Whether you’ve utilized a contact center for your business needs, contacted one as a customer, or worked as a call center team member, you have an idea of what to expect when it comes to measuring quality monitoring metrics. Some global best practices are aligning with what many people may think of when considering how call centers and their team members are rated for effectiveness. Some standard metrics utilized in call quality monitoring include how long a customer waits before their call is answered, the duration of the call, and how satisfied customers are with these interactions.
While many of these recognizable metrics have been relied upon by contact centers for years, the importance of some should be reconsidered if businesses want to continue growing, evolving, and providing unbeatable customer service. The demand for streamlined and uncomplicated customer experience continues to grow, and companies making this their focus when it comes to the benefits call center quality monitoring.
The Importance of Deciphering the Right Metrics
Often, the reason why monitoring call center performance doesn’t result in both team members’ efficiency and happier customers is that the right quality monitoring metrics aren’t being measured. Sometimes the results aren’t focused on as closely as others, or they are underutilized.
Many contact centers rely on quality assurance managers to evaluate and score team member performance based on the average handle time of their calls or the average speed in which calls are answered. There’s no doubt these particular quality monitoring metrics are essential. Still, too large of a focus on them results in rushed calls where customer issues are left mostly unresolved on the first go-round. Focusing mainly on the speed of interactions serves to ensure things that are immensely important to customers are missed, such as displays of empathy. When a company is reliant on data gained from the wrong metrics, numbers shared on the inside may look like they’re hitting their marks while on the outside, customers feel unheard and dissatisfied.
What Metrics Should Be Your Company’s Focus?
First and foremost, if you consider a good company to be made up of well-trained and valued team members serving satisfied customers, then the goal should be to focus on quality monitoring metrics aligning with that vision. Ultimately, the right parameters for gaining continuous improvement depend on your particular company, its needs, and the overarching business goals. This means there isn’t necessarily a one-size-fits-all kind of answer to which ones should be chosen for every company. However, no matter which metrics your business decides on, it’s essential to take the data provided through technology and intelligence, optimize it, and put it into an actionable plan.
While focusing on metrics relaying the length of call times may be less than stellar for overall customer experience and satisfaction, they can be great for team efficiency and can’t be banished altogether. Instead of doing away with them, companies should pay equal attention to customer satisfaction-centric metrics when it comes to quality monitoring. To be effective at monitoring and providing appropriate feedback for the continued development of team members, managers must review calls and note displays of empathy and the willingness of team members to take the interaction above and beyond the basics. Some points for managers to consider may include if team members are great listeners for their customers and if they are knowledgeable and capable while working to resolve issues.
Once metrics are chosen, putting the results into an actionable plan is essential to getting the most out of the time, effort, and money put into collecting data from quality assurance metrics in the first place. Reviewing team member and customer interactions, providing timely feedback and putting appropriate plans in place is how you make a change and gauge overall effectiveness.
Trust Your Company’s Strengths and Rely on Experts to Fill the Gaps
Looking toward the near future, Forrester predicts more companies will feel compelled to operate their in-house call centers rather than relying on outside partners. They also predict this could be incredibly detrimental to many businesses. Many companies will benefit from continuing to focus on what they do best. If that doesn’t already include operating and managing their call center and customer experience, it’s likely best to seek and rely on already established experts.
When seeking contact center and quality monitoring services, take into consideration what’s offered and how data is derived and disseminated. A company offering a combination of advanced technologies, artificial intelligence, and continuously developed team members ensures your company benefits from extensive data, corresponding actionable plans, and team members ready to serve customers and provide exceptional experiences. If this sounds like the type of partnership that would benefit both your business and your customers, check out the difference that Etech has to offer. Contact Etech today for additional information.