Smart Contact Center Solutions: QA, Customer Feedback & Analysis

Tag: call centers

  • Turnover in Call Centers – Why So Much?

    Turnover in Call Centers – Why So Much?

    Updated October 2022 (originally published July 2019)Twisted Sister could have been singing for call center and contact center workers in this 1980s anthem. Per The Quality Assurance & Training Connection (QATC) 2018 study, turnover in US contact centers alone is “between 30-45% which is more than double the average for all occupations in the U.S.” According to Fonolo’s State of the Contact Center 2021 and 2022 agent attrition worsened. Intense. There are many reasons why there is so much turnover in call centers. 

     

    Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired

    Wellness and work life balance were top factors to employees in 2019 , but not all industries had them in place. Venting systems that are never cleaned result in terrible air quality. In a place where employees spend eight hours or more of their day this can impact their overall well being. The abstract on this study of ‘call center cough’ on the National Library of Medicine site concludes that call center workers are more likely to suffer from coughs.

    Add to that shared equipment with no sanitizing wipes, not enough breaks and long night shifts (especially for overseas agents) absenteeism in call centers was the norm, not the exception. 

    They are literally sick and tired from it.

    Fast forward to 2020. Though work from home was the norm, stress and work-life balance issues impacted agent health. Calabrio’s report, Health of the Contact Center 2021: Agent Wellbeing and the Great Resignation,  revealed an increase in acute stress for agents compared to their 2017 report. 

    Turnover in call centers because of pain ID 37691756 © Piotr Marcinski | Dreamstime.comThis Job is a Pain in the Neck. Literally.

    Ergonomics may not have been a thought in the 1950s, but awareness has evolved. Not all call centers have gotten the memo though. Chairs with limited or no back support, non-adjustable workstations and uncomfortable headsets, contribute to repetitive strain injuries. If you’re in pain you’re not staying to answer customer service queries.

    For many suddenly having to work from home, a proper workstation was not possible. It was the kitchen table, a couch or a bed. Not exactly an ergonomic situation. Back pain from poor posture is no joke when doing 8-12 hours day after day in jobs that don’t pay enough to cover a healthy home office set up.

    Now We’re Stressed OutStressed out employee ID 45532228 © Julenochek | Dreamstime.com

    There are many demands on call center workers. They are pressured to complete as many calls as quickly and successfully as possible, while meeting the increased quality demands expected by customers. When a large amount of those calls are complaints it can be draining for the agents. Agents are even yelled at or verbally abused by customers. This activity has worsened. Agents are expected to address company policies and information points in each call too. 

    Supervisors aren’t off the hook either. They are the ones ultimately responsible for agent performance, or lack thereof. They schedule agents to cover expected volume increases, but if too few are available or onboarded it strains the rest.

    Getting new agents trained quickly without sacrificing quality is a tall order. There is a mountain of data they are expected to parse to stay on top of performance metrics and trends. If all of these demands come with little or no reward employees feel it just isn’t worth it to stay which leads into the next point:

    I Can’t Get No Satisfaction

    Stats show recognition reduces turnover. Per Bersin & Associates 31% less turnover exists where such programs are in place.  Focusing on employee experience, or EX, is necessary for companies that wish to attract and retain quality agents.

    Working hard is more satisfying if recognition or bonuses are involved that go beyond basic pay. Motivating competitions for highest sales, successful calls or fewest abscences provide a goal with a tangible benefit.

     The Great Resignation has hit this industry too, with workers no longer content to be paid poorly to do long, thankless days trying to please irate customers. Agents want flexibility, a supportive culture, and a positive answer to the next question:

    Where do we go from here?

    Flat career paths are a hard sell. Without a plan in place to elevate quality agents and supervisors in responsibility there’s less reason for the ambitious ones to remain.

    It is natural for employees to want to increase their value and the benefit they receive for that value. Metrics that give employees an idea of their performance and where they stand in comparison with their fellow employees help them to aim higher. On-going training to stay relevant to the industry and a clear idea of where the next level is provide incentive. A lack of promotion from within to higher positions in a call center or contact center is an impetus to leave.

    Vacation, All I Ever Wanted

    There is something to be said for benefits and perks. Even the relatively small investment of snacks in a break room can improve employer-employee relations.

    Medical benefits and a week or two of paid vacation are of even greater value and benefit both the agents and the companies they work for. Consider this article by the Harvard Business Review .

    Office generated activities are another way of elevating the employee work experience. When agents engage in activities that build trust in each other and their management team, their work and loyalty are elevated.

    Though there is significant turnover in call centers there are actionable ways to reduce it and have call center employees singing along with Nina Simone “I’m Feeling Good”.

    happy Contact center employees
  • Win the Game: Power Up your Customer Service with a Quality Assurance Strategy

    Win the Game: Power Up your Customer Service with a Quality Assurance Strategy

    Business challenges are like levels in a game. The more tools, skills and tricks you have (especially if you’re a noob), the more successful you will be. You can power up your customer service with a quality assurance strategy for a successful business campaign.

    Level One

    You can’t create an effective customer service experience without talking QA (not to be confused with QQ in gaming, which is crying like a baby). It is necessary to have actionable data to continually make advancements and remain competitive in a constantly changing customer service game. 

    Your first task is deciding how to allocate financial resources. What skills can you afford? If there aren’t enough funds for a dedicated QA team, QA lands on the supervisors (and they can’t magic it away.)

    Mage, Sage, Warrior, Wizard

    Choose your team wisely. Make sure they have the skill level needed to execute well. (The elf with low levels of strength, combat and defense is not your best choice for a sword fight.) Supervisors who have to balance QA with their other work require many skills. They need to be able to multitask, manage distractions and self regulate. 

    Your supervisors’ time is divided across their many duties. Have a clear goal on the portion allocated to QA.

    Level Two

    The difficulty level of manual interaction review is high. There are many obstacles to overcome (and you can’t press buttons to simply jump over them). Jeremy Watkin of 8×8 brings up great points in his recent article, “3 Solutions to Your Quality Management Problems.” He recognizes that supervisors are pressed for time and often interrupted. On top of that, they have training, assessment and other demands and manually reviewing calls one by one is time intensive. 

    He goes on to present ways to streamline and target QA to use supervisor time most efficiently. It’s like power in a game. (You drain it when you use it, so make it count.)

    Enhance your supervisors QA power with tools that help them hit their mark. (It’s kind of like aimbots, but those are considered a cheat.)

    Level Three

    The right tools are like a power up (or a speedhack, but that’s also considered a cheat to enhance character speed unfairly, so…) Watkin’s use of speech analytics to identify the most valuable interactions for analysis and coaching is an astute way of drilling down.

    Overburdened supervisors are stuck doing damage control and focus training on what was done wrong.  A leveled up manager knows that positive reinforcement yields the best results. They also know that rewards need to be personalized and tangible. From Entrepreneur: “A recent Harvard Business Review article reported that positive reinforcement actually motivates employees better than punishment. Not only is it more effective at motivating change, but it’s also less damaging to the employer-employee relationship.”

    Another way to take pressure off supervisors and accrue even more data on interactions is automation. Targeted spot checking is useful. However, when only a portion of the whole is analyzed you never get an accurate read on your metrics. (That’s like missing a bunch of high point targets because you didn’t even know they were there.) What if you could gather data on 100% of customer interactions? (That’s like gathering all the gems on a board and leveling up with the highest score possible.)

    CSAT.AI uses artificial intelligence to create an automated, proactive QA process and improve customer experience in real time. (It’s like having a high level Wizard with superpowered magic.)

    Are you ready to level up? Contact us for a demo.

    For more QA articles: https://www.csat.ai/tag/qa-metrics/

  • Disrupting Gender Inequality in Call Centers

    Disrupting Gender Inequality in Call Centers

    Gender inequality and unequal pay have come to light with the help of things like the #MeToo movement and detailed worldwide studies on the state of gender disparity.  These issues are common in the call center and contact center sector. How do we go about disrupting inequality in contact centers, and beyond?

    The Earnings Gap

    From Pew Research: “In 2018, women earned 85% of what men earned, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of median hourly earnings of both full- and part-time workers in the United States.”

    Though that reflects a 5% increase compared to a Census Study in 2017, “it would take an extra 39 days of work for women to earn what men did in 2018.”

    The WEF’s report doesn’t just look at wage data. “The Global Gender Gap Index examines the gap between men and women across four fundamental categories (subindexes): Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival and Political Empowerment.”

    The lack goes beyond economics.

    Another report released by Equal Measures in 2019 shows the US at number 28 out of 129 countries in gender equality.  However, from both of these reports it’s clear this disparity is a worldwide issue.

    Fewer women in leadership, archaic biases and negative perceptions feed the gap.

    It’s a Numbers Game

    Female call center operators Copyright : youichi4411

    Traditionally, there are more women in the contact/call center industry than men and in lower level positions. That’s why call centers have been called the female ghetto, a disparaging word first identifying Jewish neighborhoods in medieval Venice. The term still haunts low-income urban communities today.

    Though in countries like the Philippines, male and female agents are almost equal, agents are mostly female worldwide.  Men hold most of the supervisory, management and executive positions. The reasons for this appear to be linked to traditional societal roles and biases.

    Why More Female Agents? They Follow the Rules.

    There are some traditional marriage vows where only women promise to ‘obey’. One reason for gender inequality in call centers is that women adhere to policies more than men:

    “Interviews with call centre managers and recruiters suggest that female workers are preferred over males because they stick to the rules. Managers (of both sexes) say things like: “You do find that the men are more likely to be doing things that they shouldn’t be doing, whereas women stick to the procedure and the way it should be done.”

    Why Fewer Female Executives? 

    female discrimination illustration
    Copyright : lightwise

    Women are associated with family more than business, with emotion over competence, with compliance instead of achievement. Women sacrifice getting ahead to be liked. There is a belief that social and monetary repercussions of not being liked go beyond poverty. This is especially true for minority women who often have greater obstacles.

    According to this Stanford piece:

    “Over the past 30 years, research has shown that stereotypes about what men and women are capable of and how they should behave cause people to evaluate men and women differently, especially when the criteria for evaluation are ambiguous. This bias puts women at a disadvantage in workplaces, where they get hired and promoted at lower rates than men.”

    Unconscious Bias

    Project Implicit from Harvard University was designed to identify forms and levels of bias. The American Association of University Women (AAUW) partnered with Project Implicit in 2016 to create a test identifying biases that impact how women in leadership are perceived.

    They referenced a study where even female scientists viewed a female candidate through a lens of negative bias.

    Do you think you are free of such bias? Take the test.

    Rule Following vs Leadership

    There is a flip-side to following the rules. Innovation and leadership don’t come from head down rule following, but from challenge and disruption. It is no wonder that TechCrunch took the name Disrupt for their international events on groundbreaking technology.

    Statistical evidence shows that multiple women in higher level positions is beneficial to the bottom line. A report by The Peterson Institute for International Economics in 2016, Is Gender Diversity Profitable? Evidence from a Global Survey, took data from 21,980 businesses in 91 countries with very positive results:

    “For profitable firms, a move from no female leaders to 30% representation is associated with a 15% increase in the net revenue margin”.

    The study also showed that more women in executive and board positions rather than the odd female CEO had the greatest financial benefit. A path for women to rise into such roles is more valuable than one woman getting to the highest position.

    Studies reveal women are more empathetic also. Considering the importance of empathy in customer service, this is a soft skill asset to the industry.

    Negative Perception of Contact Center Work and Harassment

    Slang terms for contact centers/call centers aren’t flattering (see ‘female ghetto’ above). People don’t go to school to get a degree in customer service. These are still better jobs than many for the experience and education level of most employees.

    For women with dependents it can be a struggle to find something better. This leads to enduring not only bias but harassment.

    Winds of Change for Gender Inequality

    gender inequality at work Copyright : Jozef Mičic

    A bright light is shining on gender inequality, with in-depth analyses of not only disparity, but of the positive potential of parity. The 2015 McKinsey report, The Power of Parity: How Advancing Women’s Equality Can Add $12 Trillion to Global Growth reveals the powerful result of maximizing the potential of women worldwide:

    “We consider a “full-potential” scenario in which women participate in the economy identically to men, and find that it would add up to $28 trillion, or 26 percent, to annual global GDP in 2025 compared with a business-as-usual scenario. This impact is roughly equivalent to the size of the combined US and Chinese economies today”

    “Our research for the first time links gender equality in society with gender equality in work. The latter is not possible without the former.”

    These kinds of “full potential” changes are not going to be fast. However, the fact that such reports exist supporting gender parity shows we are heading in that direction.

    Even the modified best-in-region scenario from the McKinsey report indicated:

    “Global GDP could increase by as much as $12 trillion annually in 2025, realizing some 42 percent of the opportunity outlined in the full-potential scenario.”

    Not a bad improvement in less than 10 years.

    Disruption

    Change is uncomfortable, but there are ways to make call centers better workplaces along the way:

    • Making set guidelines for grading calls not affected by gender
    • Creating great company culture with paths of upward mobility for female agents; Valuing agent experience as they have the most contact with the customer base
    • Setting guidelines for appropriate conduct and channels of communication to address problems like abuse, within centers or from customers, swiftly.
    • Supervisors and Management guiding by example, treating all employees with respect and equity

    Forging a path for women from call center ‘ghetto’ to executive level is the next logical step for disruption. Creating opportunities for the advancement of women is not only a question of ethics, it is the best ROI.

  • Contact Center Tech – From the Net to AI

    Contact Center Tech – From the Net to AI

    The call center has evolved into the contact center through a variety of technological innovations that followed the trusty telephone. (I have mine right here, in case I’m hit by a food craving) The net, IoT, the cloud and AI have and will continue to disrupt contact center tech.

    Enter the Net – The Internet Boom

    The creation of the internet did more than raise the profile of cute cats. Ironically, the net was a form of coming full circle for customer service as people were writing letters to companies again, but electronic ones this time.

    Email gave customers another avenue of contact outside of the telephone:

    “The 90s, in fact, saw email become one of the most popular forms of communication amongst consumers. Businesses needed to follow suit. Email became a primary method of accessing support alongside the telephone, and found its place as a customer service channel within the slowly diversifying call centre.”

    The famous dot-com boom of the late 90s caused an epic  rise in internet interest and new companies trying to get a piece of the digital pie. (Damn. Now I want pie.)

    What goes up must come down, and the dot-com crash fell hard with rapid financial loss. “Call it the $1.755 trillion dot.com investing lesson.”

    Ouch.

    It’s like the internet is a magical genie that made consumer wishes for alternate forms of communication with businesses come true.

    (Hey internet. I want pie. Via a speedy food delivery app my pie can appear without me even leaving the house. So, I kind of have my wish.)

    The internet survived it’s wild ride and inspired more waves of technological advances that have caused the call center to give way to the contact center.  Consumer contact now includes email, online chat, social media outlets and even online video/audio support.

    The Internet of Things – Contact Centers and IoT

    Contact Centers and the Internet of things

    With IoT we are on our way to a fully digitalized  world. The interconnectedness of devices via the internet with the companies that create them and the customers that buy them provides new service solutions. These devices are information sponges able to provide customer service with data to help solve an issue.

    Some are even designed to report issues to themselves: “For example, if the heart monitor for a patient gets over-heated, an automatic request for service can be transmitted to the appropriate team.”

    (If I had an Alexa right now I would ask it to order me some pie!)

    IoT raises interesting questions about complicating an already channel heavy sorting experience for customer service too. Then there is the job of parsing all that data, and storing it. That leads us to look upward.

    Head in the Clouds – Cloud based Contact Centers


    Contact centers in the cloud

    Outsourcing call centers and contact centers is common, but the cloud can eliminate the need for a physical center altogether:

    “Cloud-based contact centres allow agents to work remotely with just an internet connection and headphones. With no hassles in hosting information on servers, enterprises can now have agents working from virtually anywhere with easy access to real-time information.”

    (All this talk of the cloud makes me want cloud pie. If you’ve never heard of it you are missing out. Back to the digital cloud…)

    Other benefits to a cloud based customer service model include the ability for 24/7 service and easier scalability. Plus having an integrated cloud system where the data is stored in one place, but is accessible by those who need it streamlines processes:

    “In traditional systems, the same data is often stored in multiple locations and multiple systems and needs to be updated manually, or through error-prone processes. Unfortunately, quite often in such a case errors are common. An integrated system makes the same data available to all parties. It is stored and retrieved from the same location. If a call center agent updates a customer file, the billing department immediately has access to the new information, as do marketing, sales, and other departments that need that information.”

    APIs – Application Programming Interfaces enable integration and can be customized:

    “Application Programming Interfaces can assist organizations to automate customer service with the use of human-like interactions that can comprehend natural language with conversational automated assistants. APIs can be easily tailored to realize customer concerns, along with answering and resolving issues all in real time. This can help customer service representatives to focus on more complex problems and other value-adding activities.”

    The Rise of AI – Artificial Intelligence


    Contact center tech and AI

    AI is already tackling multiple challenges. These tools sift through mountains of data quickly, including data from the multiple channels of communication used by customers and businesses. Additionally, AI can identify patterns in the data to act upon, thereby saving time and money.

    APIs and AI have worked together too. Case in point, Google prediction:

    “The Google Prediction API provides access to cloud-based machine learning capabilities including natural language processing, recommendation engine, pattern recognition, and prediction. Developers can use the API to build applications capable of performing sentiment analysis, spam detection, document classification, purchase prediction, and more.”

    AI is customizable and able to learn independently, self-refining. This ability extends beyond basic data.

    What if an automated system could detect customer mood?

    (What if it knew what kind of pie you wanted? Predictive pie?)

    Better yet, what if AI could understand if the agent was actually answering the customer’s questions? (Did I really get my pie?) The customer engages with a responsive agent who actually resolves their questions. That’s a great improvement in contact center tech.

    An AI that recognizes customer and agent sentiment during an interaction and intervenes in real time with actionable information offers the opportunity to improve multiple KPIs including first call resolution.

    That’s the cherry pie of service, on a plate not in the face.  


    quality customer service like a good cherry pie
    Now for some real pie!
  • Don’t Assume Your Customer is an Idiot

    Don’t Assume Your Customer is an Idiot

    “Have you tried turning it off and on again?” The phrase spoken by many IT pros and made even more famous in the Britcom The IT Crowd. The character Roy has repeated this question so much he made a recording of it that he plays whenever a call comes in. It’s funny because it really happens, but don’t assume your customer is an idiot before they even speak or all is doomed from the start.

    Your Customer Wants to Connect

    If your customer is emailing, texting, posting or calling there is a good chance they have an issue. However, they may have insight or even praise!

    Regardless, they are contacting customer service because they want to communicate. If agents assume the customer is an idiot that belief comes across in the agents’ voices or text. Not a good start and bad for First Call Resolution.

    Be Clear About your Brand and Policies

    This doesn’t mean your company should completely change it’s policies or branding to appease an unruly customer. Michael O’Leary, CEO of Ryanair took a hardline on his company policy of passengers printing their own tickets or paying through the nose at the airport to have them printed if they don’t.

    Their policies were clearly presented and in 2012 when a passenger who did not do their due diligence was faced with the exorbitant charges she decided to complain on social media requesting a refund as ‘goodwill’. The public support she garnered had little effect.

    Instead of the airline honoring her request the CEO publicly shamed the customer, calling her an idiot and appeared no worse off for it. People still want cheap flights, perhaps more than than they want amenities like polite speech.

    For more amusing reading, you can see some more of O’Leary’s provocative statements here.

    This is an extreme example, but it brings up the question of brand. 

    What is your brand personality? Is yours a luxury brand or an economy service? What is the main benefit your business is offering? Is it a low price or exclusive experience or unique physical product?

    Answers to these questions inform the best policy for your agents and your customer service strategy. This isn’t to say abusing your customers is a good idea, but defining in advance what situation will garner a refund and what will not and being clear about it is advantageous to both sides.

    Have a Plan

    Having a plan in place to handle belligerent customers, without treating all of them as if they will be, makes a smoother service road. Sometimes, it is good economics to sever ties with costly customers.

    Author and research fellow at MIT Sloan School’s Center for Digital Business, Michael Schrage gives an example of a company that strategically offered a solution to serve both themselves and their client. They discovered:

    “The firm would never make money on this client. Even worse, the opportunity cost of this client was undermining the company’s ability to attract better customers. The software vendor cut its worst customer loose.”

    Customer Care Improves the Bottom Line

    So what happened to ‘the customer is always right?’ This has been muddied in the growing chasm between economy and luxury brands. Time will tell if this approach will last, but even O’Leary has recognized the value of being nicer since that 2012 example above. He included new amenities like changing rooms and free space for kids’ car-seats. He also allowed flyers to have a second bag without a fine.

    Even though some customers are willing to sacrifice good customer service for low prices others have higher expectations. That trend is on the rise. If basic human respect isn’t enough of a motivator for giving quality customer service  this Inc.com article on an American Express study shows that good customer service increases customer spend.

    “More companies are realizing that delivering great care is not just the right thing to do; it also makes great business sense. Seven in 10 U.S. consumers say they’ve spent more money to do business with a company that delivers great service“

    Your customer is the reason your product exists and how your company continues to grow. Don’t assume your customer is an idiot. Recognize that they are a vital part of your business success. Giving them your best paves the way for a lasting relationship that benefits both sides.

    Just like your customers deserve the benefit of the doubt so do service agents. We will be addressing the flip side in a future post Don’t Assume Your Customer Service Agent is an Idiot.