Call Center Management Featured Article
Gamification Boosts Agent Engagement and Improves Call Quality
Agent engagement is a big concern in the call center. Making sure employees are engaged is important for any business, but even more so in the call center because agents are the face of the company. They’re the ones customers deal with on the phone or through a chat, and customers can tell when the person on the other end of the conversation doesn’t care. But how can managers ensure that agents stay engaged, even though answering phones all day can grow a bit tiresome? Gamification.
Gamification is the application of typical elements of game playing—point scoring, competition with others, rules of play, etc.—to other areas of activity within a business setting. Essentially, gamification is supposed to make tedious tasks more fun and engaging for those involved. There are a number of ways gamification can be used in the call center. Here are a few:
Pod Wars. According to Ameyo, this is one of the best ways to get agents engaged with their work. The game is very similar to Battleships, with two teams competing against each other. In the call center, whenever one agent from a team has a particularly good call with a customer, that team gets to sink an agent from the opposing team. Not only does this encourage quality customer phone calls each and every time, but it also promotes camaraderie and some healthy competition.
Ridiculous Complaints. Ameyo also lists this game as one of the best to engage agents. They have to make a list of the most common customer complaints, and then ask other agents to come up with suitable and creative solutions. This can be played in teams or individually, but either way it helps agents brainstorm solutions to real life scenarios. Managers can keep score, and whoever comes up with the most solutions wins.
Aside from specific games, gamification can be used to improve daily activities. For instance, every time an agent has a great call that ends well, they get a point. Once they earn a certain amount of points, they can win a prize. This is not only fun, but it encourages agents to try their best on every single customer call. A similar scenario can be applied to agents who go out of their way to help others; this could encourage veteran agents to take more of an interest in new agents, and to help them with any questions or concerns they have. Again, not only does this add some fun to the workday, but it also promotes camaraderie.