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The Big Three

When time is of the essence and a consumer is looking for a response, they used to have to pick up the phone and call in only to be put on hold for who knows how long. Consumers were frustrated and wanted a faster, painless way to talk with a representative. Live chat busted on the scene as a key communication channel and as one that could be utilized across the globe. Regardless of the size of the business, having a live chat agent there to answer any questions the customers may have, not only helps the business cut costs, but also helps the customers stay happy and loyal. Thousands of businesses are offering the same services as your company so how do you stand out from the competitors and really strive? Just like any other aspect of business, you are only effective and successful if you deliver quality. When it comes to improving the communication with your customers, you need to measure the effectiveness of your live chat program, which can be done by measuring it by what we like to call “The Big 3”: CSAT (Customer Satisfaction) “You keep your customers happy, and they will keep you in business.” Customer satisfaction has remained, and most likely will always remain, the biggest aim for every business. A happy and satisfied customer represents a profitable business. In the case of live chat, having an agent there to answer questions in a timely and accurate manner, will do wonders for a company’s CSAT. Customers want to communicate in the mode that they are most comfortable with and according to the latest trends, live chat is where they want to be met. Response Time As mentioned above, the amount of time it takes a company to respond to their consumers is a huge factor in the overall success of the live chat feature. Company after company sees negative results from their live chat simply because they do such a poor job responding to their customers! Having a live chat agent trained and ready to answer any questions as soon as the customer chats in, leaves a positive image and a satisfied customer. Average Chat Handle Time This last factor can be a little tricky but still should be measured very carefully. Having a low chat handle time, meaning the entire time from beginning to end of the chat conversation, can mean several things. One being that the chat agent was able to quickly answer the customer’s question or, the customer did not want to spend their time chatting with you. This is where it falls on the business initiating the chat to keep a watchful eye on this metric to ensure that there is a happy balance in the overall Average Chat Handle Time.

Remarkable Difference: The Comeback! – Part 1

In today’s high performance environment, it is common to find a disconnect between our employees and our management teams. Each company seems to have their own view on why this is the case such as a lack of time or just a lack of resources. I say the blame falls on the management teams. Having this disconnect in a company leads to a constant riff between the employees and the people in charge. If this issue is not met head on, the chances of the business being successful and growing seem to come to an abrupt halt. In a past survey focused on why certain businesses fail, the results were truly staggering. The survey showed that 83% of businesses fail when there is a disconnect between the employees and the management team. With results such as these, I think it is safe to say that employee engagement is crucial to the success of a business. With businesses shifting their focus towards their employees first and their customers second, it has proven difficult to set the correct priority between the two. It is crucial for all businesses to first give priority to their own people. The best way to do this is to engage them with various business improvement conversations or growth initiatives. A successful employee engagement initiative helps create a community at the workplace, not just a workforce. When employees are effectively and positively engaged with their organization, they form an emotional connection with the company. This affects their attitude towards both their colleagues and the company’s clients, which leads to improve customer satisfaction and service levels. Today major businesses have their own ways of engaging employees (both new and old). In order to make employee engagement a success, they have to have a strong follow up plan. In short, this means the companies need to actually respond to the employee’s feedback and suggestions. When companies are able to take this invaluable feedback from their employees and actually show them they are doing something with it, the effect is an enormous boost on the employees moral because they know they were actually heard. This step, even though it may seem simple, can make or break your efforts. If companies do not follow through on their promises for their employees, they can almost without a doubt expect nothing but failed attempts and frustration on both sides. Listed below are several different effective and efficient employee engagement activities to help your organization start feeling more like a single operating unit and not two separate divisions: Communications activities These activities help organizations keep their employees in the loop with what is going on both inside the company and outside. Efficient communication activities also create an open and transparent culture within the organization. A few good examples of communication activities are: Develop communication teams or a group of employees who communicate all updates related within the organization. Such groups should have a good mix of employees from each level as this proves to be the most effective way in engaging all levels of business. In house newsletters or magazines. Intranet tool for all employees where any update or changes can be posted for a quick view. Monthly, quarterly and yearly updates on the organizations goals and achievements. Robust feedback model such as a winning culture survey (half yearly and yearly), quarterly focus group system based on a 360 degree model. Strong follow-up mechanism on any employee feedback with status updates and listed further actions to be taken. A dedicated corner (notice board or communications board) on site where all updates or organizational related information can be posted. Activities to develop the culture of the organization These activities help organizations in creating the sense of ownership within their employees. This sense of ownership and pride in the organization helps create a unified organization. Common approaches include: Clear HR polices Policies should reflect “Employee-first” approach of the organization Driving employees towards corporate social responsibilities Strong work life balance initiatives Developing a transparent and safe work environment All actions and reactions of the organization should reflect the commitment towards the well being of the employees Events and activities which promote the vision and mission of the organization A quick decision making process with transparency throughout Team building activities Creating a team environment plays a huge role in helping businesses achieve a successful employee engaged atmosphere. An organization filled with employees who have the mindset of being a team player is one that is on the fast track to a successful business. When employees feel part of a team, they share a mutual feeling that they belong and that each one of them plays a crucial role in the overall success of the organization. Popular approaches include: Team recreational events or activities wherein a team would be required to participate. Examples can be trips to a movie, team lunches/dinners, or a sporting event. Social activities such as barbeques etc. Community related events like fundraising, organizing blood donations, volunteering etc. Leadership development for the organization to adapt to the changing market, it is important to have people with leadership skills not just a leader with great skills. This helps with consistent performance and creativity. Practices can include: The organization should have clearly defined leadership requirements Effective performance management processes with clear ways of performance evaluation Employee empowerment Openness between supervisors and peers with feedback going both ways Effective coaching and mentoring activities along with a strong culture of self-development Strong Reward and Recognition Programs Reward and recognition practices play a crucial role towards making all employee engagement activities consistent. Studies have shown that, while money in itself is not always the sole motivating factor, the absence of a financial reward system can be a significant demotivator. Reward Programs help: Provide a clear framework for rewarding everyone in the organization for their performance Motivating employees, thereby creating a positive morale in the organization Increasing the satisfaction level of the employees (ESAT) A few good practices can include: Realistic compensation

Tips on Maxing Out Your Chat Services

Companies today are constantly trying to improve their websites to make it stand out and have that “wow” factor amongst its users. Whether it is the amount of information on the site, or how many tabs a company can squeeze onto one page, these features all fall short to the ever important Customer Service. Users want and expect the same standard of Customer Service as they would if they walked into a brick and mortar store. Companies find themselves asking, “How can we provide the same Customer Service through a website??” The answer is, effective Live Chat! Listed below are 4 key steps to take to help ensure your Live Chat services are being used to their full potential: Monitoring website traffic It is essential to monitor website traffic in order to understand peak hours. This allows businesses the ability to gain a deeper understanding of their website and when their “busy hours” are. Monitoring website traffic also allows the company to see when the best opportunities are to increase conversion. Proper identification of these trends ensures the efficient allocation of resources. Award more authority to agents Businesses must grant more authority to their agents to allow them to make the final selling decisions while interacting with potential customers. Companies should want their agents to feel empowered while interacting with the customer. If agents are not properly equipped it can lead to loss of sales and revenue. Agents must be provided with detailed knowledge in relation to providing quality customer service and be given a greater freedom to carry out the interaction with the customer. Agents should be allowed to freely exercise their up-selling and cross-selling skills to close the sale. Know your customers One of the most invaluable pieces of information a business can receive is the customer’s feedback. Feedback provides the company with vital information in regards to what they are doing right and even more so, what they are doing wrong in the eyes of the customer. Knowing this information helps improve your businesses customer satisfaction level and allows you to deliver exactly what the customers desire. The easiest way to get to know your customers is through basic customer surveys that can be offered to the customers at the end of a live chat session. The customer can then describe their experience and give the feedback all businesses long for. Improve efficiency of live chat process Providing live chat services on a company’s website not only improves online sales and customer satisfaction, but it also helps shorten the sales cycle. By providing live chat on the website, it allows customers questions to be answered swiftly and accurately. To improve the efficiency of the live chat process, businesses can use advanced features like canned responses, push URL’s, and also screen sharing. These features allow agents to respond faster and therefore increase the customers overall perception of the interaction in a positive way. To extract the maximum benefits possible from live chat services, businesses must focus on improving their live chat process. This by no means is an easy task, but we are confident that starting with above tips, it will definitely help get the ball rolling in the right direction. Trust us; it is what the customers want.

5 Reasons Insurance Agents Work for Etech

Working as a general lines insurance agent at a call center may provide hesitation or concern in some insurance agents – Etech agents disagree! Etech insurance agents enjoy their job and are excited to come to work. Here are 5 simple reasons why working as an insurance agent at Etech proves to be ideal: Handling Taxing Situations With Ease The recent health care changes provide an interesting challenge to each team leader and agent. Agents know that each change will be handled with accurate information allowing them to feel informed instead of confused. Our agents are the bridge between old and new health care. Job Importance Etech agents gain a great sense of worth because of how important health care is to each customer. Agents are elated to tailor customers’ policies in order to fit their needs to become a healthier American. Leadership Account leaders, sales coaches, and trainers do an impeccable job of making each agent feel like part of a team instead of an employee through continuous development and positive coaching. Agents know that they are never alone in any situation and can call on a leader to assist them through each opportunity. Etech agents place an immense amount of value on how their leaders are experienced in their field and encourage one-on-one interaction. Co-Workers Agents at Etech know that that they are part of an uplifting team with not only great leaders, but great team members as well. Each team provides a unique sense of fellowship among one another causing a work atmosphere of such enjoyment that coming into work is an exciting task. Applying Knowledge Team members rest assured that the information they learn during training and throughout one-on-one coaching sessions is not obtained in vain. Etech agents apply the skills needed to become an outstanding insurance agent on a daily basis, constantly providing the best and most accurate information to each customer. Etech sets the stage for what an ideal insurance agent in a call center environment should be a part of. Etech insurance agents take pride in knowing that they are part of something that does not stop at being an employee, we are a team.

4 Things to Consider When Managing a Multi-Channel Contact Center

With rapidly developing technology and various ways of communication, it has become essential for Call Centers to transform their operations to meet these changes. Advanced communication devices, supporting enterprise systems, mobile tablets, online websites, and smartphones have opened up large avenues for the customers to get in touch with companies and their contact centers. Even with this daunting and changing landscape, Multi-channel contact centers expectations from their clients remain the same. To provide an excellent customer experience and remarkable customer service, regardless of the communication vehicle. Listed below are 4 key elements every contact center should be focusing on to ensure they are prepared to handle the Multi-Channel environment: Efficient Interaction Management Solution/Software An efficient interaction management solution is necessary for any multi-channel contact center as it helps them to quickly respond to questions and cater to customer needs. Until now many contact centers relied on legacy communication software that provided point based solutions. These solutions were administered or managed separately, were hosted on different platforms, and provided far less information sharing of customer interactions across different channels. With the increase in communication channels and demand of the customers, these out dated solutions simply would not cut it. Businesses must have an efficient mechanism which allows them to have an almost lightning fast responsiveness to customer queries and interactions. In order to handle such vast interactions, contact centers need a unified communications platform to handle the customer questions and issues. Modern interaction management solutions/software provide a unified communications platform for customer interactions by combining IVR, email, chat, web, fax, computer telephony, outbound dialers, as well as workforce management applications. These solutions/software help to increase revenue, improve customer satisfaction and reduce overall costs. Performance Management Reporting Many modern interaction management softwares provide for real-time collection and processing of crucial data on customer interactions. This software ensures greater visibility and insights into the contact center operations. These solutions provide for a robust, comprehensive and sophisticated performance management reporting which gives the management a holistic view of any business transactions and customer interaction. Having a contact center that can provide the client with real time interactions and business intelligence is a huge value add so be sure to seek out a contact center who can provide this. Proactive Multi-channel testing With emergence of IP telephony and complex unified communication platforms, it has become imperative for contact centers to conduct regular testing of these multiple channels of communication to ensure they are working correctly. Proactive Multi-channel testing is essential to ensure optimized performance and excellent customer experience. Proactive multi-channel testing ensures that the management has completed information on the performance of the communication channels. The last thing a client or contact center wants is to have an agent sitting idle because of a technical issue so be sure that your contact center has a system in place where they regularly check their channels of communication. This will give all parties involved the peace of mind that all operations are handles smoothly and seamlessly. Communication solutions monitoring Monitoring of unified communications solutions ensure that the customer experiences seamless performance, connectivity, and service. Communications solutions monitoring provides more visibility into the complex communication solutions that can help in faster troubleshooting in case of any complications or problems. Constant monitoring helps in maintaining smooth performance and helps contact centers reap full benefits of their investment in advanced technology. Managing the multi-channel contact center is essential in order to efficiently cater to the customers who are adopting new approaches and using new diverse channels for customer service.

Key Metrics You Must Track and Understand To Ensure A Great Customer Experience

Excellent customer experiences are a vital aspect for the success and growth of any business. The customer experience is powerful and differentiating factors that can help businesses consolidate their customer base through strong customer loyalty to assist in increasing revenue. Companies that focus on providing holistic customer experiences can ensure they will build a strong customer base and individualize themselves from their competitors. Top-notch customer experiences can help develop an emotional bond that drives them to buy a company’s product or service on multiple occasions. To get the best ‘value for their money’, customers turn to various mobile apps, social media, online comparison shopping, and customer reviews before making a purchase. Companies must ensure that customers get the same level of customer experience across all touch-points. There is only one boss—the customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else. – Sam Walton, Founder Walmart Customer experience metrics help to quantify the overall experience in which customers have across all touch-points. It is the key indicator of a company’s success and relationship with their customers. Some of the metrics businesses should track to ensure supreme customer experiences include: Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) is a widely used metric across various industries and is derived by dividing the total revenue generated by total number of subscribers. It calculates the amount companies bring in from customers or how much each subscriber buys from the company within a specific time frame. A company can increase the customer experience and ARPU by focusing on up-selling and cross-selling methods, offering bundled packages, and using scalable pricing. ARPU can reveal which layer of customer acquisition you need to improve upon and what methods are needed to improve customer experience. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) can be defined as the expected value of profit generated by a business due to the relationship with a customer over time. Customer experience is very much closely related to CLV and is a critical driver because the quality of customer experiences can greatly impact CLV. Every customer interaction during marketing communication, sales contacts, service/product delivery, and customer service can improve the customer experience and then positively impact future buying behaviors. Customer Loyalty Customer Experience metrics include: Customer Satisfaction, Recommendation, and Customer Loyalty. These can measure the response or behaviors of customers and the result of their experiences after their interaction with an agent or representative. Businesses must provide a positive customer experience to reap the benefits of increased customer loyalty. In hindsight to this, quality customer experiences will ensure that businesses receive a greater profit, and the likelihood of their customers to recommend product and services to others. According to the Temkin Group Report published in March 2012 (1), there is a high degree of correlation between customers’ experiences and their likelihood to recommend a company and to consider purchasing more products and services from that company in the future. Share of Wallet The Share of Wallet metric can be defined as the share of dollars that customers are spending on a particular brand. Share of Wallet can be used by companies to identify which customers prove to be most loyal. This metric can also be used to increase repurchase options and assist companies in knowing about competitors. A higher share of the wallet metric shows that companies are providing higher customer experiences and are enjoying a greater customer loyalty. In today’s economy, customers have a wide variety of choices. With competition getting fierce, it is very important to retain customers through excellent customer service. Properly understanding customer’s needs and expectations will help companies gain valuable insight so they are able to make changes in product offerings, and have the ability to deliver high quality customer experience to improve customer relationships. (1) Temkin Group Report March 2012

8 Simple Tools to Providing Exceptional Customer Service

The common denominator between positive customer behavior and efficient customer engagement is, you got it, customer service! Providing white glove customer service will make a Remarkable Difference for your customer, and will compel them to remain loyal to your business. Any type of business, whether it is traditional brick-and-mortar or an online business, needs to provide excellent customer service to ensure customer needs are met. According to the RightNow Customer Experience Impact Report, 89% of consumers began doing business with a competitor following a poor customer experience. Discussed below are eight powerful tools in which a company can make a Remarkable Difference by providing superior customer service. Respond Quickly Customers want to feel important when visiting your store/website. One of best ways to do this is to listen and respond to your customer. If a customer walks into your store and asks a question and it takes a sales associate 10 minutes to answer, that customer is going to have a poor customer experience. If a customer visits your website and begins a live chat session to ask a question and gets no response, that customer is going to have a poor customer experience. Timeliness is truly key to ensuring that customer service is on par with where it should be. Failure to respond in a timely fashion pushes customers to other competitors faster than almost anything else. Leverage Customer Intelligence To improve customer service, companies should leverage crucial business insights and vital information pertaining to customers’ likes, dislikes, and purchasing behaviors. These vital insights can be used to determine exactly which customers they are serving, what their needs are, and what their expectations are. If a company takes into account these particular insights, they are sure to increase customer perceptions on the customer service they are receiving. Empower the Agents Companies that empower their agents to make independent decisions, think differently, offer flexibility, and add their own touch to the customer service piece, consistently show an increase in customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. By doing so, it allows agents to act independently and bring a variety of styles to the customer service process, which will ultimately improve customer satisfaction. Customers like the feeling of interacting with a real person and not some scripted robot who says the same thing to every customer regardless of the situation. Step Into the Customer’s Shoes We all know the feeling of being the customer at some point or another. Make sure that whether it is a phone agent, chat agent, or anyone from your company interacting with your customers, they can empathize with the customer and the situation they are facing. Sharing this mutual feeling and understanding will make your customers more relaxed and lead to them having a positive overall customer experience. Provide Easily Comprehensible Information Customers will contact businesses to obtain solutions for their questions and problems. Typically, customers can become irritable and unsatisfied when they are provided with unclear or incorrect information on items such as improper details, pricing, and policies. We have to remember when interacting with our customers that most of them will not know and understand our businesses as well as we do. The last thing a customer wants to here is some confusing business lingo that they have never heard before. So keep it simple and clear and the customer will feel much more relaxed. If agents provide easy, precise, and actionable information, it will create a positive and lasting impression in the minds of customers. Going that Extra Mile I think I speak for all of us when I say that I love getting something “extra.” Aside from what is expected, customers will truly be impressed if a representative goes above and beyond to provide them with something additional. Whether it be phenomenal customer service, or offering free shipping on an order that normally does not qualify for free shipping, customers love feeling like they received something extra. By showing your loyalty and care for your customers, they will turn around and share it right back with your business. Going the extra mile is one of the fastest ways to create an invaluable Customer Service reputation. Customers just want to be satisfied with the companies they choose, and those who receive A+ service remember the additional efforts representatives provided, and can ultimately lead to a more fulfilling agent work experience. Have Detailed Knowledge Agents must have the necessary training and detailed product knowledge on the businesses they represent. Agents must also be aware of the latest developments within the business so they are able to roll out the information quickly and accurately according to the wants and needs of their customers. Business holders must always make sure their agents are aware of any updates, new product arrivals, offers, and discounts so they can present it to customers when needed. This is important because a lot of the times, this agent to customer interaction is the first impression of your company to the customer and you want to ensure it is perfect. Learning from Mistakes It is inevitable that mistakes will occur during day-to-day operations, so it is important agents learn from their mistakes to avoid repeat incidents. All mistakes should be viewed as learning opportunities where feedback can be given in positive ways to correct behaviors and not the mistake itself. High levels of customer satisfaction stem from those who experience a Remarkable customer service interaction. This in turn makes them loyal towards the companies that represent them. When a satisfied customer is pleased with a business, they become brand advocates and are likely to recommend the services of the businesses to other potential customers. Companies that strive to provide a Remarkable experience are consistently top choice among the everyday consumer.

Important Practices for a Successful Live Chat Session

The benefits of having an online chat feature on a website seem to just keep growing and growing. With the rapid and continuous growth in technology, more and more consumers prefer to do their online shopping via laptop, tablet, mobile phone etc. When companies implement a live chat service on their website, statistics show an increase in online conversion rates and also a boost in customer experience. Customers are able to receive immediate answers to their questions in real time. Customers’ questions can range from product details to delivery options, and having a live chat agent there to answer these questions leaves the consumers feeling satisfied and confident with their purchase. Live chat not only proves beneficial in answering typical customer questions, but also shows its value during crucial purchasing points in the customers buying process. Chat agents are able to engage with consumers and really find out what it is the consumers are looking for. Below we will look at some practices that will help companies get the biggest benefit from using chat on their websites. Answering Customer Inquiries Accurately It is critical to have a group of chat agents who are skilled in interacting with customers and knowledgeable about your company’s products and website. Having these agents there to assist and guide your customers significantly improves customer satisfaction levels and creates happy loyal customers. Giving accurate answers to customers leaves them feeling confident in their purchase, eliminating the need for them to have to call in to a customer contact center with follow-up questions. According to a Live Chat Effectiveness Report, ¹ 88% of online shoppers rated product/service knowledge of an agent as an important factor in their online interaction, while 83% of online shoppers feel the speed of an agent’s response is an important factor for a successful chat session. Having trained agents available who can quickly and accurately answer customer inquiries will result in happy (and repeat!) customers. Answering Customer Inquiries on a Broad Range of Categories As mentioned above, having a group of highly-skilled agents to take chats is critical. Companies must provide the appropriate training to agents to ensure they are high quality and are ready to interact with customers. Having this training increases the agents’ confidence and overall skill which allows them to have better and more efficient interactions with customers. The Live Chat Effectiveness Report states that 63% of online shoppers agree that agents should be able to efficiently answer questions related to “Product Details” through online chat. Shoppers also stated how important it is that agents efficiently answer questions pertaining to specific categories like customer service questions, delivery status, and pricing options. With agents having the ability to answer questions accurately in a broad spectrum of categories, the overall perception of the company amongst its customer base will be a positive one. Chat Availability When it comes to chat availability hours, there isn’t much room for flexibility. In our modern world of online shopping, having round-the-clock chat services is important due to the fact that it allows customers to shop and ask questions whenever they feel comfortable to do so. According to the report, 77% of online shoppers feel that 24×7 chat availability was important to them; 84% say that making chat available on weekdays after work hours and on weekend days is important as well. Whether it is Saturday morning at 9 A.M or a Tuesday night at 11:30 P.M, if a customer wants to chat in and make a purchase, an agent needs to be there to assist them. Live chat is quickly proving to be the “preferred” communication channel for handling customer inquiries. Customers doing their shopping online want their answers quickly and accurately, and Live Chat agents are able to provide that. With the increase and ease of accessibility in technology, more and more customers are turning to the online world for not only shopping but everyday activities such as banking and bill paying as well. Companies must adapt to this trend and meet their customer’s needs, by providing chat availability at all times.  

Social Media: The gateway to your customer

Social Media is turning out to be a game changer for many companies that provide customer service through various communication channels. E-retailers can efficiently use social media to improve customer service and satisfaction because online consumers are turning towards social media as a primary communication channel to get in contact with them. No matter how large or small an E-Commerce company is, social media is needed to have an efficient customer service mechanism that caters to the needs of consumers, but also helps to build a strong and loyal customer base. Social media is a potent medium Social media has allowed consumers to ‘vent’ their anger, express their opinions, and voice any thoughts about positive or negative customer experiences. Any negative customer experiences can immediately go viral on social media sites, which can then affect customer relationships. However, social media does allow E-retailers to rapidly reply to customer inquiries and enable them to meet and exceed the expectations of their online consumers that are active on social media sites. Platform to showcase competence Social media provides a very dynamic platform for online consumers to convey their complaints and grievances to companies directly. This allows businesses to show their competence and perfectly leverage opportunities and utilize social media to showcase their company. The act of effectively engaging consumers on social media will help to build stronger customer satisfaction and trust of the company. Fast and easy Social media customer service provides a fast and easy way to cater the needs and requirements of online consumers. By using Social media customer service, it can help E-commerce companies save time and money because they can resolve customer related issues in real time to avoid wasting time. Higher customer satisfaction The most important thing for any E-retailer is to provide superior customer service and satisfaction on their website. When customers receive a reply from a company within a short time of their inquiry, it greatly increases customer satisfaction. E-retailers are then able to create a strong and loyal customer base by continuously updating consumers about new products, discounts, promotions, or issues by sharing it on social media sites. Satisfied customers will then turn into brand advocates on social media sites by bringing in new business opportunities. With such loyalty in a customer base, companies can look forward to creating a positive brand image.

Superior Customer Service – Keys for Success in the Contact Center Industry

Rapid growth of E-commerce websites, social media, changing technology scenarios, has catapulted online customer service expectations to a higher level. It has also made it challenging for contact centers to provide efficient customer service. With many communication channels, customers expect the same level of customer service to be provided across all platforms. As a result, contact centers have to escalate their efforts and processes to provide better customer service and an enhanced customer experience. According to the Avaya Consumer Preference Report, only 26% of consumers responded positively when asked if they believe customer service centers provide great support. This shows a gap and room for improvement to provide better customer service by contact centers.   Figure source: Avaya Consumer Preference Report 2011 Importance of customer service Providing quality customer service is essential for any enterprise. The one thing that distinguishes the call center and creates strong customer loyalty towards businesses is quality customer service. Enterprises put in an immense amount of time, money, and resources to provide quality customer service to customers. They are all looking for quality customer service that will create a positive customer experience and enhanced customer satisfaction. Call centers must ensure their agents are aware of the importance of excellent customer service. Call Centers can do this through various training sessions and programs. The training should include but not be limited to: principals of customer service, customer preferences on products or services, customer emotions associated with products, and how to exceed customer expectations. Best Practices for improving customer service Call centers can utilize the latest technologies and software to improve customer service. The latest speech analytics softwares now enable call centers to capture, analyze, and perform actions on crucial data captured from customer interactions. In turn, call centers are able to obtain valuable insights into customer behavior patterns and make decisions based on how to improve the customer service experience. Call recording and monitoring help to enhance agent performance which then improves the overall quality of customer service. Errors and defects in the agent performance and call center procedures can be identified and removed as a way to improve customer service. As a result of locating errors and defects, call centers can provide additional training to agents as another effective way to improve customer service.

Etech India: Inspiring Journey of an Offshore Contact Center

On September 26th, 2003, a group of 25 committed professionals filled with aspirations of strengthening our company were challenged with the goal of expanding our operations into one of the most developing states in India, Gujarat. And today, on the verge of celebrating our 10th anniversary, Etech Global Services employs over 650 team members running successful operations in both Gandhinagar & Vadodara, and recognized as a global leader in the Business Process Outsourcing Industry. My name is Matt Rocco. I am president, COO and team member of Etech. I have visited the great state of Gujarat on numerous occasions. When I look back on our journey, I find my heart filled with gratitude to many who have helped us to achieve our dreams. We are most grateful to Gujarat’s government, led by Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who has been very instrumental and cooperative throughout the years. His positive business policies and responsive approvals to Etech requests have helped to establish Etech as a leading BPO company in the area. I believe that not only has Gujarat been good for Etech, but that Etech has been good for Gujarat! We have been a pioneer of introducing the emerging BPO industry to all the talent and resources that Gujarat has to offer. The wonderful efforts initiated by Chief Minister Modi towards human resource development in Gujarat has provided Etech and other companies access to a talented pool of 700,000 graduates coming out of Gujarat each year. The contributions of the Gujarat government coupled with Etech’s profound work culture, safe environment, and servant leadership model has positioned Etech has an employer of choice in Gujarat. Etech Global Services, a global customer interaction/acquisition and contact center services solution provider, has a vision to make a remarkable difference for our customers, our people, and within our communities. Headquartered in Nacogdoches, Texas, USA, we have expanded US operations to include centers in Lufkin, Rusk, and Dallas, Texas, Huntington, West Virginia and Palm Beach County, Florida; and offshore centers located in Gandhinagar and Vadodara in Gujarat in India, and Montego Bay Jamaica. For over a decade, Etech has been helping companies by providing innovative technology, industry-leading service, stellar CSAT scores, and high performing sales solutions that enable our clients to build stronger brands, strengthen customer relationships, and gain market share. While celebrating the completion of 10 eventful years in India, we are humbled to have been supported by so many of our customers, communities and the government of Gujarat. We look forward to achieving further success together in the years to come.

E-Commerce Website Helps Boost Online Sales through Better Customer Engagement

E-commerce websites need to keep pace with changing customer preferences, behavior, and latest technologies to efficiently engage customers and boost sales. Customers are faced by thousands of options while shopping online and it has made it increasingly difficult to draw their attention and convince them to make a purchase. However, the two things that can make an E-commerce website differ from the rest is efficient customer service and customer engagement. Factors behind growth in E-commerce sector The E-commerce sector is witnessing a sudden spurt in growth and increased sales. According to recent Forrester Research (1), U.S. online retail sales will hit $370 billion by 2017. The E-commerce sector which accounts for 8% of the total retail sales in the U.S. will outpace sales growth at brick-and-mortar stores over next five years, according to Forrester report. Two striking factors can be attributed to be behind driving the growth. One is easy accessibility and use of smartphones and tablets among the U.S. online consumers. Online consumers are using them to conduct research before making a purchase, find stores, find and compare prices before making purchase. Second is that many retailers have increased their investments in setting up divisions or departments to improve their online sales and marketing. Also, they are introducing newer ways to improve their online sales. Changing consumer behavior Consumers are changing their online shopping behavior. They visit online websites of businesses, compare pricing of products from two or more stores, read reviews of the product from review websites, make online transactions, decide whether to buy from in-store or online store etc. Essentially every aspect of the buying process can now be done prior to any one on one interaction so it is crucial for businesses and companies to have a strong E-commerce website. An E-commerce website offers the best way for any business to sell any kind of products online as well as create a robust web presence. By establishing a solid online presence through E-commerce website, businesses can efficiently reach out to the large untapped online customer base, boost online sales and create a positive brand perception. Reference: 1. US Online Retail Sales Forecast

Online Chat Helps Improve Online Sales and Customer Satisfaction

The Internet has completely changed the way enterprises carry out their business. As large numbers of consumers are rapidly shifting to the online realm to conduct their every day activities, it is essential for businesses to maintain a robust online presence in order to tap this growing online customer base. According to eMarketer, the number of U.S. consumers researching or shopping online is steadily growing and will surpass the 200 million mark by 2015. In order for businesses to satisfy this consumer base, they must have an online customer support system. One of the most cost effective and customer preferred method is to interact with these consumers through online chat. Providing online chat is an excellent way to provide customer service to these online consumers as it ensures quick resolution of customer problems, queries, and concerns. Businesses can improve online sales, customer satisfaction and in turn, create a loyal customer base. Increase online conversion rates Providing online chat on business websites or E-commerce websites will ensure that all of the website visitors are efficiently targeted and catered to too fulfill their needs and requirements. Online chat will establish direct real-time communication with customers which increases the chances of customers making a purchase. This efficient targeting will as well improve the online conversion rates. Online sales are increased as chat can significantly shorten the sales cycle and positively impact the customers to make a purchase. Higher customer satisfaction The advancements in technology in recent years have increased the level of expectations of the customers from businesses in terms of providing faster, efficient and accurate customer service across communication channels. Through online chat, an agent can directly answer queries of the customers in real-time which will significantly improve customer satisfaction. And one thing we all know to be true is, a happy customer stays a customer. Once the customers are satisfied they will return again and again to purchase from the website thereby creating a strong loyal customer base. Improved agent performance Unlike any other modes of communication channels, online chat allows agents to handle multiple customer queries at a single time thus improving their performance, efficiency and productivity. Reduced operating costs Online chat helps to reduce operational costs as agents can handle multiple customer interactions at a single time. They are able to rapidly solve customer queries and grievances with quick and efficient resolution. By these customers having their problems answered over a simple chat, the company should see a significant drop in call volume because their customers are experiencing first contact resolution through chat. Online chat is a cost-effective option as it costs only a fraction of what it costs to interact with customer through other communication channels. Providing online chat on a business’s website can also reduce shopping cart abandonment rates as customers can be provided with right information that they are seeking at that exact moment. Customers can immediately seek help from live chat agents which are readily available to help at any point of time. Reference: [1] http://www.internetretailer.com/trends/consumers/

Powerful Leader = Servant Leader

History has numerous instances where leaders have risen rapidly in the ranks just by simply caring and serving their people. How does this happen, one might ask? Practice servant leadership. The principles and practices of servant leadership have held true through the years and are found beneficial regardless of the industry. Servant leadership is the need of the hour for organizations as they are constantly faced with operational challenges, meeting revenue goals, customer relationships, keeping employees happy, etc. Servant leadership, opposed to the traditional concept of “Power Model Leadership” where the leader of the organization is virtually non-present in the day to day operations, has proven to produce remarkable results. Servant leadership is a philosophy which focuses on growth, welfare, and motivation of the employees, and giving back to the communities associated with the organization. Primary Goal: Be Present and Serve Your Employees One of the fastest ways to become a servant leader is to be present. The leader needs to be visible in the day to day operations so employees feel like they belong and are important to the company. If the employees never see their leader, the feeling of “I am just another number in their books” quickly begins to creep in, which leads to poor employee moral and performance begins to suffer. The leader must be entirely focused on serving their employees by demonstrating that every employee really does matter. Serving employees means to ensure that all activities conducted at work result in employee growth, skill enhancement, and are completed in a proper manner. Servant leaders must support, encourage, and enable employees to unleash their hidden talents and capabilities. The employees who feel encouraged and supported from their leaders are going to be the top performers, as compared to the employees who work in fear of their boss. Practicing servant leadership will ensure the focus will be on the growth of the individuals in the organization which will promote teamwork, empathy, co-operation, trust, and employee involvement. A true servant leader relinquishes power and puts the needs and concerns of his/her employees as their top priority. Judging Yourself as Servant Leader One of the toughest tasks the leader must do to ensure they are practicing servant leadership is to self-evaluate themselves. Some leaders may have a hard time doing this and being honest with these answers because they think they don’t need to ask these questions. Below are several questions the leader must consider to help get the ball rolling in their effort to become a true servant leader: Do I sit in interviews during the recruitment process? Do I attend training classes that occur for my employees? Do I take part in orientation programs? What is my level of participation in activities on the operations floor? What is my role in coaching, motivating, and inspecting the activities on the operations floor? Last but not the least, am I helping my employees solve their problems and concerns? Happy employees will ultimately result in happy customers as they can provide superior attention and care to the customers. Servant leaders focus on creating happy employees by keeping the needs of the employees ahead of any personal interests.

What to Look for in the Right Live Chat Vendor

More and more, consumers prefer to shop online and conduct a host of other important activities online. Businesses have to maintain a robust online presence in order to tap into the growing base of online consumers. Consumers like to shop, perform hotel reservations, book travels, and conduct financial transactions at their own convenience and ease. Providing live chat on a company website can help provide their customers with swift customer service and personalized attention. The issues and questions of customers can be solved quickly as live chat establishes a real-time direct communication link between customers and customer service representatives. There are several major benefits of having live chat offered on your website, one of which is seeing a large increase in your agents’ efficiency. Chat agents are able to handle multiple chats at once, as compared to voice agents who can only service one customer at a time. This benefit decreases the chance of a customer having to wait on an agent for answers. They are able to receive the instantaneous response we are all looking for. Another benefit is the decrease abandoned shopping carts on the website. Due to the fact that a large portion of shopping carts are abandoned simply because the customer became confused and could not navigate properly, the live agents are able to jump in at the right time and place and assist these customers to complete their order. Companies should look for following points while selecting the right live chat vendor: Offer more services than chat Reputable live chat vendors offer value added services with their live chat software. Seek these companies out. They should be able to implement the software, maintain, and improve the software with the latest updates. Having a vendor that understands the software and best practices in the industry will provide you with the confidence that you made the right choice. A vendor with deep roots and a proven track record is the ideal vendor. Comprehensive reporting capability Your live chat vendor should have comprehensive reporting capabilities to provide insightful reports on the current status of campaigns, KPIs, agent performance, profitability and much more. Reporting helps to judge the effectiveness of campaigns and make adjustments or improvements wherever necessary. Ability to grow Chat vendors must be able to grow and offer scalable solutions to their clients. As online sales and chat volume grow, vendors must be able to offer solutions to handle such volume and routing. Vendors should offer capabilities such as customizable features like the chat window to closely match the website to ensure that brand integrity is maintained. The logo, colors, design, welcome message, button placement, and chat intelligence rules need to be customized to allow for excellent customer experience. Training Live chat vendors should be offering training to chat agents for their products. They need to be able to show how to implement best practices in live chat services. Along with the basic training, vendors should show they also practice continuous improvement for their agents. This helps keep agents trained with the ever changing culture we live in. Proven Success When searching for a live chat vendor, be looking for a successful track record of service uptime and reliability. They should have a clearly defined business strategy, delivery model, and SLA. This really is a key point. Even though some ideas and strategies may sound pretty, when choosing a live chat vendor, it is always safest to go with someone who can back up what they say and has the numbers to prove it. Live chat helps improve online sales, customer satisfaction, and a better customer engagement. It is essential to have a solid partnership with a vendor that will provide the right help, support, and continuous improvement.

Principles of Total Quality Management (TQM)

Total Quality Management (TQM) is a management approach focusing on the improvement of quality and performance in all functions, departments, and processes across the company to provide quality services which exceed customer expectations. TQM expands the scope of quality of every department from top management to lower level employees. It enables management to adopt a strategic approach to quality and put more effort on prevention rather than on inspection. Through TQM, all employees are trained in a professional manner and encouraged to make decisions on their own to improve the overall quality and attain higher standards. This is key to achieving the TQM results desired, because without your employees on board and feeling empowered, you might as well be swimming upstream. Through TQM, companies increase customer satisfaction, reduce costs, and foster team work. Companies can also gain higher returns on sales and investment. The ability to provide quality services allow for higher prices to be charged. Total quality means better access to global markets, greater customer loyalty, wider recognition as a quality brand, etc. TQM is broadly based on the following principles: Customer Centric Approach Consumers are the ultimate judge to determine whether products or services are of superior quality or not. No matter how many resources are pooled in training employees, upgrading machines and computers, incorporating quality design process and standards, bringing new technology, etc.; at the end of the day, it is the customers who have the final say in judging your company. Companies must remember to implement TQM across all fronts keeping in mind the customers. Employee Involvement Ensuring total employee involvement in achieving goals and business objectives will lead to employee empowerment and active participation from the employees in decision making and addressing quality related problems. Employee empowerment and involvement can be increased by making the workspace more open and devoid of fear. Continual Improvement A major component of TQM is continual improvement. Continual improvement will lead to improved and higher quality processes. Continual improvement will ensure companies will find new ways and techniques in producing better quality products, production, be more competitive, as well as exceed customer expectations. Strategic Approach to Improvement Businesses must adopt a strategic approach towards quality improvement to achieve their goals, vision, and mission. A strategic plan is very necessary to ensure quality becomes the core aspect of all business processes. Integrated System Businesses comprise of various departments with different functionality purposes. These functionalities are interconnected with various horizontal processes TQM focuses on. Everyone in the company should have a thorough understanding of the quality policies, standards, objectives, and important processes. It is very important to promote a quality work culture as it helps to achieve excellence and surpass customer expectations. An integrated system ensures continual improvement and helps companies achieve a competitive edge. Decision Making Data from the performance measurement of processes indicates the current health of the company. For efficient TQM, companies must collect and analyze data to improve quality, decision making accuracy, and forecasts. The decision making must be statistically and situational based in order to avoid any room for emotional based decisions. Communications Communication plays a crucial role in TQM as it helps to motivate employees and improve their morale during routine daily operations. Employees need to be involved as much as possible in the day to day operations and decision making process to really give them a sense of empowerment. This creates the environment of success and unity and helps drive the results the TQM process can achieve. It requires immense efforts, time, courage, and patience to successfully implement TQM. Businesses successfully implementing TQM can witness improved quality across all major processes and departments, higher customer retention, higher revenue due to improved sales, and global brand recognition.

The Benefits of Call Center Outsourcing to the Health Insurance Industry

The health care industry and structure of health care organizations in the United States are in a state of accelerated evolution.  Recent updates, such as the Affordable Care Act, have expanded the need for health insurance organizations to provide members with quality communication that are timely and achieve a high member satisfaction rating while reducing operating costs. Outsourcing is a logical choice for the health insurance industry.  Hospitals, insurance providers, and private practices find that outsourcing provides a cost-effective, efficient solution to member service, collections, and sales.  Contact centers offering a varied portfolio of resources, such as voice, chat, email and SMS can have a strong, positive influence on the level of communication conducted between the provider and member. Call center standards for the insurance industry are among the highest anywhere. According to the US Census Bureau 2012, the US Health Care Industry Annual Revenue was pegged at $1.668 trillion with 784,626 healthcare companies in US. Call centers use the latest technologies and customized software applications for effective medical information protection, secure sharing, and coordination with adherence to HIPAA compliance. Exceptional call center infrastructure paired with agents who have appropriate skill sets and training are key imperatives. Interactions with a knowledgeable and trained representative create positive brand perception and member experience. Another value-add is flexibility – call centers have the ability to provide around the clock staffing, including holiday’s and weekends. Partnering with a qualified health care call center not only supports quality interactions, but provides “Voice of Member” services that deliver long term benefits.  Constant evaluation, member feedback and process improvement are invaluable in helping clients improve business practices.  This results in an optimization of overall performance, lower labor expenses and enhanced strategic position, which in turn support a healthy bottom line.

Best Practices for Training Chat Agents

As every person who has used online chat knows, a great chat experience can convince a person to purchase a product or service immediately, or can cause them to look elsewhere on the Internet for their business. With so many options at a customer’s fingertips when using the web, it is critical that chat agents offer a great presentation the first time they interact with a customer – there are few second chances with live chat. By now, everyone knows that chat is the fastest and most effective method of interacting with customers online. Having a well-trained staff of live chat agents is critical to making that first impression and creating loyal online-first customers. As live chat has grown, best practices have been developed that have led to increased sales, lead generation, chat quality, and overall customer experience. By following the general outline below, your chat team’s performance and quality is sure to improve. Encourage Rapport Building A chat is just like a verbal conversation – agents need to build rapport with a customer before they can properly address a customer’s reason for chatting. Chat can be a challenging medium because agents cannot rely on their tone of voice to show their emotions to customers. While emoticons (things like 🙂 and :\ ) and acronyms (“LOL”) are generally frowned upon in a professional chat, there are other ways to let a customer know you are engaged with them. Quick responses to customer messages are a must. During a chat, 30 second responses can seem like a lifetime to a customer, so it is important to respond quickly to any customer questions. Most chat platforms offer prewritten messages that agents can customize to allow quick responses. Directly answering customer messages is also critical. If you have ever used online chat or even exchanged text messages with someone, you can understand how messages can become confusing if one party changes topics mid-conversation. Addressing each customer question before moving on to the next will create a smoother chat flow and a better customer experience. Understanding the Needs of Your Customer The reason customers initiate a live chat is to fulfill a need, whether that is to buy a product or service, for customer support, for billing questions, etc. It is your agents’ job to determine what a customer needs and provide that to them while providing the best customer service possible. During rapport building, agents will have the opportunity to ask questions of their own to determine exactly what a customer wants. Often, the customer won’t know exactly what they want. “What is the fastest internet speed available?” “How can I pay my bill online?” This is your team’s opportunity to acknowledge a customer’s messages and ask discovery questions to find a solution that best suits a customer’s needs. Provide a Solution Now that your agents have built rapport with a customer and determined what they need, this is their opportunity to meet their customer’s needs. During this step, the goodwill that the agent has built during the rapport building and understanding needs phases can be used to offer solutions that a customer might not be as receptive to otherwise. For instance, an agent might be able to offer a phone plan that is more expensive than what the customer originally had in mind, but that better suits their needs because it has features not included in the less expensive plan. Going for the Close As with most interactions, especially sales interactions, the close can often be the trickiest part of the process. Research has found that many organizations have a gap in their “Rapport Building” through “Provide a Solution” steps, and that many new agents often skip from their introduction at the beginning of the chat to trying to close a sale. This step builds on the previous three steps to be effective, and here is where your leaders will spend much of their time coaching. Key coaching techniques in this phase are teaching agents to identify key phrases that indicate a customer is ready to buy and hold regular practice sessions with agents, giving them the opportunity to role play their closes in different scenarios. Review Chat Transcripts A final obvious but sometimes overlooked step is to have leaders and their agents study chat transcripts. Letting agents look over their own transcripts will allow them to acknowledge and correct any of their areas of opportunity, while sharing the transcripts of top performers will allow best practices to spread throughout your team. Customers themselves can provide great data for your organization. What products do customers like? What promotions? What would they improve about your live chat experience? These questions can often be answered by taking a look at your previous interactions with customers. If your team doesn’t have the bandwidth to do a deep dive into your transcripts, there are organizations available who specialize in reviewing and analyzing customer interactions and can provide trending and voice of the customer data. Summary As you can see, by following some simple best practices, you can have well-trained, live chat agents on your team. You can provide outstanding sales and service for your online customers leading to increased revenue and reduced costs.

Servant Leadership

The dramatic globalization of industry and the rapid enhancement of technology have changed today’s business environment and will continue to do. In today’s fast paced global market, businesses are called to move more rapidly than ever before while doing even more with less. While globalization and technology are the drivers behind the change, I firmly believe that the only way to achieve and sustain success is through the empowerment of people. The most effective way to engage everyone to reach their potential is by developing high-trust cultures which empowers everyone by turning bosses into servants and coaches. This concept is at the heart of what it means to be a Servant Leader. At Etech, our leaders are not about power or prestige; they are about truly serving and developing their people, their customers and their communities. I believe that Servant Leadership has never been more important than it is today. Companies are looking for leadership philosophies that work… and people are looking for a deeper meaning in the workplace than just meeting deadlines and drawing a pay check. By embracing and cultivating a leadership culture centered on servant leadership, Etech recently celebrated its 9 year anniversary having grown from one call center in East Texas with a couple hundred employees to seven global centers across Texas, Jamaica and India with 2,000+ team members. And the best is yet to come. Servant Leadership not only works, but it brings meaning to the workplace that is bigger than any of us.

Multi-Channel Contact Centers Help Deliver Exceptional Customer Experience

Contact centers are constantly focused on narrowing down on a right mix of channels to provide a unified communication platform for great customer experience. They are experiencing the necessity to undergo transition from a conventional center into a more dynamic multi-channel contact center offering customer service through multiple touch-points. With rapidly expanding technological innovations, customers are exploring new touch points to get in contact with businesses. In order to efficiently cater to the growing base of tech-savvy customers, contact centers need an optimized integrated platform that encompasses all types of contact channels to improve their customer-engagement methods while reducing the costs and increasing revenue. According to Right Now Multi-Channel Contact Center Survey of more than 300 companies, more than half say their average cost per call is $6 or less, more than half state that their average email response time is 12 hours or less, and the majority says their chat agents handle one to three chats simultaneously.¹ Interactions in Multi-Channel Environment Customers use different channels such as voice, IVR, email, chat, and web to reach contact centers to get their questions answered. According to a recent study by Enghouse Interactive and ContactBabel, the way customers contact call centers has changed significantly.² Phone interactions accounted for 76.2% of entire inbound interactions in 2007. This number falls to 71.6% in 2011. Emails accounted for 6.9% of entire inbound interactions in 2007, and rose to 10.2% in 2011. Live chat accounted for 1.2% of total inbound interactions in 2007, but it showed significant growth settling at 1.8% in 2011. IVR accounted for 6.9% of total inbound interactions in 2007 and increased to 12.2% in 2011. Live chat showed significant growth prospects with figures jumping from 1.8% in 2011 to 2.5% in early 2012.³ Customers are favoring the online chat channel as it better addresses their needs and queries. The agents can handle multiple chat sessions while offering cost-effectiveness as compared to voice and IVR. Live chat has gained greater acceptance from customers due to its ability to provide real-time responses to queries, ease of use, faster resolution, and convenience. According to the study, the live chat channel will account for 5% of the total inbound interactions to the contact centers by 2015.³ Strategy for Multichannel Handling As contact centers embrace the multi-channel environment to serve customers, they face the same issues as any other contact center including agent skill sets, workforce management, metrics and reporting. Many contact centers employ multi-skilled routing strategies across multiple sites in order to provide quality customer service. There is the need to have a robust and proven multichannel contact center management strategy in place. One way to handle multichannel contacts is to create dedicated agent pools. Dedicated groups can cater to each channel individually. One group can handle inbound calls, another can handle emails, one can handle web chat, etc. Another method of effective contact handling is Universal Queue wherein contacts are routed to agents as they come. Thus, the agents may handle an email first, then a web chat, then an inbound call. This method facilitates cross-training and leads to management issues as agents have to face difficulties traversing across different channels in a short span of time. In order to overcome all these issues, the skill-block scheduling approach is being adopted. In skill block scheduling, agents have to focus on specific multi-channel contact types over a given period of time. The contact center must determine the service goals based on the types of channels the center is handling. The center can define separate service goals for each channel as a uniform service goal will result in inconsistency. Volume forecasting in a multichannel contact center helps to successfully achieve service goals set by the center. Volume forecasting is done in two steps. First, the contact center derives the arrival forecast from the history of multichannel contacts. Second, the center must create a handle forecast for deferrable work. Creating volume forecasting enables centers to take advantage of agent availability when there is low contact volume and use it to handle various channel types. It is necessary to correctly determine the Average Handle Time (AHT) for contacts based on history. Determining AHT is crucial for creation of exact volume forecast. Determining AHT can be a difficult task for work such as emails because it is deferrable work. Correct AHT can be entered in a Workforce Management System to accurately conduct volume forecasting and build staff plans. Workforce Management System (WMS) plays a crucial role in multichannel contact center operations. It helps to accurately determine service goals and staffing plans, and helps to properly disperse the volume across multiple sites. WMS will also help to create the right schedules taking into account skill-block scheduling. As some advanced WMS allows real-time viewing of multichannel contact handling, it ensures efficient change management as centers can modify staff plans based on changes in call volumes. Metrics are crucial in any contact center. When contact centers are expanding to include various contact types, skill types, and functions, it is necessary to develop new sets of metrics that provide the right insights and deep analysis to help management better gauge the health of the contact center and make proper decisions. The metrics need to help control costs and improve the productivity of agents. New generation metrics can give more detailed agent evaluations, provide greater visibility, insights into investment, and improve morale. Customer Satisfaction across Multiple Channels When a customer has the freedom to interact with the contact center in their medium of choice, it gives them an immense sense of satisfaction. The multi-channel environment makes sure that the customers receive the same level of service on any channel and entire customer history and information is seamlessly distributed across all channels. Efficient skill-block scheduling ensures that the right agents are staffed to attain service goals. Properly staffed agents means less stress, higher job satisfaction, and ultimately higher customer satisfaction as happy agents provide excellent customer service. Agents who have exposure to cross-training on multi-channel

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