According to Microsoft General Manager Bill Patterson, customer experience has become the defining factor for a business, rather than price or product. In fact, 89% of companies will compete with one another solely on customer experience basis in 2016, as opposed to just 36% in 2010. And customers have more ways than ever to reach companies these days.
However, with companies making customers more empowered through different ways to engage and provide feedback, many CEOs believe an increase in self-service options means they can (and should) reduce their contact center spending. This is an ill-advised and short-sighted way of thinking. A recent study shows that most customers who contact a business still want a human connection, with 72% preferring to voice their complaints over the telephone, as opposed to 11% who prefer the internet.
So with a phone call being the overwhelming choice of company communication for today’s consumer, how can you ensure your contact center is doing everything possible to provide the absolute best service?
Use Your Speech Analytics Call Data Wisely
Within every single call that comes into a contact center, there is a trove of data just waiting to be excavated. Most contact centers these days record the calls that take place between their agents and customers, with the intention of listening to said calls for quality purposes. But it is simply not enough. As more and more calls come in, businesses find regular call recording simply can’t keep up, and people do not have the time to sit through and listen to every single conversation. As a result, information is lost; information which could be turned into actionable insights.
But with modern call mining software such as speech analytics, companies can quickly parse through and analyze calls for specific phrases, complaints, and more. The data gleaned from these calls provides a far clearer understanding of the voice of the customer, and can help a contact center gain exceptional predictive skills. With speech analytics, effective customer forecasts can be made, and customer satisfaction will continue to increase.
Keep Your Agents Happy with Call Insights from Speech Analytivs
One of the biggest challenges to contact centers these days is employee attrition. In order to hold on to their agents, centers often turn to such tactics as games or contacts in order to provide incentives. But these devices will not keep agents from feeling dissatisfied with their work. What agents really want is to be able to actually help customers and solve problems. They want to find real meaning in their work. They want to feel empowered. And the best way to empower agents is through knowledge.
Using speech analytics as a training tool in the contact center can help agents see where their strengths lie when it comes to interacting with customers, and where they may need improvement. Trends that emerge in the calls are easily discovered, allowing agents to gain a better understanding of the customers’ needs. They can also learn better, more efficient ways to handle customer complaints, and future customer engagements become more personalized and proactive. When agents have a clearer insight into their business and their customers, they provide exceptional service.
97% of consumers cite customer experience as vital to their choice of and loyalty to a brand. So it’s just common sense for contact centers to be operating at peak performance. Contact centers can make or break customer relations, but with the right tools, customer satisfaction is a virtual guarantee.
