adopt and to provide the high quality support needed at every stage of the adoption process. The project launched in March 2014 with the very first regional Adoption Week promoting events and information resources for potential adopters. Adopt North West chose to work with MPL Contact as their contact centre partner with the expertise and agent calibre to manage the enquiries generated by their campaign activity.
A flexible and friendly call handling solution
The local authorities within Adopt North West placed more children for adoption in 2013 than any other area in England and so the Adopt North West team expected an even higher level of interest with their integrated media campaigns, promotional activity and programme of events offered by each of the participating authorities during 2014.
With advertising slots planned for prime time television, radio and online in the North West region, Adopt North West knew they needed a contact centre partner with the flexibility and scalability of resources to manage fluctuating peaks of call traffic whilst providing a consistently high quality of customer care.
Adopt North West chose to work with MPL Contact following a brief procurement process and gave them the immediate task of handling all the initial enquiries coming into Adopt North West’s adoption recruitment line.
“We wanted a 24/7 service so that when people do decide to make that call about adoption, which is a huge step for them, there is someone there to answer, take their details and confirm that an adoption expert from Adopt North West will be put in touch with them.”
Adrian Rocks, Project Manager of Adopt North West
Comprehensive customer service
MPL Contact agents have a wide range of experience in working with clients where a high degree of empathy and consideration is required for their callers. This experience, along with the company’s network of UK centres available to manage spikes in call traffic, placed them as the preferred supplier for the Adopt North West campaign.
The initial launch week proved to be a success both in terms of the new enquiries it generated for Adopt North West and in how MPL Contact’s agents sympathetically managed each caller’s enquiry.
Whilst the majority of new enquiries generated by the media activity go through the Adopt North West website, the contact centre still plays a pivotal part in ensuring anyone who prefers to enquire by phone receives a prompt response. The consistency and competency of MPL Contact’s agents have been such that, in addition to taking initial enquiries, they also now handle calls relating to more sensitive areas concerned with Children’s Services including registering concerns over a child’s safety.
A boost for children looking for families
Since the first Adopt North West advert was aired, over 1000 people have got in touch with MPL Contact handling some 250 calls and texts on behalf of Adopt North West.
Adopt North West are about to initiate the second stage of the campaign in late June 2014 and MPL Contact will again support that campaign activity and help callers make that initial enquiry process as easy and stress-free as possible.
“We’re really pleased with the response we’ve had to the campaign,” said Adrian. “So many people in the region are realising that adoption is an option for them and that they could provide a family to a child. It’s been really encouraging and we look forward to talking to more people about adopting.”
Business Benefits
- Flexible, scalable call handling resource immediately available
- Network of UK centres absorb peaks generated by TV ad slots
- Highly skilled and empathetic agents handling calls 24/7
- Accurate reporting on ad slot performance and call types
