March 22, 2024
Call Center Quality Management: To Control Or Not To Control?
In the Context of a Real Project: Our Customer’s Success Story
Our client provides customized communication services, such as text messaging, calls, video calls, etc. The byVoice team developed an Omnichannel Contact Center for this company with a quality management tool that can be used alone or integrated with another system. It assesses personnel performance based on productivity, call resolution time, and customer satisfaction.
This role-based quality management tool delivers various features for this purpose:
What was the final outcome?
The quality management tools developed by our team became an essential part of the client's Contact Center/Cloud PBX services provided to the company's customers. Among such benefits as improved customer experience, higher efficiency, and cost-effectiveness, our client increased revenue by up to 15% due to this new service. This again confirms that quality management is a tool that must be a company's top priority.
In a Nutshell
If the company neglects quality management, it leads to decreased customer satisfaction, loss of clients, damage to reputation, etc. That's why implementing call center quality management stands as a core strategy.
Ready to implement quality management in your call center processes? Then please contact us to get qualified assistance in developing and implementing this software.
But not Everything is so Rosy
We would be lying if we would finish this article at this point. As with other business processes, call center quality management also has a fly in the ointment. Let's consider the biggest quality management challenges call centers may face.
Poor agents’ training and development
Ensuring consistent quality in call center interactions can be challenging when agents lack training and development. Without this, it can be difficult for agents to handle customer inquiries effectively. It leads to decreased customer satisfaction and quality scores.
Launch training modules (for example, using chatbots or voicebots).
Provide constructive feedback to agents.
Provide agents access to training material and workshops.
Steps to be taken:
Rare evaluation
Irregular quality assessments lead to gaps in performance monitoring and feedback for agents.
Establish consistent intervals for quality evaluations.
Steps to be taken:
Lack of time and tools to analyze data
Insufficient time and inappropriate instruments may impede the efficacy of data analysis endeavors.
Implement advanced analytics software.
Utilize automation tools to streamline data collection, processing, and reporting operations.
Steps to be taken:
Unqualified or inconsistent evaluators
Such evaluators can compromise the accuracy and reliability of quality evaluations.
Offer comprehensive training programs for evaluators. They must know evaluation criteria, scoring methodologies, and best practices for providing feedback.
Develop standardized evaluation forms, scoring guidelines, and calibration sessions. This will ensure consistency across evaluations and evaluators.
Regularly review evaluator assessments and provide them with feedback.
Steps to be taken:
Quality management is out of the priority list
Sometimes, call centers don’t receive the necessary attention to quality management. It leads to low performance in quality monitoring and improvement efforts.
Educate stakeholders, including senior management and frontline staff.
Demonstrate how effective quality management practices contribute to achieving organizational goals.
Steps to be taken:
How can cloud PBX and cloud contact center providers benefit from this tool?
Not Only Call Centers Can Benefit from Quality Management
Enhanced service offering
By offering quality management tools, providers can enhance customer service packages. They might include the following:
Call routing processes
Monitoring tools
Evaluation features
Tools for improving contact center performance
Offering quality management toolsets, cloud PBX and contact center providers can attract new customers looking for integrated solutions. It sets them apart from competitors who may offer only basic services.
Competitiveness
Quality management tools can be offered as add-ons or premium features. This provides an opportunity for additional revenue streams for providers. Customers willing to invest in improving their contact center operations may be willing to pay extra for advanced quality management functionality.
Revenue growth
Tools for quality management assist clients in raising customer satisfaction and service quality. Clients happy with the service are more inclined to suggest it to others and renew their contracts.
Customer retention
Three-Stage Evaluation, or How Call Center Quality Management Works
To get a complete picture of agents’ performance, call center quality management includes three evaluation stages of their work:
Supervisor’s evaluation
Customer’s evaluation
Evaluation with analytical tools
Let’s take a closer look at each of them.
Interaction processing by supervisors
In this stage, supervisors evaluate agents' performance through several key steps. Firstly, at least 30% of agents' conversations are reviewed to ensure a representative sample. This sample size provides insights into agents' overall performance patterns.
Establishing contact
Defining requirements
Presentation
Handling objections
Finishing interaction
Сommunication skills
Supervisors can assess agents’ work using questionnaires with the following predefined parameters:
Supervisors can assess the whole interaction and take appropriate measures. Additionally, speech analytics can categorize dialogues based on keywords. This categorization aids in prioritizing which conversations require closer review and analysis, focusing attention on areas of potential improvement or concern.
The supervisor's evaluation stage is critical for the following:
Ensuring agents adhere to service standards
Addressing customer needs effectively
Continuously improving agents’ performance
“Please rate us”
Customers’ evaluation is the easiest way to find weaknesses in agents' performance because it relies on direct feedback from clients.
Customers directly interact with agents during support calls or inquiries. Their opinions are a helpful, in-the-moment gauge of the services' caliber.
For this purpose, call centers can also use questionnaires. Customers may receive them via email, SMS, or through IVR. These surveys typically include questions about the following:
Quality of service
Agent professionalism
Problem resolution
Overall customer satisfaction
Involving AI
Call centers utilize speech and text analytics to assess agents' performance comprehensively. These analytical tools are an effective way to monitor the work of a call center as they allow for the analysis of conversations. They recognize interactions, search for user-defined information, and can cover the following functions:
Searching for specific words and phrases in identified conversation transcripts
Automatic categorization of interaction topics
Generating reports
These tools enable companies to compare evaluations provided by supervisors and clients, enhancing understanding by analyzing assessments. Supervisors assess agent performance across various dimensions using established evaluation criteria, identifying strengths to leverage and weaknesses to address.
Only one negative interaction is enough for a customer to decide not to engage with the company. What does this mean for the business?
Why Should You Control Your Agents and the Overall Quality of Their Work?
Customers expect efficient, fast, and polite service. Suppose they call or text a company's support line seeking assistance with a product issue and encounter a rude or unhelpful agent. Such behavior and unprofessionalism will lead to customer frustration and negative brand perception.
Decreased customer satisfaction
With the rise of competition and the number of available alternatives, customers easily switch to a competitor following a negative experience with a call center agent. Losing customers directly affects the company's revenue and market share.
Loss of customers
Imagine customers share their negative experiences with a call center agent on social media platforms. For example, they leave comments detailing their lack of empathy or competence. The result: the public criticism damages the company's reputation.
Damage to reputation
Call center agents may feel undervalued and demotivated. The reasons for this can be different: they feel unappreciated, face angry customers, can’t resolve some issues, etc. As employees seek a more supportive work environment, this results in decreased performance and higher turnover rates.
Reduced employee motivation
Suppose a customer contacts a company's sales line to learn more about additional products or services but encounters an uninformed agent who can’t seize this opportunity. This means a missed chance for upselling or cross-selling.
Missed profits
Lack of metrics to analyze
Assessing agent performance and overall operational efficiency becomes challenging if a call center lacks KPIs such as average handling time or customer satisfaction scores.
Implementing quality management practices helps businesses with the following:
Keeping track of agent interactions
Providing continuous training and support
Maintaining service standards
Identifying and solving problems early on
Creating a positive workplace
Boosting employee motivation
Reducing turnover
Implementing quality management practices helps businesses keep track of agent interactions, provide continuous training and support, and maintain service standards for consistent customer satisfaction. Quality management also helps identify and solve problems early on, creating a positive workplace that boosts employee motivation and reduces turnover.
Additionally, using metrics and analytics, call centers can understand performance trends, customer preferences, and upcoming issues, which guides decision-making and ongoing improvement efforts. Ultimately, effective call center quality management is crucial for addressing customer concerns, safeguarding brand reputation, capitalizing on revenue opportunities, and ensuring long-term business success.
The call center’s growth complicates the management of the agents’ work, their motivation, and quick correction of mistakes. Due to the unprofessionalism of employees, customer loyalty and satisfaction indicators may decrease. However, the situation can be improved by implementing call center quality management.
Picture someone who listens to or reads conversations with customers and decides whether to punish or reward the agent. In the case of quality management, there is some truth to this, but it's just the tip of the iceberg. This complex procedure makes the call center work more effectively.
Why is it important for businesses? The answer is simple: it directly impacts customer satisfaction, retention, and brand reputation.
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