3rd Party Remote Call Monitoring Feature

While improving call quality in the customer support industry may seem like a daunting prospect – it means changing established processes, making different hiring choices and perhaps purchasing new technology – there are ways companies can make significant improvements without completely overhauling the contact center. It comes from directly addressing customers’ top pain points.

Several research organizations have found that price isn’t the single most important factor for customers when it comes to choosing a company. A Harris Interactive (News - Alert) study conducted last year found that 69 percent of customers would be willing to pay more for a product or service if there was excellent customer support behind it. Too few companies, however, are offering excellent customer support, and across multiple companies and industries, many of these organizations are making the same mistakes: cheesing off their customers with a few annoying practices.

Rudeness. It should be a no-brainer, but a customer is going to get turned off – possibly forever – if they get an agent with an attitude problem. Yes, contact center work is a difficult job. It’s a manager’s responsibility to make sure workers have the right information available to them and aren’t working too long without breaks. It’s also a manager’s job to be sure to listen for quality purposes to nip employee attitudes in the bud. It may also mean offering contact center agents some more respect, according to Erica Marois writing for Call Center Weekly.

“An attitude of courtesy, respect, and customer focus, starts from the top,” she wrote. “Accordingly, executive leaders need to set the tone, shape the culture, and demonstrate respect to customer support professionals. Agents are often the only point of communication between your brand and your customers. Stop treating contact center agents like entry-level hourly employees and start treating them like they’re important team members--because they are.”

Inaccessibility. A study conducted in recent years found that 70 percent of customer queries via Twitter (News - Alert) go unanswered. Similar studies have found that a large number of customer emails go unanswered. Despite the fact that we no longer live in a 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday world, too many contact centers keep these hours, which seriously inconveniences working people. While you may not have the means to offer 24/7 service, chances are good that you can expand your hours of operation with home-based agents or some outsourced work, and you can certainly beef up your self-service channels. Above all, according to Marois, make sure it’s easy for customers to get in touch with you. Remember, you’re there for the customers. They shouldn’t be expected to adapt to you.

“Modern accessibility means communicating clearly, and doing so on the customer’s terms,” she wrote. “Forcing them to hunt for information is a fast track to frustration.”

Improve First-Call Resolution. Too many customers find themselves having to call a company repeatedly. By improving your FCR rates (rather than putting too much emphasis on average handle time), you can make happier customers. To determine what’s holding your FCR rates back, engage in some fact-finding by hiring a third-party remote call monitoring company or engaging in some customer surveying. Also consider asking agents what they think the barriers to FCR are.

Provide the tools for the job. Often, agents simply aren’t provided with an easy way to find answers. Ensure your databases are in one place, your software systems are integrated and agents are properly trained to find the answers. Also consider putting in place a way for agents to collaborate and help one another solve customers’ issues.

If you can reduce just a few of your customers’ worst pain points, chances are good that you’ll see large returns in the form of an improved customer experience. You may also see better attitudes and performance among your employees.