In an effort to create satisfying experiences for customers and to ensure that the contact center is completing all necessary steps in the process, organizations will implement a variety of applications to measure performance and customer perception. Unfortunately, most contact centers are doing either one or the other.

Recent research has found that for companies operating in the U.K., 75 percent are confident about their futures, in spite of not knowing what customers really think about their products, services or performance. Without such knowledge, how can the company confidently move forward with any strategy bent on successful growth?

Another 70 percent of companies examined in the study claimed to measure customer satisfaction, but most are only employing basic or casual tactics including using informal feedback from customers. These findings are a result of research done by Shape the Future.

The remaining percentage of companies claimed that they did not measure customer satisfaction for a number of reasons. Some 69.4 percent did not measure due to the belief that customers would tell them if there were problems. Another 20.2 percent never thought about measuring satisfaction and 19 percent were found to be too busy. Only 22.6 percent planned to measure customer satisfaction in the future.

While it may seem like a time and resource-consuming activity, measuring customer satisfaction can save the contact center considerable time and money in the long run. If the contact center is pushing policies and initiatives that are driving an increase in customer churn, they may not be able to correctly identify it.

Consider another research project done throughout the global industry. According to this research, the over-familiar language often used by call center agents can irritate customers. If a contact center is not measuring for such a thing or even contacting their customers to determine if they are unhappy with any part of their interactions, they will never know this is an area that needs to be improved.

Conducted by Oxford University, this study found that call center agents tend to use an overly personal way of speaking to customers. This approach is the direct result of their training to simulate personal relationships to make up for the removal of face-to-face interaction.  

Problems with this approach arise when the communication style is taught to call center operators in the same company, irrespective of the location and language of the center. It is based on North American style, which may not always be accepted in the countries where contact centers are operating.  

Kristina Hultgren, of St Anne’s College, who conducted the research, said in a CCF Online report: “The problem is that agents are under pressure to process customers as quickly as possible, so they are inclined to opt for ways of creating rapport which can be done speedily. This tends to be by using the customer’s name as it’s quicker than engaging them in small talk. As a customer, we then have the impression of our name being overused and feel uncomfortable.”