Anyone who becomes a blood donor will soon come into contact with Sanquin's Donor Service Center. This center handles all donor contact, from scheduling appointments to answering questions. "The most common question is: when can I donate?" says Karin van Daal, manager of the Donor Service Center. Part 23 in the series of unusual contact centers.

 

Text: Eveline Meijer

Donated blood is used for numerous purposes, such as blood transfusions, plasma medicines, and scientific research. Sanquin maintains contact with its many donors through its Donor Service Center. "We receive approximately 3.500 incoming phone calls and 3.500 emails or other written requests every week," says Karin van Daal.

That number has been slightly lower for the past two years than before. That's when the new "my environment" went live, where donors can manage many more things themselves. Think of making or rescheduling an appointment, reporting a change of address, or updating other information. So, fewer calls and emails are being made about these matters now. "The numbers have remained relatively stable since then."

Can I donate?

Those who do contact the Donor Service Center often have more specific questions, especially about whether they're allowed to donate, Van Daal notes. That's not always the case. "For example, after a flu, you have to be symptom-free for two weeks before you can come again. We have a whole list of different conditions and medications that affect whether you're allowed to come," she explains.

Vacation time can also play a role. Certain viruses, parasites, and bacteria are prevalent in various countries, and donors can carry them when they return from vacation. Pathogens can then be transmitted through blood. Therefore, a waiting period may be imposed before the next donation to ensure that the donor is not carrying any pathogens.

“Many questions are about these kinds of things. Also because the donors themselves know very well that this can have an impact.” Donors themselves also take this into account, Van Daal notes. “Donors are extremely motivated. They call because they will soon be Going on vacation or getting a tattoo, they ask if they can stop by before then. They think it's such a shame that they can't donate for a while otherwise."

Outbound traffic

The Donor Service Center doesn't just deal with donors calling them. They also run numerous outbound campaigns, spending an average of around 450 hours per week on them. "Take a recruitment campaign, for example. We'll contact people to ask if they'd like to switch donation types. This might be the case, for example, with donors whose blood type isn't often used for blood donations. We can then ask them to donate blood plasma, which is in high demand. We'll follow up with them to make sure they've received this information."

Specific groups

In addition, some donors have to be called before they can come. This applies, for example, to donors of "whole blood": blood that contains all the components. "That has a somewhat shorter shelf life, so the donor really has to wait until we call them. It would be a shame if we had too much stock and could no longer use a product."

It's also possible that a shortage of a specific blood type is imminent. In such cases, the Donor Service Center actively contacts donors with that blood type to ask if they are willing and able to make an appointment.

Three lines

All these different forms of contact aren't handled solely by the Sanquin team itself. "We have a large portion of our staff internally, but we also use a facilities contact center," explains Van Daal. Employees working there can handle much of the simpler work, such as scheduling appointments, processing new registrations, or answering simple questions. In total, Sanquin's customer contact department has 55 internal and 65 external employees. The external employees work for Quality Contacts, the facility contact center hired by Sanquin.

Close proximity

We appreciate having the service provider close by. That helps with content coordination and makes regular visits (both ways) much easier. This, in turn, helps us maintain a close connection.

To support external staff, a knowledge base is available, containing many answers. "If a donor calls who has been prescribed specific medication by their GP, you can check if it's on a list of medications that affect your donation. Often, it clearly states: 'If this, then that.'" This way, even less experienced staff can already answer many questions.

"We also have more experienced colleagues with a deeper medical background." These are often the people who work at Sanquin itself and essentially act as a second point of contact. "They handle the more complex medical questions." If they can't find a solution either, the donor can be referred to the donor doctor.

However, automatic routing isn't integrated into the system. "That's tricky, because you can't say in advance that, for example, a question about medication always needs to be answered by a doctor. We can resolve most of the issues ourselves, through primary care, because we have documentation for that." Donors always end up with primary care staff, and the staff there determine whether someone needs to be transferred to a more experienced staff member or to a donor doctor.

Privacy

Donating blood is a medical activity, meaning the Donor Service Center handles a great deal of privacy-sensitive information. The GDPR imposes strict rules on this, and the Donor Service Center's systems are designed to handle them.

"There's a tiered system for who can access which part of the system. A blood type is already a medical condition, but it's one that all our employees are allowed to see. This is important if, for example, we have a shortage of a particular blood type and these donors need to be contacted," explains Van Daal.

This data is therefore also accessible to frontline staff, even if they work at the external contact center. "After that, there's a layer that mostly consists of internal colleagues. They have a bit more access to the system. And there's a layer that only doctors can view. That could also be a reason why we transfer a donor to the donor doctor, because we're not allowed to see certain data."

Switching to Microsoft Dynamics

To provide donors with the best possible support, the Donor Service Center uses a variety of technology. Much of this is handled by the external contact center. "They primarily handle the switchboard and routing. They also have the capabilities for simple outbound campaigns. They load the lists we've compiled, handle second attempts, and process the calls."

Many of the same systems are used internally, as well as a dedicated knowledge base with information specific to their department. This also includes a Q&A with frequently asked questions, allowing employees to quickly find answers to more general questions.

The Donor Service Center is in the middle of a CRM system transition. The department is switching to Microsoft Dynamics for practical information related to donor contact. "The current system already offers us a lot, but Microsoft Dynamics allows us to combine a bit more. For example, we currently have a separate system from which we send newsletters and other email communications. That's not possible from our current system. But Microsoft Dynamics allows us to bundle all of that, giving us a more complete picture of the donor."

About Sanquin Sanquin Sanquin is the not-for-profit organization that manages the blood supply in the Netherlands. In addition to collecting, processing, and distributing blood products, Sanquin is involved in blood research and education. Sanquin employs over 2.000 people, including 175 researchers. Sanquin receives blood and blood plasma from donors hundreds of thousands of times a year. Sanquin was founded in 1998; prior to that, blood banks were organized regionally. Blood transfusion became safe after the Austrian physician Karl Landsteiner discovered the existence of different blood types in 1900 and 1940. Sanquin researchers publish over two hundred scientific publications annually.

(Ziptone/Eveline Meijer)

Case, Customer Experience, Featured