How to transform Customer Service Experience with Speech Analytics?
Improving customer experiences is one of the important areas of focus for leading brands.
Call Center
5 Useful Ways to Utilize Data to Boost Customer Experience within Your Contact Center
A contact center is more than just a support center; it offers actionable insights into the way that a company chooses to treat its customers.
4 Simple Tips to Evaluate and Elevate Your Contact Center Operations
Your contact center is more than just a checkmark on the customer experience; it is a hallmark that displays how your company feels about the people they serve.
How to Build an Ideal Call Center Quality Monitoring Scorecard?
It’s crucial for call centers and QA managers to understand the Importance of using a call center QA scorecard and very few know how to build an ideal call center quality monitoring scorecard. With a successful call center monitoring strategy, companies can significantly improve customer satisfaction, employee retention, as well as their bottom line. Decision-makers can understand what does call center QA quality monitoring mean, quickly identify problems, maintain call quality standards, and improve team performance while enhancing customer satisfaction ratios. Putting in place a quality monitoring scorecard, however, can be tricky. Here is a guide to help you navigate the implementation of a functional call center monitoring scorecard strategy. Set Your Goals & Objectives What is call center quality monitoring? Most call centers have a system in place to track, evaluate and improve CX interactions, , however, every call center is unique in the way it monitors those experiences, so it’s crucial to ensure that all elements included in the scorecard are specific to your own customer and business needs, to help you measure what’s important. Ensure you know where you want to see yourself so you can create specific and actionable goals that make your support vision come to life. For instance, are you looking for ways to increase the quality of phone calls, provide faster solutions, ensure adherence to guidelines, or create a foundation for agent’s training and coaching? Accurately Define KPIs What KPIs are essential for your call center? Choosing optimal key performance indicators (KPIs) is the key in assessing call center performance. You will want to choose KPIs that align with your company’s mission, vision, and goals. Indicators that are considered to create the most significant impact on the desired goal must be prioritized. Some components to consider include customer service quality, protocol compliance, and agent’s problem-solving abilities, follow up service or call center etiquette. Make sure that the KPIs are clearly understood by everyone involved. Solicit the Input of Stakeholders Hold a meeting with your whole team to discuss the processes, strategies, and how you are going to execute the quality assurance process. See if anyone has inputs and recommendations to improve your plan. After all, agents are always on the front lines, dealing with customers daily so their experiences can provide valuable input that helps determine the benchmarks that make their customer interactions successful. When your whole team is actively involved in the process, you will have a better chance of adjusting behavior as people will show a stronger commitment to measuring up to the benchmarks they helped define. Determine the Call Center QA Monitoring Scorecard Criteria The effectiveness of your quality monitoring scorecard goes as far as the items included in the evaluation form. If you’re working with a poorly designed call scoring evaluation scorecard, you will eventually have inaccurate data that does not correctly assess agent performance or misses vital performance areas. Once you determine which metrics to hold your customer agents accountable to, creating QA criteria is easy. Develop a checklist taking into account the various metrics that suit your call center, your employees, and your company goals/values. Anywhere between 10 to 15 questions should be ideal. Instead of overwhelming your QA scorecard with dozens of questions, concentrate on the aspects of your team’s interactions that matter most to you. When it comes to the weighting criteria of each of the components, discuss how important each element is and from that determine how it should be weighted. Gather Data for Feedback QA analysts, team leaders, and analysts can gather invaluable data from a collection of scorecards, gaining a broad overview of the employees’ efficiency. From this data, you will have a better understanding of what opportunities are being missed, what areas demand improvement as well as where you are doing well. This paves the way for targeted training that builds your staff’s skills. Continually Review KPIs and Revise Your Plan as Necessary You’ll need to check your KPIs regularly to make sure your changes are maintaining an efficient and effective call center. Check your metrics and tweak them as desired to suit your workforce’s evolution and development. If the metrics on your scorecards fail to correlate with business goals, then you should consider updating them to reflect your company’s values and goals. Always solicit feedback from agents and communicate any changes you made as a result of their input. Multiple scorecards can be developed to evaluate calls, emails, live chats, social media engagements, or whatever elements you want to measure. Your call center scorecard is the foundation of your QA process, so take time to create a proper one that works perfectly for your unique business. With an effective call center monitoring system, your company not only benefits from improved quality scores but will also keep ahead of the competition and build a loyal following. To learn more about how Etech can optimize your current QA department, or help you develop/fine-tune your current QA Processes, feel free to contact us via our website.
Project Management: Backbone of Call Center
Project management is the backbone of businesses. Managers are responsible for more than just managing people. To add to the need for managing regular business operations, there are often separate projects that require special attention, such as starting a new marketing project for a call center. But what is project management? In a general sense, it refers to the organizing and managing tasks from start to finish for a particular venture. The project manager is responsible for mapping out the process it will take to bring the project to completion, detailing the necessary resources, sourcing who and what is needed, and ensuring all goes according to plan. Though this is the general idea of how call center project management works, keep in mind that every case is different. Here are the five phases that professionals can tweak to fit the individual needs of their various projects. Project Initiation This is the make it or break it phase of a project, where project managers must put the original concept to the test. Here, project managers measure both the purpose and potential benefits of the call center project. This requires the use of two primary tools for evaluation, namely a feasibility study and a business case document. The business case document takes a close look at the purpose behind the proposal and attempts to prove why it is needed. The feasibility tool is used to determine whether or not the company has the resources at hand to support the project and ensure it meets the goals. Projects that do not pass these two tests should be discarded. Project Planning If management decides that the proposed project is profitable and feasible, then the planning phase begins. At this point, project managers take stock of all the moving parts and construct a plan for execution. Even the best-proposed ideas will fail without a solid plan, so this is an important aspect of project management. Below are some aspects of a project that must be taken into consideration: Overlapping tasks Tasks that are dependent on the completion of other tasks The order in which particular tasks must be completed The time estimates for each task Additionally, the project manager must include plans for securing the necessary resources and an estimated time for project delivery. Project Execution Here, the project plan is put to the test as team members begin to carry out what is outlined. Depending on the size of the project, there may be project leaders who are responsible for managing smaller groups. This helps to reduce the need for the manager to handle every detail of the project. Instead, the project manager will be focused on the following phase of this project. It is well to note that the success of this phase relies heavily on regular and clear communication among everyone working on the project. This ensures a smooth transition from one milestone to the next. Project Management and Control It now becomes the role of the project manager to ensure there is little to no deviation from the original plan. This helps to ensure the project is completed on time and within the budget. However, – obstacles often arise that were not originally accounted for, which may result in the project manager returning to phase two several times. Some obstacles may also be outside the project manager’s control, such as natural disasters or the CEO pulling funding at the last minute. Project Closure If activities progressed according to plan, the project should have been completed on time. However, contrary to popular belief, the actual completion of the project does not mark the end of the project management cycle; there is still more work to be done. Good project managers collect information in this final phase to see how to better approach the next project. Surveys may be used to ask about communication, clarity of goals, and other key aspects. The project manager will also consider how well the project stayed within time and monetary budget constraints. Following this, a full report is issued to the interested parties. Project management is not just the key to maintaining the status quo, but the source of innovation. When applied effectively, it can also help to increase company efficiency by shortening some of the product cycles and processes that tack on the additional cost in time and money to key business operations. In fact, Forbes notes that without proper management, companies waste roughly 10% of output. Are you interested in learning how call center project management may benefit your business? Reach out to Etech today. This blog was earlier published on LinkedIn.
How You Can Improve Efficiency of Your Call Center Using Workforce Management
According to Forbes, engagement is the key to effective workforce management. With estimates claiming that only 30% of employees are engaged, managing the workforce becomes a lot more difficult than it used to be. Some managers say prior generations were easier to manage because they were more predictable. Employees worked their 40-plus hours per week at a call center and went home with little complaint. Their primary expectations were job stability, a pay check and good benefits, making them relatively easy to please. This is not the case today. Here’s how you can improve efficiency of your call center using better workforce management techniques. Understand the Millennial Workforce While there are certainly exceptions, millennials are more well-known for valuing corporate social responsibility, flexible work hours, remote work opportunities and work-study benefits. Why is this important? Baby boomers are either in or nearing retirement. As a result, millennials now make up the largest generation share of the American labor force. This is especially the case in a call center workforce, where employers often attract younger workers. Thus, a big part of effective workforce management now depends on the ability to understand, motivate and compensate millennials. Depend on Accurate Data When managers better understand their workforce, they can then use that knowledge to increase efficiency. One page that employers can take from the “internet generation” book is the love for technology and a reliance on apps. Software allows employers to use data to provide objective feedback to employees and make effective adjustments. Some key data that managers should employ tech to track in a cell center environment include the following: • Average customer wait time • Average handling time • Conversation rate • Average talk time • Customer rating • Upsell rates Call centers can also use data to better serve customers. Many call centers keep track of customer preferences, purchase history and other valuable information. Agents in turn can use this information to better assist callers and upsell products and services. Setting Data-Driven Schedules Another important use of data is to create schedules. This prevents the likelihood of having too many or too few agents on site during slow or peak hours. How so? Managers should pay close attention to data related to how many customers call hourly, how long they must wait in the queue before receiving assistance and how long it takes on average to resolve their queries. By compiling and analyzing this information, managers can create shift schedules that reduce customer wait time and increase customer satisfaction. Better schedules also help to reduce work overload during the busier times, as well as prevent boredom when call volumes are low. Finally, employees are in a better position to choose their shifts. Provide Solid Succession Plans When it comes to industry turnover rates, call centers are among the highest. One contributing factor is the failure to provide solid succession plans. A good succession plan should come in two parts. The first is that employees should have trained at least one person to replace them. The second involves a mapped route for promotional opportunities. If employees believe that their current position or pay rate is as good as it is ever going to get, then advancing will mean leaving the company. It may also create the mental perception of the company as a temporary opportunity or a stepping stone, leading to limited investment on their part. Remember that employee turnover is expensive. By increasing retention rates call centers can save money and maintain productivity, thereby increasing efficiency. Prepare for an Agile Workforce Workforce management solutions are fairly easy to apply in an office space, but remote work is gaining traction in customer service. While employees typically enjoy working from home, it may become more difficult to keep employees engaged. Forbes notes that in these instances, managers who are used to hands-on managing or even micro-managing, will have to get comfortable with a certain degree of uncertainty. Again, this is where getting to know the team on a personalized level comes in handy. This makes it easier to keep everyone actively engaged through various tactics, such as company newsletters announcing developments and introducing team members, planning regional get-togethers or hosting meaningful and well-planned conference meetings. As the job market continues to change, many companies find it easier to outsource call center workforce management to capable hands. This allows them to focus on what they do best, i.e., creating a product or service that best serves their target market. If this is an arrangement you would like to consider, contact Etech at info@etechgs.com to see how we can help make this a reality for your company today.
5 Strategies for Effective Call Center Operational Performance
Working in today’s call center is a demanding job. The simplest of transactions are now often handled via self-service tools, leaving more complex work left to today’s agent. Effectively leading today’s call center agent can be even more challenging. From handling escalated calls, upset customers stressed-out agents, and endless to-do lists; the list of challenges tends to get longer and longer. This leaves an interesting question – how do you lower stress levels for your team members? How do you keep their moods up, so that they are bright and cheery treating each new customer as if they were their first of the day? How do you improve call center performance to ensure your team member, company, and clients get the necessary results they need? Here are five clear strategies to implement for effective call center operational performance. 1. Effective Sourcing An ideal time to hire call center agents is at the start of their career, usually when they are entry level. Be open to those with little previous work experience. By starting the development process early, you can prepare workers with valuable experience to become not just high-performing agents, but future supervisors and managers. There are many ways to attract employees who are at the start of their careers. Here are just a few tactics to consider: • Provide paid internships for students fresh out of college or during their college breaks. • Attend workshops and conferences at high schools to market your company as a desirable employer. • Allow flexible work schedules, so that students may work part-time, while attending college. 2. Employee Incentives Once you’ve increased the pool from which you can draw permanent workers for your call center operations, the next step is to be a desirable employer. If your goal is to attract mostly young workers, then it’s important to note that flexibility and work-life-balance are extremely important to millennials and Gen Z, often even more so than a high salary. Here are some incentives you should consider that will benefit your older call center workers, as well: • Opportunities for professional development • Fun and creative experiences • Innovative tech in the office • Flexible work schedules • Give back initiatives 3. Employee Training Many call center operations leaders make the mistake of believing employees only need training for their first few weeks on the job. Others have training programs in place just for the sake of having them, with no real process and no real way of measuring their effectiveness. By investing in proper and frequent employee training, you are building an unstoppable workforce. In fact, Forbes recommends frequent employee training as the key to organizational success. Besides the obvious knowledge improvement, how does this benefit call center operations? See below for a few key benefits: • Reduced need for supervision • Increased productivity • Lower turnover rates • Improved efficiency • Decrease in errors • Improved morale 4. Employee Empowerment One great benefit of employee training that deserves a section to itself is employee empowerment. By providing call center employees with the knowledge and tools they need to make informed decisions, management can turn its focus back to admin and strategic functions. The workers, in turn, can focus on achieving company goals without a manager breathing down their necks. As mentioned above, employee empowerment leads to a reduced need for supervision, which in turn helps to flatten the organizational structure. Flat organizational structures are more efficient and more adaptable to change. They also boost customer satisfaction as workers reduce resolution times by resolving issues on their own, thereby reducing the need to forward customers through multiple channels. 5. Health & Wellness Focus According to a 2014 study published by the U.S. National Library of Medicine, there are some health conditions that become a risk for workers at call centers. For starters, because of the 24/7 nature of call center operations, many people are usually working at times when they would have otherwise been sleeping, causing disruptions to their internal clock. Interpersonal relationships with family and friends may also be negatively affected, often resulting in unhealthy lifestyle habits. Additionally, the need to suppress negative emotions to please customers may also lead to depression and anxiety. Because of this, it’s very important that companies focus on health and wellness programs for employees. Some perks, such as a creative space for breaks, can help with this. However, there should also be solid employee benefits for both mental and physical care. In addition to this, employers should implement measures to reduce or prevent employee burnout. Every call center has its own organizational culture and strategies in place to ensure high call center performance. However, sometimes organizational culture can work against improvements and sometimes strategies become outdated. By making small tweaks to those original strategies, however, you can transform your call center business, keep your workers in great shape and generate a return for stakeholders. For more information on how partnering with Etech can help, contact us at info@etechgs.com. This blog was earlier published on LinkedIn.
Eight Tips to Ensure Call Center PCI Compliance
Every good business leader knows there will always be times when risk-taking is beneficial to your organization. We have all heard the adage, “The Greater the Risk, The Greater the Reward”. However, when it comes to regulatory compliance in the contact center industry, taking risks should never be considered as an option. Adhering to the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is one of the most important ways to operate your business with integrity. Developed in 2006 by five major credit card companies to protect consumers from fraud, data breaches, and identity theft during business transactions, PCI DSS standards are enforced by the PCI Security Standards Council. There are several risks associated with non-compliance to PCI DSS standards; Monetary Fines, Damaged Reputation, System and Process Forensic Audits; Loss of Business; Legal Action; and the list goes on. The good news is there are several easy to follow guidelines to ensure your company achieves and maintains full PCI compliance. Maintain a secure network. Nearly 80 percent of companies that experience a data breach doesn’t have a reliable firewall in place. Avoid putting your customers at unnecessary risk by investing in robust security controls for your online network. If you’re unfamiliar with industry standards for establishing a safe network, hire a reputable IT firm to help you get started. Understand where all your access points are. Document your data flows and ensure there are measures to protect the data at rest and in transit. Ensure your web hosting is PCI compliant. Call center security begins with a web host that routes valuable consumer financial data through a private, dedicated server to protect sensitive information from unauthorized users. While this option can be more expensive than a shared hosting plan, the peace of mind it can give you and your customers is well worth the expense. Do not allow mobile devices in secure work areas where Protected data is present and/or displayed. While it’s important to hire and train contact center agents who are ethical and trustworthy, you also need to accept the reality that a data breach could begin with a someone importing sensitive customer data onto their mobile device. Reduce the risk by prohibiting personal mobile device use in secure areas. If mobile devices are part of your employee working toolset, ensure you have robust MDM (Mobile Device Management) and DLP (Data Loss Prevention) policies in place. Encrypt all sensitive data. We have all heard the saying, “There are two types of organizations, those that have been breached, and those that don’t know they’ve been breached”. If data becomes compromised, can the malicious actors do anything with it? A fundamental element of PCI compliance is shielding customer personal and financial information with strong cryptography. Cryptographic controls are important for data at rest as well as data that is in transit. You should be utilizing a minimum encryption key strength of 256 bits, and for an extra security safeguard, if you utilize a third party to store your customers’ data, they should not have access to the encryption key. Redact and protect recorded calls containing sensitive information. You would be surprised at the number of companies recording calls that never think about the protected data on those recordings. While call recording is an invaluable training tool, it can also put the security of your organization and your customers’ data at risk. Recorded calls are subject to the same PCI DSS standards as any other method of capturing private consumer information, so consider investing in a call monitoring system that will allow redaction of financial information on the recording. Also, ensure recordings themselves are protected through proper encryption methods and access controls. Establish role-based security. One of the basics of PCI DSS compliance is limiting who can access your customers’ financial information on a strictly need to know basis. That’s why it’s essential to implement role-based credentials in your contact center. Follow a Policy of Least Privilege. This will ensure that each team member has only the access needed to adequately perform their job duties without unduly exposing them to sensitive consumer data. Provide appropriate contact center employee training. Your contact center agents are part of your security/compliance team and each is an invaluable tool in maintaining PCI DSS compliance. Make sure they understand the fundamentals of PCI standards, why they are important, and how a data breach can negatively impact your business. By establishing your agents as the front line in preserving contact center security, you’re providing one of the strongest defense systems to your customers. Don’t underestimate the importance of system testing. Less than 30 percent of companies remain PCI compliant a year after becoming certified, usually because they fail to maintain and upgrade their network and data security after the initial installation. Security is not a one and done project. It is continually evolving to counteract cybercriminals attempting to remain one step ahead. Protect your investment by scheduling regular testing of all firewalls, encryption methods, redaction methods, credential audits, and call monitoring. Commit to enhancing your security systems as needed so they meet or exceed all current industry standards. When instituting PCI compliance within your organization, remember that you, and not the consumer base you serve, are the gatekeeper of sensitive data. At Etech, we have maintained full PCI DSS certification for several years, and we realize that we and not our clients are primarily responsible for meeting all security and compliance requirements for each program within our contact centers. We provide our clients with a dedicated team of regulatory compliance experts to give them peace of mind in all aspects of their program management. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you create a PCI DSS compliant security system that will give your customers the protection they deserve.
How Integrating Artificial Intelligence With Human Intelligence Can Delight Your Customers
Incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) into your call center quality monitoring can feel like an uncertain prospect. With over 80 percent of businesses already using or planning to acquire automated technology as a customer service strategy by 2020, it’s apparent that AI is quickly becoming a baseline requirement to compete in an increasingly globalized marketplace. However, many business owners still have concerns regarding the effects that AI will have on customer relations. While the efficiency and cost-cutting benefits of automated technology are well documented, there is a widespread myth that consumers will always prefer to resolve issues with a live customer service agent rather than a front-end AI-powered chatbot or interactive voice response system. The truth is that AI, when properly integrated with human intelligence, can vastly improve the effectiveness of your call center quality monitoring. Success depends on aptly assimilating technology into the existing corporate structure and promoting a workplace culture that embraces AI as a helpful resource. By keeping this philosophy in mind, you can use automation to develop an elevated front end experience that will dazzle your customers. Harness AI To Improve Overall Efficiency Surveys have shown that customers place a high level of importance in how quickly their issue with a company is resolved, while fiercely resenting the need to explain their problem to multiple people before reaching a solution. And nearly 70 percent of customers prefer the convenience of a messaging program over a live phone call to resolve an issue. Consequently, the speed and organization of your customer service matter just as much as the quality of engagement. This is where artificial intelligence in a call center can be a game changer. By streamlining some of your most repetitive, low level customer queries to a front-end AI-powered chatbot that consumers can communicate with at their own pace, you’re able to provide an immediate response to a simple question while freeing up time for your live call center service agents to address more complex issues or to speak with older customers who may not feel comfortable utilizing technology. Implementing AI to supply rote solutions to recurrent consumer complaints allows you to offer personalized, consistent service based on the level of engagement required. The result is a more effective system of call center quality monitoring. Use Automated Technology for Enhanced Training When humans are tasked with assessing customer service agent performance, limitations become evident. Most companies without a dedicated AI platform only have the resources to analyze a tiny fraction of recorded interactions. This means that they’re only getting a restricted sampling of vital call centers quality monitoring metrics such as voice analysis, predictive patterns of behavior, and productivity rates. By adopting an automated quality assurance program that can easily track every call, you’ll jump to a 100 percent monitoring rate that gives you the full picture of service center strengths and weaknesses. The analytic capabilities of a good AI quality assurance system also have the potential to transform your training strategies. Automated technology can easily identify hundreds of different variables to a human voice and develop predictive models for emotions that can be applied to specific customer queries and demographics. This data can then be used to formulate standard live agent responses to common consumer complaints, resulting in a higher level of satisfaction. By using AI to enhance the effectiveness of your live service team, you can channel the combined power of technology and human intelligence to provide a superior level of customer support. Ask for Live Agent Feedback on AI Systems While weaving artificial intelligence into call center structure can dramatically improve your customer satisfaction and retention rate, the truth is that no current AI software can operate completely independent of human supervision and interaction. Even the most sophisticated automated call center quality monitoring network will struggle with complex customer queries that require the empathy and emotional intelligence of a live agent. That’s why it’s imperative to develop appropriate escalation procedures with your customer support team in the event that a front-end AI-powered chatbot or interactive voice response system is unable to adequately resolve a consumer complaint. To prevent AI from mishandling customer service interactions, incorporate periodic reviews of call center transcripts to pinpoint areas of weakness in system analytics that may need to be supplemented by live agents. You should also assign a dedicated team to monitor all call center automated functions and make quality control adjustments as needed. Keep in mind that the purpose of AI is to delight your customers, so utilize insight from your live agents to continuously improve your automated systems and avoid frustration and confusion from consumers that may cause them to move on to a rival company. While upgrading your call center quality monitoring system to incorporate AI may seem like a big investment, the truth is that you can’t afford to forego automated quality assurance in today’s marketplace. With over 91 percent of top branded companies that boast superior levels of customer satisfaction utilizing AI, embracing technology is a fundamental strategy for converting and retaining a loyal consumer base. The key to providing the consistent, personalized service that customers now expect is to use AI in tandem with a talented pool of live agents who are trained to view automation as a useful tool, not a competitor. By implementing AI to improve efficiency and provide faster response times to customers, amplify training strategies, and integrate feedback from your call center team, you’ll be offering a premium level of service to consumers that will build long term brand loyalty. With over 20 years of experience in providing superior outsourcing solutions across a wide range of industries, Etech is a world leader in helping companies develop a seamless customer service experience. We offer a variety of artificial intelligence strategies including inbound and outbound call center service, live chat messaging, quality assurance monitoring, tech support, and software application. Systems are customized to meet your individualized needs while allowing you to compete in a diverse and globalized marketplace. Contact us
Protect Your Contact Center Team from a Space Shuttle Columbia Like Disaster
In 2003, the space shuttle, Columbia, disintegrated over East Texas and Louisiana, when it attempted to reenter the Earth’s atmosphere. Sadly, all seven astronauts aboard died. The control room crew in Cape Canaveral was responsible to guide the shuttle safely home. Instead, they like us watched the streaking remains on a cable news broadcast. NASA is a paragon of science and engineering. Safety is a priority, and this sort of thing isn’t supposed to happen. Worse, this disaster was preventable. Following this disaster, it was discovered that managers systemically ignored warnings from engineers and pushed forward with the mission, resulting in an unthinkable tragedy that will not soon be forgotten. The situation in your call center isn’t quite that dramatic, but similarities can be drawn. Most conflicts are subtly destructive and happen in almost every organization. Personal desires compete against company interests which left unchecked can breed complacency, impatience, and frustration. By taking time to learn from and apply some of the hard lessons of the Columbia disaster to your management team, you can prevent such conflict from negatively impacting your team and business. Lessons in Burnout Early in the shuttle program’s history, engineers warned a design flaw might lead to damage of the heat shielding. The foam insulating the rocket might break in flight and strike the shuttle, but managers ignored this concern. After years of successful flights, it became normal to keep overlooking this potential risk. Your call center staff may also face a real problem with burnout, and it’s easy for managers to get sucked into this trap as well. Some common contributors to burnout include: High Volume : Employees become stressed when overworked. Lack of Support : Employees cannot always handle customer concerns efficiently. Unachievable Goals : Benchmarks set too high discourage performance. When the job becomes a grind, many employees are tempted to simply cut a corner. Unfortunately, the consequences eventually catch up. Combat complacency and burnout by rotating staff, retraining, and updating processes to better support your team. Consider any feedback your staff provides and empower them to bring concerns directly to you and ultimately solutions as well. Those closest to the opportunity are best equipped to identify what is needed. Lessons in Rushing The Flight Manager responsible for the Columbia mission was reported to have been in a hurry to complete the landing and move on to the next launch. The International Space Station was behind schedule, and another delay was unacceptable. Managers discounted precautions. Your call center is also under pressure to perform quickly and efficiently. Fast Calls : Your customers want to get through their calls rapidly, after all time is money. Poor Listening : The first convenient answer to a concern is not always the right answer. Cutting Corners : Agents might ignore essential details in your procedures to speed the process. Your staff needs to avoid the temptation to overlook procedures. Help them remain focused on each call and update processes to eliminate redundancy and waste without sacrificing quality. Lessons in Frustration Although the damage done to the heat shielding was thorough, the investigating committee found that a rescue mission, should it have been done in time, was possible. The flight managers did not act in time favoring a wait-and-see approach. The crew on board was not even aware of the potential risk before attempting reentry. The management destroyed all credibility and trust along with the shuttle and crew. Managers need staff to trust their judgment. Frustrating the efforts of your agents damages the future of your department. Avoid this conflict by: Empowering : Give your staff the tools, processes, and authority to respond to customers. Validating : Reward performance but also reward consistency. Responding : Listen to feedback from your team and balance input against other objectives. This is a valuable lesson from history that is relevant within many businesses today, especially within the contact center. By protecting your team from burnout, preventing shortcuts, and minimizing frustration you and your team will be better equipped to handle today’s busy contact center transactions successfully. This blog was first published on LinkedIn
3 Reasons Servant Leadership Increases Call Center Customer Satisfaction Rates
Today’s consumers have many more options for interacting with businesses than they did in years past, thanks to technological advances. They can chat in real time with a company, shop online, and easily leave business and product reviews on many platforms. With consumer voices louder than ever, its not a surprise that some even refer to this modern marketplace as the age of the customer. In the face of so many changes, leaders in call centers must also be flexible and willing to change. They should focus on providing outstanding customer service and fostering positive interactions between companies and clients. Servant leadership, a management style first proposed in the 1970s, helps businesses improve customer satisfaction rates in multiple ways; from reduced hold times to more satisfied, better-trained agents. This concept calls for managers to serve first and then lead, often resulting in happier employees —and customers. Here are three reasons why: Employees are Prouder and More Confident In a servant leadership culture, leaders stop focusing on being “The Manager” and instead consider how they, and every employee, are a vital part of one team with the same goal—providing excellent customer service to ensure long-term business success. When leaders work alongside other team members, serving them, coaching them and offering sincere praise and encouragement, team members responded by working harder to meet and exceed expectations, both from the leaders as well as the customers. Employees Raise their Standards When leaders model the “servant first” behavior their employees will follow. While communicating clear expectations and standards is important for team leaders, setting a good example is even more vital to success. When leaders serve, care, celebrate, engage, listen … their team members will begin to emulate this behavior. When this happens, results begin to rise and are sustained. Employees Meet and Exceed Customer Needs By improving and sustaining results, team members will quickly experience the effect on the customers. They will notice what pleases callers, as well as what dissatisfies them. The will share best demonstrated practices. Ideas will flow bottom up. Team members will feel and become empowered to delight their customers. Service at Every Level When service becomes a way of doing business for everyone on the team, starting with the manager, call centers can start to see improved customer satisfaction rates. When call center employees feel empowered and prepare, they will respond to customer inquiries, requests, and complaints in efficient and effective ways. They will learn from each experience, sharing their lessons with other team members so that the entire operation can evolve. Higher-functioning call center representatives, led by a leader dedicated to serving them, will promote business success now and in the future. Until next time, make you make a difference in the lives of those you serve. God bless.
3 Ways to Enhance Customer Experience in the Call Center
Call centers have come along way from the institutions that emerged in the 1960s to efficiently handle high volumes of customer calls. Today’s call centers have evolved with emerging technologies, and changed tactics based on consumer needs, but at the root of call center developments still stands the ever important need for high-quality customer service. For many consumers call center agents are the face of the companies they are reaching out to, as they may be the first, if not the only contact customers have. The level of service received in a call center can determine whether or not customers continue to do business with a particular company. It is crucial that agents do all they can to improve customer satisfaction rates. Some key tactics for success can be: reducing hold times, providing excellent servant leadership, and managing the call flow effectively. Keep Hold Times Short Most customers enter into interactions with agents expecting them to be able to solve their problem or answer their question without placing them on hold. While putting a customer on hold is sometimes necessary, it is important to remember that most customers do not view a company as having multiple layers and teams. Customers, may view a firm as one massive structure, and they expect the call center agent they have been connected with to have the right information for their need. Though it is best to keep transfers or hold times to a minimum there are a few simple steps that can decrease waits and increase the chances of giving customers a good experience and a positive impression. Explain the necessity of a short hold. When call center employees need to put someone on hold, they should explain what they are about to do and why. When a customer understands how the process is unfolding and that a brief wait is vital in order for an agent to solve their problem, they are more likely to be patient and understanding, thus streamlining the entire process. Regularly train agents. Call center employees are a direct link between a company and its customers. Positive or negative, the experience will define what customers think about a business. Recurring training and coaching for call agents is vital to reducing waits and producing a high level of positive interaction with the public. Daily refresher courses can help agents remember what to do and provide them with the latest product and service information so they have the best possible chance of providing customers with good experiences. Use a knowledge base. A pool of information available to agents can dramatically lessen waiting times as well as enhance customers’ experiences. Empower Employees Modern business is fast-paced and globalized, and companies are expected function quickly and make the most of resources. By empowering and building up employees through servant leadership, businesses can enjoy success both now and in the future. Servant leaders focus on finding new ways to encourage others through helping them discover and exercise their own powers and abilities- and then giving them the tools to use them. When businesses focus on enhancing servant leadership within the ranks of call center employees, they can provide improved customer service. Organize Call Flow Call center agents specialize in different areas. One agent is not going to be equipped to solve all problems they may be presented with alone. Businesses should ensure that their call center has measures in place that efficiently route customer calls to the agent who can best help them. There are a variety of useful software available to help companies develop an effective forwarding system. Enhanced Experiences for Agents and Callers By incorporating enhanced practices and techniques, businesses can further the call center experience for customers as well as for agents. Reducing hold times, empowering employees by fostering an atmosphere of servant leadership, and managing call flow are just some of the ways companies can build future success by raising customer satisfaction rates today. Putting good practices in place in these are areas will push your customer interactions further, and make your agents more successful. This blog was first published on LinkedIn
Understanding Online Consumer Behavior Is Essential to a Successful Business
Understand the intricacies of consumer behavior online and optimize your business strategies to cater to modern consumer needs.
The Social Enabled Call Center: How to Create a Social Media Call Center (Part 2)
In my last blog post, we defined what a Social Enabled Call Center is, a call center using social media platforms to effectively interact with their customers. We also looked at a couple of ways to enhance the customer experience within the Social Media call center. Hiring customer centric people and increasing response times across all channels were two primary means of building a socially enabled call center. Let’s take a look at a few more ways to create and strengthen a socially enabled call center. Plan for quick and personal service: In addition to developing quick response times, it is essential that call centers develop personal service. Based on recent statistics from Forrester, 82% of consumers say that “getting their issues resolved quickly is the number one factor to a great customer experience.” However, in addition to wanting quick resolution, customers also expect a certain level of personalized service. They want to be treated as a valued customer and one that is known by the company. One of the benefits of social media is the quick and personal response that it offers. A quick and relevant response from the call center via social media is an important component to building your social media call center. Lead from the Front: Train your agents to excellence by providing excellent leadership. The answers provided by call center agents are as good as the advice and direction they receive from their managers. Lead by example and remember that attitude is everything. Train, Train, Train: On-going training of your agents is another key component of the socially enabled call center. Well trained agents tend to be satisfied agents who then deliver excellent customer service. Provide training in all relevant areas and then empower your agents to do what they need to do to resolve the customer’s issue. Always seek feedback: Regular customer feedback is essential to creating and maintaining a superior socially enabled call center. The best way to solicit feedback is through short customer surveys. A short survey ensures a response from your customer; who wants to answer a ton of questions. Making the questions relevant enables you to pinpoint specific areas that need addressing. Short and relevant customer surveys are an invaluable tool for your call center. Social Media is here to stay so creating and maintaining a socially enabled call center is essential in today’s market. If you’re not sure how many times your business was mentioned this week on Twitter, Yelp! Google+ or Facebook then it’s time to make your call center a Socially Enabled call center. This blog was written by Etech’s Jim Iyoob, Chief Customer Officer. If you would like to learn more about Etech and how to develop a socially enabled call center, please contact us at info@etechgs.com.
Can AI Replace Call Center Human Agents ?
Why you may want to adopt a best-of-both-worlds approach. While androids are both an operating system and a sci-fi concept that’s becoming more realistic with each passing day, the artificial intelligence that powers androids has started to ease its way into the call center industry. Even though it might seem as though androids and artificial intelligence (AI) might soon replace humans in certain jobs and industries altogether, the truth of the matter is that there are some tasks that automated processes will never be able to accomplish with the same results or general efficiency as a human being. Let’s look at why your best bet for your call center and your representatives is to blend AI and the traditional human touch, as well as some reasons why AI can never replace humans in call centers. Why You Need the Best of Both Worlds No matter how well-trained or experienced your call center agents are, they don’t possess the same processing power and speed as AI. But instead of letting the AI handle the zippier aspects of running a call center, you’ll want to ensure that your representatives are using the AI’s speed and convenience to be more proficient at their jobs. The AI engine can be used to identify training gaps based on examples from real customers, and can provide more relevant information to the training department to enhance current and future training classes. One way you can implement this is to let callers and site visitors work through a system of menus when they first reach out to you. With the way technology has changed, a majority of your customers are likely used to figuring out issues and getting answers to questions without interacting with a fleshand- blood human, so don’t feel that this approach is impersonal. On the contrary, some people actually prefer to interact with technology, and there are some situations in which they don’t really need to speak or chat with someone. Something else to think about is the fact that including such menus shows that your company stays up-to-date on current industry trends and customer expectations. All that being said, there are some instances in which your agents need to be close at hand for complex situations and questions. The right balance of hands-on/ hands-off is beneficial to both customer and call center agent. But remember, the use of the AI engine will also ensure that the processes you put in place are working. For example, if a customer tries to self-serve and then calls because the self-service did not work, it allows the company to fix the process and avoid channel switching. From the AI Root to the Fruit Now that you know it’s possible to make sweet and well-balanced harmony with AI and human representatives, it’s time to learn how to do it right. The first thing you want to do is put the power of analytics to good use. Doing so gives you a solid idea of problem areas that can be helped with AI and where you can start implementing AI. You can also use AI to gather customer information on how your agents are interacting with your customers, what pain points are customers talking about and how to use this data to identify actionable opportunities. As you start to figure out areas in which AI could help, know that you’ll likely experience some growing pains for your customers as well as your employees while you adjust to this new way of doing things. This is all part of the process, so don’t be afraid to make changes as you get used to using AI in this manner. Remember using AI is not “set it and forget it”—you must constantly review and adjust. So, do you feel AI will eventually replace the need for humans in call centers? We think not. AI Needs to Learn How to Feel For all its ingenuity, AI still can’t always accurately replicate human emotion or do it quickly enough so that a caller doesn’t realize she or he is interacting with a computer program. However, AI can learn how to display a proper emotional response by studying your call center representatives’ interactions with customers. This will go a long way toward avoiding awkward interactions, ones that might cost you customers or your professional reputation. Before you grow concerned with the idea that this might mean you don’t need live agents anymore, it’s better to look at the opportunities it provides. Instead of answering frequently asked questions day in and day out, your agents will have more time for other pursuits, which is great for challenging their minds and preventing them from feeling stagnant, bored and unmotivated at work. Now you can do more crosstraining, tackle projects that have been left undone and find more ways to bring out the absolute best in your agents and your call center. Some People Prefer Human Interaction A person doesn’t have to be part of the older generation to prefer communicating with a human being when reaching out to a call center. Some individuals are simply more comfortable talking with another person. While AI voices have most certainly come a long way in terms of authenticity, some people can easily tell when they’re hearing a human voice and when they’re interacting with a voice programmed to sound like a human. There are nuances, cadences and flows to the way we talk, and AI generally isn’t programmed with tones as intricate as those in a human voice. There is also the fact that some AI isn’t programmed to understand the most current human jargon. Your call center representatives, on the other hand, are usually up-todate on the latest lingo and will know exactly what the caller is talking about. Language is constantly evolving, and while the same is true of technology, there’s no telling what’s useful and what’s unnecessary when it comes to deciding which jargon to include in AI call center programming. You Need to Keep Customers Happy
Could an Intelligent Quality Monitoring System Restructure Your Process and Optimize Your Product?
Spreadsheets are the traditional method of maintaining data in a call center. However, inconvenient issues can arise when supervisors need to transfer data from a previous month and incorporate it into new documents. This process can become extremely time-consuming, and it is prone to errors. Also, it’s also very difficult to pinpoint trends in the data and take corrective action when needed. Automated quality monitoring has become a worthwhile solution for many managers, and especially those who are dealing with large volumes of communications. That’s especially true because the built-in technology often allows for spotlighting a particular month or even looking at data collected during a single day rather than looking at massive amounts of statistics at once. Improved Data Tracking Generates Better Insights Some quality monitoring solutions include information-rich dashboards that let you gain a complete understanding of what’s happening when customers call to speak to your agents. Get information about top issues or the number of times employees had to transfer calls to supervisors. You can also learn more about instances of channel switching. It occurs when a customer is trying to do something on line for an example and they are forces to call in, or if an agent has to transfer the caller to another department for further assistance. Spreadsheets usually don’t tell you all those things, and if they do, extracting the data takes a prohibitively long time. In contrast, a more robust quality monitoring system allows you to gain knowledge with a few clicks of a mouse. Save time and feel more equipped to make wise business decisions based on compiled data instead of just gut instinct. Keep Quality Levels Consistently High Whether your call center agents assist with sales or simply provide support, it’s important to remember that the level of service they provide can be thought of as a product itself. When people reach out for help, they expect similar experiences. Otherwise, your organization may develop a reputation for providing inconsistent assistance to callers. Think about investing in a smart platform that records all calls and analyzes them to detect patterns. It happens automatically and flags communications that require further review. That feature gives you peace of mind and prevents having to listen to all calls manually when assessing them for quality assurance purposes or trying to find out what else your customers are saying about you. Collective metrics can also reveal strengths and weaknesses associated with your agents, which leads to more relevant training and could be helpful when employees need periodic performance reviews. It’s time to look beyond spreadsheet-based methods of quality monitoring. A dedicated platform could help you meet your goals while reducing hassles related to manual approaches. This blog is first published on LinkedIn
Today’s Shoppers Expect Great Customer Service No Matter Where They Shop
With a brick and mortar store, you have a team full of customer service specialists available to help your customers at any moment. For catalog customers, your contact center is staffed full of knowledgeable agents ready to answer questions and take their order. But who is helping your online customers at the moment their shopping? Are you making it easy to answer their questions and ease their concerns? Live chat is an integral part of providing a great online shopping experience today. Companies should invest heavily in certifying chat agents on several different chat platforms. Generations X and Y prefer this method of communicating online with live chat. This along with the advent of new technologies and people wanting immediate answers tells us that “Chat is where it’s at.” As more website visitors become more experienced online, even more visitors will abandon their shopping carts, and online comparison shopping will become ever more commonplace. These comparison shoppers are 84% more likely to research online to ensure they get the best price. More than two –thirds say they like to shop around before making a purchase. What this tells us is that visitors that abandoned shopping carts are very valuable – higher income customers that are more tech savvy, and use this knowledge to comparison shop and find the better deals online. There are two common chat solutions that are best, allowing staff to be on your website ready to answer consumers’ research and pricing questions and assist in closing the sale. If you are not assisting your customers, your competitors will. And when your customer leaves your site to compare, and your competitor has a Live Chat option, your competitor will take that sale. Chat solutions: Live Chat: Completely customizable, fast Java Webstart client requiring no downloads or plug-ins. Customer chat links only appear when Customer Service is available. This easy-to-use interface allows Customer Service to handle up to ten concurrent chat sessions. Proactive Chat: Called Instant Invite, use this automatic method for inviting your visitors to chat whenever you want, for example, when they stall on a page or return a certain number of null searches. Remarkably easy to deploy, customize and maintain. Adjust rule conditions and invitation content on the fly. There are certain ethics involved in tracking down consumers who abandon shopping carts. It is always best to have full intentions to only assist the customer rather than harass. The point being, a customer may feel unsure, have questions or not understand the site itself. As an example, with a brick and mortar store, when a customer walks in they are greeted and if the customer wants to just look around, they will say so. It is the sales associate’s responsibility to be available to answer questions and assist in their checkout process. The thought is the same with chat. Customer Service is there when the customer arrives and prompts them asking if they need assistance. They respond yes, no, or maybe. Through the use of rules and best practices, you can, with some certainty, determine the needs of the prospective customer. With chat you can always be there for the customer to ask questions and they will receive immediate answers. In the event the customer does not wish to deal with the online chat process, they simply just say no thank you and Customer Service will thank them for their time and back away. However, they can always be available through proactive or static chat. This adds to the customer’s experience. Chat services are quickly becoming a must-have for companies dedicated to providing the best service online. The technology continues to evolve and improve and soon, video chat will even become commonplace. For more advice on creating a quality assurance team that drives CX or if you would like to learn more about Etech, feel free to contact us at info@etechgs.com.
Improving the Customer Experience in Your Call Center Means Looking at the Whole Picture
Quality assurance in the call center is a critical piece to success. It can help to improve each customer experience, improve efficiency and give productivity a robust boost. In order to make improvements, managers must stop trying to randomly pinpoint and repair problems. Call centers tend to thrive when a bottom-up method is used to address issues in an organized fashion. Measurement Really Does Matter Numbers are a critical part of call center quality measurement and monitoring. In fact, 85% of QA leaders hold the belief that a successful call center must find ways to evaluate how agents are performing as well as quantify if training requirements are being followed. The sheer volume of data that is collected in order to measure your call center’s success can be overwhelming. Lagging technology frequently leaves quality assurance managers frantically working to analyze large batches of metadata in order to make sense of the numbers. A reliable call center monitoring solution that provides reliable analytics and insights is the first step to freeing up time so these same managers can instead work on identifying problems and helping the team come up with effective solutions. A Bottom-Up Look at The Whole Structure No matter what type of industry a call center supports, each goes through the same phases of growing and building over time. When quality assurance managers take time to look at key call center metrics and indicators, while also considering these phases, they are more capable of identifying key performance indicators and setting long term goals. In essence, it is critically important to look at the “whole building” in order to see where the problems may be. Start With a Solid Foundation Some may think that focusing time and energy on the basics of operational quality assurance is a waste of time. In truth, making sure that certain goals are being met is helping to set a strong foundation that can be built on. Some of these goals include: Being able to recognize poor performers. Track how call center agents are progressing. Hit service delivery goals consistently. Track if procedures and processes are being handled correctly. While it is ok to take a group bow once these markers are being consistently met, remember that this type of quality assurance is only the foundation and must be added upon for maximum effectiveness. Build the Supporting Walls Once the strong foundation of your call center is up and running, it is time to build the theoretical supporting walls. To do this, you must identify some goals that have more foresight and flexibility. This type of goal is rarely set in stone. Instead, they tend to shift and change as the call center develops. Your team of managers may decide that some of this type of goal should include: Identifying the reasons for poor customer service Finding ways to improve customer retention rates Institute accurate reporting of trends Lower staff turnover Pinpoint places where retraining might help By taking a closer look at this type of quality assurance goal, managers and staff alike can begin to more fully understand the type of experience each customer is having. When call center agents are encouraged to give themselves a score on each call, they will be able to see and mentally review how successful they have been at achieving the goals. The collected data can then be used by quality assurance leaders in retraining efforts. By taking ownership of the metrics of each call, agent retention tends to increase along with performance. Create an Impenetrable Roof It may seem simple to complete this process by sticking rigidly to current quality assurance goals and practices. However, doing so simply keeps the call center status quo going. In order to attach an impenetrable roof to the foundation and walls you have worked to build, a company must be willing to change current practices, though it may not be an easy process. This type of large-scale changes must come from upper management and employees must be a part of helping the shift happen. Employees that are forced toward such changes in the company are much less effective when compared those who are encouraged to be part of the change. At this step in building the call center, the focus should change from QA scores and begin to look at actionable behaviors such as improved caller loyalty, increased percentage of customers who purchase or increased net promoter scores. In this final step, each employee should be involved in reaching the goals which should cause company culture to shift from one where micromanagement is essential to a more effective environment of listening, offering solutions and respect. This dynamic shift brings with it an overall experience of happier customers and agents which raises your overall ROI. If You Can Describe it, You Can Do It Most call center agents can describe how a perfect call would go, from start to finish. Unfortunately, not every call is the same. Because of this, it is important for agents and management alike to understand that a great customer experience consists of three different parts. These are customer needs, expectations and the need for consistency. When your call center team works together to make sure that each of these customer needs are met, you should see that your team begins to evolve and think differently about quality assurance. When paired with measurable analytics, a call center can, indeed, become exactly what it was meant to be. For more advice on creating a quality assurance team that drives CX or if you would like to learn more about Etech, feel free to contact us at info@etechgs.com. This blog was first published on LinkedIn.
Empowering Agents with the Right Tools
Empowering your agents is a continuous process of providing them comprehensive training, resources, motivation, encouragement and the right tools. This practice shows your agents you trust them. Giving them the confidence and tools to find customer solutions will allow them to take that power and deliver on providing a remarkable customer experience. The agent is the first impression the customer will have of your business so this agent’s ability to effectively help the customer could have a much larger impact than what it may first appear. Customer’s satisfaction, or dissatisfaction, has a ripple effect so it is imperative to make sure your agent’s are properly prepared with the right tools. Poor customer experience is normally because of an agent who is not well equipped to meet the customers’ needs. To mitigate this, your agents need the right tools to get the job done well. Here are some necessary tools for your contact center agents:- Automated Caller Identity Pop Up Call center software that provides the agent with the caller information such as name, location, address, phone number, company, etc. plays a huge role in helping the agent start of the interaction with a boost of confidence. Knowing this basic information allows the agent to already have some basis on the customer which makes the building rapport phase more natural. Call Conferencing One of the most agitating events is having your call transferred to another department and essentially having to start the whole process over again. This can be eliminated by call conferencing whereby you connect the other agent who can resolve the issue immediately without transferring the caller. The customer will be much more pleased to have his issue addressed with one simple phone call thus leading towards a positive customer experience. Interactive Voice Response Superior customer service begins the moment a customer makes a call, not when the agent responds. Interactive voice response technology engages the customer in pre-recorded messages that help identify the right agent to handle the customer. For example, if the customer speaks Russian, then he will be routed to an agent who can speak Russian. This saves the time spent in resolving customer issues resulting in a higher customer satisfaction level. It also helps the agent to be proficient in his service delivery because he handles the appropriate customer. Call Monitoring and Whisper Coaching Equipping your Managers or Sales leader with the ability to monitor their agents will drastically help increase your metrics. This practice allows your Managers to actively pick up on key areas of opportunities for their agents and allows them to provide the most accurate and timely feedback to their agents. Another tactic is the manager can train the agent on the job by whisper coaching. This is where the manager guides the agent on how to respond to the customer without the customer hearing it. Both of these practices leads to improved quality assurance and top down customer support. Historic and real time recording An agent answers to so many customer on a daily basis, providing them with historic recording that reminds them of previous interaction with the customer and real time recording of what is ahead of them improves their productivity. On the customers end, they are able to see the number of people ahead of them and the average hold up time. They are both no flying blind but this crucial data helps in managing their expectations. Call Recording The fact of the matter is, managers don’t have the time to monitor all of the interactions handled in a particular day by their agents. The solution to this dilemma is making sure you have all of your interactions recorded. Giving your agents and managers the ability to go and pull particular interactions, will allow your agents and coaches to have specific, one on one coaching opportunities that will result in the most effective coaching time. If a agent realizes that he or she could’ve improved on a particular call or chat, having the option to go and pull that interaction and go over it with their respective coach or manager will allow them to review the interaction and learn for the next time that an opportunity such as that arises. In conclusion, empowered agents will be more creative in their solution thinking, enjoy high levels of job satisfaction, make faster decisions for the customer, and create a remarkable customer experience for your customers. Without these tools, the agents will feel ill-equipped and it will become evident in the interaction with the customer, resulting in a lower customer satisfaction score. As Marissa Mayer at Yahoo quoted, “In technology, it’s the people. Getting the best people, retaining them, nurturing a creative environment and helping to find a way to innovate.”
CALL CENTER METRICS: What are they and how do we measure them?
In the Call Center or Contact center world, there are a number of details that we monitor that help us to know how we’re doing. The industry term that we call these details is Metrics and as time and technology has progressed the number of metrics that we measure has progressed as well. While the early years of call center metrics tended to focus on efficiency, in more recent years, we have become much more concerned with quality. There are numerous metrics that can be measured, but I’d like to look at the top five. Quality Scores: These are probably the most important metric because they can provide a great overview for the call center as well as individual agents. We can look at the overall caller experience as well as the conversations the agents are having on their phones. Quality scores are typically measured between 5 and 10 calls per agent per month. First Call Resolution (FCR): This metric can also be known as “First Contact Resolution.” Basically FCR allows contact centers to see how many times a customer needs to call a company in order to get a problem resolved. While Quality scores measure from the Call Center perspective, FCR allows us to measure from the customer’s perspective. We can all relate to this, for each of us has, at one time or another, had a frustrating customer service issue that took a while to resolve. Believe me, call centers like to see high numbers on this metric; high numbers mean that issues are being resolved quickly and customers are not having to call over and over regarding the same issue. Sometimes this particular metric can be a bit murky in that often a customer may call within a seven day period about different issues. Here are some of the ways we measure FCR: Calls are monitored to determine if the agent can give a satisfactory answer the first time. Monitoring the number of callers that call back within a 7 day period. Monitoring the calling party number within a set period Monitoring the reason for call Using a post-call IVR survey Looking at the quality of answer and positiveness measured by a third party. Most importantly a call center must look at some of the benefits it can reap Significant reduction in the call volume Reduction in the operational cost Reduce Cost of complaint call Identification of customer problems Customer Satisfaction: The old favorite amongst call centers. Basically, this tells us if our customers are happy with the service they received from our agents. A simple way to improve this metric is to cultivate the culture in your call center and encourage the agents to always put the customer at the heart of your decision, be focused on problem solving and just not the process and you will see customer satisfaction growing. Capture the customer feedback, use them to identify opportunities within the call center and improve agents. This metric can be easily measured through an IVR survey, follow-up e-mail survey or mobile surveys. Service Level: While some in the call center industry may not see this as one of the top five, I certainly do. It was one of the very first metrics to be developed and it looks at the percentage of calls that are answered within a given time. For example: 80% of the calls are answered within 20 seconds or 95% of the calls are answered within 15 seconds. While this metric does measure efficiency, from the customer’s perspective, not having to sit on-hold for several minutes weighs heavily when it comes to offering their feedback. There can be many reasons that impacts the services levels such as longer call length, fluctuations in call volume, schedule adherence, inaccurate forecast and exception time. Average Handling Time: This metric is an efficiency metric looking at the total amount of time taken to handle a call. This includes talk-time, on-hold time and wrap-up. Some of the customers want low AHT and some don’t. Here are some of the questions you must ask yourself before you decide. What are the benefits of having low AHT? Do your customers want you to have low AHT? Are your agents ready to reduce AHT? As I mentioned above, there are many more metrics that can be measured, but these listed tend to be first and foremost among call centers and they have a way of helping call centers get “back to basics” so to speak when it comes to providing superior customer service. This blog has been written by Etech’s Matt Rocco, President and Managing Member. If you would like to learn more about Etech and our contact center technology and service solutions, please contact us at info@etechgs.com.
