BPA Featured Article

I’ve had enough!

Sigh.

(Silence.)

These three human responses – or lack of them – are quite revealing.

The first seems to indicate anger. The second, frustration. The third is more open to interpretation, but it definitely signals a lack of forward momentum and perhaps even confusion.

All this demonstrates how language, volume, tone, or even a lack of communication can signal emotion and intent. And contact centers can use this kind of information to their advantage in an effort to help agents work on their skills, improve customer service, reduce churn, and even drive revenues.

It’s called speech analytics. And it leverages solutions, which are available today, that automatically and in real time, score every call to see how it aligns with the contact center’s compliance criteria.

Seventy-two percent of companies believe speech analytics can deliver better customer experiences, says Opus Research (News - Alert). The firm adds 68 percent of those surveyed said speech analytics can save time. And more than half of survey respondents reportedly believe they contribute to revenue enhancement.

Meanwhile, DMG Consulting has said that companies can realize a return on investment of their speech analytics in just one year.

Speech analytics can help prevent compliance issues by alerting contact center managers of keywords and phrases used during calls that can send up a red flag. That way, contact center managers can listen in and, if needed, take the necessary steps immediately to get things on the right track. It also helps contact centers quickly locate calls that may have involved agent misinformation, debtor complaints, or other factors that can impact adherence and compliance.

 Customer service, marketing, and sales teams can also pair their business communications solutions with speech analytics to drive new efficiencies and revenue opportunities. For example, speech analytics can help reveal trends that explain why call center traffic was up at a particular time. It can also help businesses discover which of their processes and products have problems, enjoy higher first call resolution rates, and learn which phrases and words generate the best returns in marketing campaigns and sales calls.