Speech analytics and audio mining technology provide many benefits in the call center. It delivers important customer information in addition to monitoring agent performance. One business objective that speech analytics provides insights for is ensuring script compliance. Especially in highly regulated industries, call center agents must be very meticulous and adhere to the approved script when dealing with sensitive information. By utilizing a speech analytics solution, managers are able to mine calls to ensure that agents are properly following the script and performing at a high level.
While ensuring script compliance is often a top priority, call center managers can take it one step further and use the data to also improve call center scripts. After all, a script that makes sense in the board room might not always translate during actual live calls with customers. This puts agents in a tough position. They have been tasked with following a specific script to keep their bosses happy, however what’s written in the script might end up frustrating customers even more, resulting in an increased number of escalations.
When mining calls, managers should pay careful attention to how a script is working with customers. Managers may notice that some aspects of a script just aren’t adequate in certain situations. The customer may want more or less information than what the agent (through no fault of their own) is delivering to them. When these situations arise, it is in the company’s best interest to make improvements to the call center script instead of merely confirming that the agent is saying what they should be. After all, a priority of all call centers should be to improve the customer experience in every way possible. When customers are dissatisfied, it might be a problem with the script, not with the agent.
When it comes to call center scripts, speech analytics software can also be used to determine whether a script is even necessary. Speech analytics provides the essential data that will allow call center managers to make this decision. Some companies may find that the scripts are a hindrance to customer satisfaction. Allowing agents to show some personality and go “off script” instead of sounding like a robot, may be what customers prefer. Of course, this may not be possible in some industries.
Scripts are used by agents in many call centers. But speech analytics technology shouldn’t be used just to ensure that agents are following the script. It should also be used to recognize any glitches in the scripts themselves in order to improve efficiency or in some cases, determine whether the script is even necessary.
