Improving the efficiency of your call center could significantly improve customer satisfaction. Providing coaching sessions, adopting an omnichannel platform, and automating processes are just some of the ways to achieve this.
Here’s a strategy you can follow:
Take advantage of idle time
Start by optimizing idle time. According to research conducted by the Aberdeen Group, call center agents spend up to 25 percent of their shift idle. This wasted time equates to an approximate loss of $11,200 per agent per year.
Don’t know how to take advantage of this idle time? Here are two improvement strategies:
- Use task management tools – Real-time task management tools collect and measure call data and call center efficiency metrics to maximize call center schedules. They have staffing change features that allow call centers to manage quiet times and prioritize tasks to agents who are not engaging with customers.
- Give and ask for feedback – Use idle time to evaluate agents and think of ways to improve overall call center efficiency. This doesn’t stop with employees, however. Agents could use downtimes to send out customer surveys containing questions about recent calls.
Provide coaching sessions
Take advantage of the times that aren’t spent focused on your customers to build on your agents’ personal development.
According to instituteofcoaching.com, 80 percent of employees who received coaching support had improved self-confidence, and over 70 percent reported better work performance. The report added that almost nine in every ten companies reaped positive results from instituting coaching programs.
Coaching provides an invaluable space for professional development. For example, rookie call center agents may be struggling with their self-confidence. Training programs on communication can help agents communicate with much-improved confidence.
Not only will the agents improve work-related skills, but coaching also has a lot of other benefits, including gaining more job and life satisfaction and working more productively.
Omnichannel everything
According to research from Ameyo, three out of every four customers use three or more channels to access customer service. Leveraging an omnichannel strategy can deliver better customer experiences regardless of the channel of interaction.
An omnichannel platform offers a seamless and connected experience for getting in touch with customers across multiple channels, whether via traditional phone, IP, VoIP, or Zycoo PBX systems. According to Zendesk, an omnichannel platform helps resolve tickets up to 40% faster. It also allows agents to take 63 percent more chat and phone chat tickets.
Clearly, with an omnichannel platform, you only won’t provide better customer experiences, but you’ll also increase agent productivity.
Automate processes
Research by Gartner showed that up to 25 percent of customer service and support operations would use robot technology by the end of 2020.
Bots can answer frequently asked questions, so your agents can focus on more valuable tasks. Likewise, bots can help your team better prepare for calls by predicting how customers will respond to them. It uses artificial intelligence to respond to customer needs for better accuracy. Michaels, America’s largest arts and crafts retail chain, was able to save $47,000 in just three months after implementing an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system.
So what do you think? Here are just four things you can do to improve the efficiency of your call center business. Remember that when you have an efficient call center, you’ll able to provide better customer service.