Customer calling

Our Customer Experience team, like in so many organisations, had to react quickly when the pandemic arrived.

When the UK first went into lockdown and customers turned in droves to online shopping, the number of parcels entering our network unsurprisingly rose dramatically.

Press play to hear Catrin Russell, our head of operations interface, explain how her team’s role has changed with the arrival of Covid-19, and how customer complaints have altered in volume and type.

‘When coronavirus first hit us, complaint volumes actually went down,’ said Catrin. ‘I think people were more focused on some of the more fundamental things that were happening, in their work and personal lives. But as we’ve seen, the increase in parcel traffic, while obviously good news for Royal Mail, has also led to an increase in the number of complaints we’ve received about parcel tracking.

‘We can’t get away from the fact that increased parcel volumes mean that there is increased contact about tracking where those items are. Every time we scan something with a PDA, that’s basically us talking with our customers about what’s happening to their item.

‘It’s so important that we use the right scan and we use that scan at the right time, so we’re accurately reflecting what’s happening to their item.’

For our customers, it’s supporting our business customers, both new and existing, so we can get them posting with us again. And for our consumer customers, supporting them when things don’t quite go as they should do. So really, it’s back to our priorities, our ongoing priorities, being there when our customers need us to be there for them.