24% of all care enquiries happen out of hours.

Data from over 9,000 new care enquiries taken over the past 3 months shows that 24% of enquiries occur out of 'standard' office hours.

For the avoidance of doubt, the data mentioned in this article considers 'in-hours' enquiries as those occurring from Monday to Friday, between 9am and 5pm. Therefore, 'out of hours' enquiries are those that occur outside these hours on weekdays, and on weekends. Additionally, the enquiries being referred to include those made via telephone, live chat, and email.

Firstly, let’s review enquiries by channel both in and out of hours.

Based on the data presented, there is a noticeable change in the balance between calls and emails during non-business hours. Specifically, 43% of new care enquiries are made through email out of hours, compared to only 20% during regular business hours. Additionally, there is a slight 2% increase in enquiries made through website live chat during non-business hours.

Now to analyse the time-of-day care-seekers are getting in touch; this is relevant as it may have a bearing on how you choose to staff these hours.

Enquiry volumes remain consistent during office hours, with a peak from 10am-12pm and a slight tail-off during the lunch period, followed by a steady flow during the afternoon.

Out of hours, the highest volume of contacts occurs between 5pm-6pm.

Arguably, calls peaking between 5pm-6pm is indicative that a large proportion of care seekers are contacting care providers outside of their own working hours.

The number of out of hours enquiries is mostly consistent on weekdays but significantly increases on weekends. In the last 3 months, we received over 2,100 enquiries during our out of hours period.

Whilst the data shows that the majority of enquiries happen within standard working hours, 24% of enquiries happening outside of this window is too significant to ignore.

Our team is available to answer calls from 8am to 7pm, Monday to Friday, and with reduced hours on weekends.

For further insights, or to find out more about our out-of-hours solutions, please contact hello@trustedcare.co.uk.