Call Center Management Featured Article
Resisting Calls for Too Much Cost-Cutting in the Contact Center
Call center managers are under pressure from all sides today. They’ve been asked to improve customer loyalty and the customer experience. They’ve also been asked to cut costs. The two tasks seem to work against one another. Is it possible to do both?
Maybe. Some technologies streamline call center processes, giving agents more access to better information, building improved schedules and using artificial intelligence to manage the workflow. This, in turn, means some companies can improve customer satisfaction while keeping headcount low.
As usual, though, the law of diminishing returns applies. The C-suite wants to cut costs further, and eventually, it will begin to affect the quality of service, and customers will begin to complain. The trick call center managers face is this: how do you get the people who control the budget to look at the right metrics?
Over-Emphasizing Average Handle Time
The people who are vying to keep costs low may be looking at average handle time thinking it could save money if agents keep this figure low so they can serve more customers per hour. But average handle time doesn’t measure customer satisfaction at all. The agents with the lowest AHT may be hanging up on customers when they can’t answer their questions. In the meantime, the customers will call back (angry now) and ask to speak with a manager. If chasing AHT is actually losing customers, the company won’t remain financially healthy in the long run.
Instead, Measure Customer-Centric KPIs
It’s a good idea to stop using metrics that benefit the company and start using metrics that measure the quality of customer support. First-call resolution is the percentage of time that the agent resolves a customer’s issue on the first call. FCR is a critical metric to customer satisfaction: most people don’t like having to call the first time, let alone call back a second time. Customers with their issues resolved with one call are more likely to remain customers. Another customer-centric metric is the Net Promoter Score, which relies on customers reporting how likely they are to promote a product or service to others.
Resist Calls to Rely Too Heavily on Self-Service
Yes, customers like self-service. Self-service is also great for automating routine concerns, leaving agents free to handle more complex issues. Relying on self-service, however, is only appropriate if a) Your company has top-notch self-service technologies that are well designed; and b) if there is always an agent to pick up the call or contact should the customer not find an answer.
“Self-service is a powerful tool when done the right way,” wrote Thomas Laird for CustomerThink. “It is a needed channel; it’s just not done correctly. Too many organizations frustrate customers by forcing you into a long, painful IVR, or even worse; they hide their 1-800 numbers.”
In short, you have a limited number of opportunities to build a great relationship with your customers. If you’re rushing them off the phone or putting them into self-service when they don’t want to be, chances are good they won’t return. The C-suite might see short-terms gains with these cost-cutting measures, but they won’t last.
Edited by Maurice Nagle