Engagement Center · Standard Midterm Callers · Proposal

Fewer callers on hold, no one bounced back to the line, and the simple requests handled without an advisor.

Since the IVR relaunch, Elite and renewal callers get answered in minutes. Standard midterm callers absorbed the cost: on bad afternoons they wait up to an hour. We can't staff our way out of that in four weeks. This plan does three things instead: tells callers the real wait and offers text or a callback before hold music, lets Manila take more and never transfer anyone back, and brings back self-serve forms for the simple stuff — all with prompts we already have.

Draft for discussion · September 4, 2026 · Anna Abovyan, with input from Jared Anderson, Jen Bushnell, Martin Zegarelli, Luis Marrero, Callie
~1,100/wk
Standard midterm calls reaching Tier 2 (FL 786 + National 300, week of Aug 26 — estimate)
up to 60 min
Wait on peak afternoons (Monday Aug 31 averaged ~1 hour)
5–10%
Accept the text offer today — vs. 20–25% at our best in December
~34%
Of calls sent to Manila come back onshore to wait again
0 of 3
Exit prompts ever tested — callback offer, hold-queue text offer, self-serve form offer
Four rules the plan follows
Rule 1

Standard midterm only. Nothing changes for Elite or renewal callers.

Rule 2

Tell callers the real wait, then offer an exit — before hold music, and again while they hold.

Rule 3

Manila never sends a caller back to wait. They resolve it, or they put the caller in the callback queue.

Rule 4

Callbacks promise a window, not a time — and the window comes from the live queue, not a script.

01

Where the hour goes

Identified customer, midterm, standard agency

Proof-of-insurance and payment callers already go to Manila and are fine. The hour lives entirely in the "anything else" branch: one text offer, then a hold queue whose only exit is a callback prompt we have never tested. Every change below is aimed at that branch.

Today Three prompts, one exitProd language as of Aug 2026 (Callie's VUI sheet)
Identify caller ANI or phone number Intent menu docs · payment · other Manila (Patra) documents · payments Text offer no wait estimate · 5–10% accept Hold queue · up to 60 min one callback prompt, untested Tier 2 advisor onshore, licensed Text thread (if they reply YES) press 1 or 2 press 3 press 2 press 1 can't help (~34%) → back of the line Renewal, Elite, carrier and lender callers take different paths and are not shown.
Offshore, resolves mostSelf-directed exitWhere the hour is spent
Proposed Same skeleton, four exitsNew nodes in blue · Manila expanded in green
Identify caller unchanged Intent menu unchanged Form offer W3 self-serve for documents Manila (Patra) W2 docs · payments · wider scope Resolved offshore no onshore minutes Callback queue keeps place in line Wait estimate + text W1 the Dec-2025 winner, restored Callback offer W1 before any hold music Hold queue W1 exits repeated while holding Tier 2 advisor onshore, licensed Text thread docs / pay other press 2 press 1 → text press 1 press 2 can't help → callback press 1 advisor calls press 2 Nothing is removed from today's flow; four exits are added. Manila's transfer-back is replaced by the callback queue.
New or restored exitOffshore, expanded scopeHold, with exits repeatedW1 / W2 / W3 = wave it ships in
02

Three waves, all in September

Each line: what plays today → what we propose

Wave 1 is language only and rides the prompt update Luis is already shipping. Wave 2 needs one CXone skill change and a short Manila script. Wave 3 reuses forms we already have. The waves overlap; the order is what unblocks first, not a queue. Feasibility notes are from this week's review thread.

Wave 1

Stronger push to text and callback

Next weekwith Luis's prompt update
Language: Anna → Luis
Queue logic: Martin
Callback FTE: Kevin

Tell them the wait before the text offer

sms_offer_promptplays after "anything else"
TodayMany customers find text messaging is the fastest and easiest way to get help from a team member, instead of waiting on hold. To continue by text message, press 1. To wait on the phone, press 2.
ProposedRight now, the wait to speak with an advisor is greater than [X] minutes. Texting is the quickest and easiest way to get help from a team member instead of waiting on hold. To switch to text, press 1. To stay on the line, press 2.The December 2025 version with a hold-time preamble is the only text offer that ever tested above 20%. [X] in 15-minute steps from the live queue; static "10" until then.
Martin: yesOnly once we know which queue they're headed to — which is the case here, since the offer already plays after the intent menu.

Offer a callback before any hold music

new noderight after "stay on the line, press 2"
TodayNothing. Declining text drops the caller straight into the hold queue.
ProposedYou can also have a team member call you back within the next [window] and keep your place in line. For a callback, press 1. To stay on the line, press 2.
Martin: yesJen: tie Kevin inThe window must come from queue depth and staffing, not a fixed script. Promising an hour and calling in three is worse than the hold.

Repeat text + callback while they hold

CXone hold queue · T2 Midterm FL Standard, Nat Standard
TodayAll of our insurance advisors are assisting other customers. If you would like for us to hold your place in line and call you back at this number, please press 1. Otherwise please continue to hold for the next insurance advisor.Never tested. No text option in the queue.
ProposedAll of our advisors are currently helping other clients. The current wait is greater than [X] minutes. Press 1 for a callback at this number within the next [window] — you'll keep your place in line. Press 2 to switch to text. Or stay on the line.On queue entry, then at ~3 and ~8 minutes; after that, once every 10. Standard midterm skills only.
Martin: possibleMartin: may annoy callers who want to waitHence the taper above rather than a flat every-3-minutes. We can tune the cadence from abandon data after week one.

Considered and dropped: callback for callers who choose text and go quiet

SMS CTA · no replydecided Sept 4
TodayIf they don't reply YES, no case is created and they are not added to any transfer queue — the interaction ends here with no fallback routing.
Not doingNudge text plus an automatic callback for silent text-acceptors. Dropped: it adds callback work we can't yet time, and a caller who leaves the text can simply call back in.
Martin: adds work rather than removing itJared: agree — let them reach out againWe will still count how many text-acceptors never reply YES, so the size of the leak is known before anyone revisits this.
Wave 2

Manila resolves or queues a callback — never transfers back

Week of Sept 14once the callback skill is validated
Scope: Jared (Patra list due)
CXone skill: Luis
Script + training: Jared → Patra

Widen what Manila takes from standard midterm

phone_transfer_manila_*
TodayProof of insurance and payments, on the carriers Patra can service (Aegis, Olympus, Grange, Neptune, Liberty Mutual, Plymouth Rock, The Hartford, Utica National). Everything else stays onshore because transfer-backs were too frequent.
ProposedAnything not requiring a license and not premium-bearing, per Jared's meeting with Patra this week. Patra is returning a list of what else they handle for other clients; that list defines the new routing. Transfer-backs stop being a reason to hold scope back, because Wave 2 removes the transfer-back.
Jared: aligned with NickUnidentified callers: not in this waveJen's read is that Patra does worst with unidentified callers; Jared wants to reconsider sending them. Settle after Patra's list comes back.

Manila script when they can't complete the request

Patra agent script + Tier 2 callback skill
TodayWarm transfer back to the onshore queue. The caller has spent a few minutes in Manila and lands at the back of the line — ~34% of Manila calls end this way.
Proposed — Patra readsI'm not able to complete that from here, but I don't want you to wait on hold. I'm going to add you to the callback list for a colleague who specializes in these cases — they'll call you within the next [window], and you keep your place in line. Is this the best number to reach you?Then the Patra agent adds the caller to the Tier 2 callback skill. "Add you to the callback list," not "schedule," per Jared — it's a queue, not an appointment.
Luis: likely just adding the skill — validatingMartin: can't force it technically; train itJared wants the exact step-by-step Patra will be trained on, and confirmation the caller lands in the callback queue the same way as if they'd pressed 1 themselves. Track Manila outcomes as resolved / callback / transferred; the last one should trend to zero.
Wave 3

Bring back self-serve forms

Week of Sept 21after form review
Which forms: Jared + Jen
Review + expectations copy: Jen
Build: Martin (forms)

Re-introduce the form-send offer on the documents path

Ray 2.0 form offerdocuments / proof of insurance first
TodayPulled at the relaunch along with the other self-serve offers. The Ray 2.0 proof-of-insurance form verbiage was never formally tested but "did generally well" in CX Insights.
ProposedReuse the existing forms with small field additions and a clear "what happens next" line for the customer. Start with documents and proof of insurance; expand only if the first set holds up.
Jen: review should be easyEvery form needs a check that it collects what the next step actually needs, and tells the customer what that next step is. Kept in the plan with that review as a gate.
03

Open questions

Where the review thread hasn't landed yet

How often to repeat the offer on hold

Every ~3 minutes is possible but may grate on callers who've decided to wait.

ProposalEntry, 3 min, 8 min, then every 10. Revisit with abandon data after one week.

Live wait estimate or static number

The preamble only works if the number is believable. Martin can supply it once the queue is known, which it is at this point in the flow.

ProposalLive, in 15-minute steps ("greater than 15 / 30 / 45 minutes"). Static "greater than 10" only as a stopgap.

Callback window and staffing

Jen: don't promise one hour and deliver three. Callbacks still consume advisor time; they just move it.

ProposalKevin sets the window from queue depth and callback backlog; the IVR reads it. If the backlog blows past the window, the offer pauses automatically.

Unidentified callers to Manila

Today unidentified "anything else" callers get the text offer and then wait onshore. Jared would reconsider Manila; Jen's experience is that Patra does worst without a verified identity.

ProposalKeep onshore in Waves 1–2. Revisit once Patra's expanded list is back, and only for intents they resolve reliably.

What this plan does not touch

Luis and Callie's warmer "V2 conversational" prompt rewrite (in flight, independent), Elite and renewal queues, and any change to the intent menu itself. Splitting "anything else" into "policy changes / other" is a possible Wave 2 refinement if Patra's list is long enough to justify it.

04

How we'll know it worked

Standard midterm cohort, weekly
MeasureBaselineTargetSource
Callers who take an exit instead of holding (text, callback, form, or resolved in Manila)not measuredset after the baseline weekPlasma + CXone
Text offer acceptance5–10% (Kevin confirming)≥20%Plasma
Callback acceptance — Ray offer and hold-queue offer, separately—report first, then setCXone
Manila outcome split: resolved / callback / transferred back~34% transferred backtransfer-back → 0Patra + CXone
Standard midterm average speed to answer, and abandon rateup to 60 min on peaksno hour-long afternoonsCXone daily
Callbacks delivered inside the promised window—≥90%CXone / Kevin
05

Next steps

This week and next
  1. Lock Wave 1 language with LuisFold the three prompts into the update already in flight; confirm which node names change.
  2. Martin: wait estimate + offer cadenceLive [X] in 15-minute steps; taper schedule for the hold-queue offer.
  3. Kevin: callback window rule + FTE viewHow the window is computed, and what it does to the daily forecast.
  4. Luis: validate the Patra callback skillStep-by-step Patra can follow; confirm the caller lands in the same callback queue.
  5. Jared: Patra's expanded scope listDefines Wave 2 routing; also settles the unidentified-caller question.
  6. Jen + Jared: pick the Wave 3 formsStart with documents / POI; Jen reviews fields and next-step copy.
  7. Baseline before anything shipsText acceptance, hold-queue callback acceptance, Manila outcomes — one week of standard midterm data.
  8. Settle the hold-offer cadenceEntry / 3 / 8 / every 10 as the starting point — in the daily, with the group.