Call Center Scheduling Featured Article
It's Official: Customers Hate Call Center Scripts
Many traditional contact center practices today were put in place (ostensibly) to build efficiency into the contact center. Most agents are still measured for performance on how many calls they can take during the day, and managers – directed by operations executives – are continually looking for ways to shave precious seconds off each call and keep head count low in order to save on labor.
Today, however, with customer demands on the rise and an ever-expanding list of channels through which customers expect service, the days of engaging in contact center practices simply to save money are drawing to a close. Heavy scripting is one of the practices that needs to change. Customers today value authenticity and personalization from their transactions, and rigid scripts are frustrating, according to Amy Clark in a recent blog post for the Web site I Want It Now.
“Think of how many times have you’ve heard the robotic response, ‘I understand that that must be very frustrated’ by someone who clearly does not care? The response sounds disingenuous, leaving customers feeling undervalued. The result: Customer satisfaction plummets… and so do profits,” she wrote.
While shaving seconds off each customer call is a worthy goal – contact centers can’t operate successfully if they are sinkholes of costs – there are better ways to do it than forcing agents into a narrow channel of permissible behaviors. There is data to back this up: a recent survey by Forrester (News - Alert) found that 69 percent of consumers felt that scripts did not improve their experience, and in many cases, scripts can actually make things worse. The Forrester article states that 82 percent of surveyed consumers felt that their experience would improve with off-script communication.
Flexibility in call center scheduling can help more easily accommodate the needs of customers who want a more personalized experience. By improving agent desktops, ensuring that knowledge bases are up-to-date and implementing collaboration solutions into the contact center, companies can ensure that agents are able to find the material they need to solve the customer’s problem faster, which can more than make up for any extra time the agent takes with the customer. Hiring more experienced agents can go a long way toward improving the customer experience with less reliance on scripts without raising costs, as well.
“Customer service agents can start with a script as a reference, but managers should encourage them to engage with customers naturally,” wrote Clark. “Businesses should hire experienced customer service reps that know how to deal with customers politely and in a friendly manner. Entry level employees should receive training to learn how to properly speak with customers.”
You may wish to have newer agents train alongside experienced agents, or use some of the many tools available today that train and simulate customer scenarios in a hands-on way. While it may be unnerving to throw away the script – it likely goes against the instincts of many contact center managers – as long as employees are properly scheduled and armed with the right tools and knowledge, it can actually boost the quality of your customer care while simultaneously shaving precious seconds off each call.
Edited by Stefania Viscusi