Data is king.
When it speaks, it has lots to say.
From customer satisfaction to agent productivity, marketing cut-through to sales performance, contact center data, in particular, has the power to not only enlighten and inform but also to support constant improvement.
However, despite its high value, communication data is not always leveraged to its full potential. Ironically, in the era of smart, powerful unified communication and contact center platforms, deep oceans of data go unexplored. The information is automatically captured, but its owners often choose not to interrogate it.
To reverse that set of circumstances, data measurement is essential. Indeed, data-driven organizations are likely to score well against all of the critical Key Performance Indicators upon which increased growth and profitability depend.
Consequently, they would benefit from partnering with a solution vendor for whom the value of data cannot be over-played, and whose tools and technologies can convert it into tangible bottom-line benefits.
“Contact centers need to keep a keen eye on a wide range of metrics, to make sure teams are operating efficiently, customers are happy, and targets are being met,” says Matt Yates, Vice President of Engineering at leading contact center solutions provider MaxContact, whose recently-published ‘Benchmarking Insights Report’ shares the crucial importance of communication data measurement.
“You may have a general idea about customer satisfaction rates and agent productivity, based on anecdotal evidence and gut feeling.
But benchmarking gives you data, and data allows you to compare how you’re doing today with the same time last month, last year or the same time five years ago. It also allows you to compare yourself to industry averages. When you can do that, you have the evidence you need to drive improvements. The result is competitive edge.”
To be successful, contact centers have to focus on providing great experiences in the most cost-effective way. Speed, accuracy, and customer satisfaction are all essential, but one factor can’t be prioritized at the expense of others. Exceeding call rate targets but providing a poor experience is a recipe for failure. Giving great experiences but calling too few customers is a recipe for bankruptcy.
MaxContact’s research showed that the most-watched performance metric is average handle time (AHT). Next comes quality assurance (QA), customer satisfaction (CSAT), first contact resolution rate, and call outcomes.
To drive improvements across the board, agents should be upskilled so they are more knowledgeable, empathetic and efficient, and should not focus on one or two metrics at the expense of others: for example, bringing AHT down is great, but not at the expense of a worsening CSAT score. Investing in technology such as IVR and self-serve payment tools to reduce call handling times and give time back to agents to focus on more complex calls is also key.
Also, sales metrics should be used to motivate the workforce via recognition and rewards for agents who perform especially well; and sales campaigns should be continually refined in real-time, for example, tweaking sales scripts to better engage customers; and leveraging speech analytics tools to gain deeper insights into customer interactions and identify successful sales techniques.
Of course, there are many more KPIs organizations must consider, such as right party contact (RPC) in the context of debt collection and first contact resolution (FCR) in the context of customer service. And there are also many more actions that can be taken to drive improvement, such as deploying AI.
However, the point is clear: capturing, measuring, interpreting, and acting on communication data is capable of delivering huge enhancements to all of the aspects of an organization that really matter. Indeed, being more data-driven can completely transform the fortunes of any business.
“The trick is to take a holistic, across-the-piece approach,” says Yates.
“Benchmarks should never be used in isolation, because one on its own can give a distorted or overly simplistic picture. Use them together to balance speed, efficiency and customer satisfaction. But be in no doubt; with customer expectations growing, benchmarking can be the difference between growth and stagnation.”
To learn more about how MaxContact can help your and your customers’ businesses leverage contact center data to improve KPIs, visit the website.
