Failure demand
What is failure demand?
Customer contact caused by a failure to do something, or to do it right, the first time — for example, a customer calling back because a promised update never arrived.
Failure demand is usually contrasted with value demand, which is the contact customers want to make, such as placing an order or asking for advice. Failure demand includes chasing progress, repeating information, correcting errors and asking for something to be explained again. Between 40% and 60% of contact-center volume is typically avoidable failure demand. The concept was developed by John Seddon and Vanguard Consulting.
Reducing failure demand means finding and fixing the cause rather than handling the contact faster. Teams typically classify contacts by reason, separate value from failure, and trace failure demand back to the process, message or system that caused it. Progress shows up as a falling share of failure demand over time. See how UWXP works out why customers made contact and removes the cause.
Related: Value demand, Contact reason (CR), First-contact resolution (FCR), UWXP.