Courteous and empathetic interaction with a service representative can mean the difference between losing or retaining a customer. A quality assurance scorecard serves as a checklist of questions that companies can use to measure the quality of customer service interactions.
Scorecards help show if agents are working at their best and if they positively engage customers. The data collected helps monitor performance progress, optimize training, and improve customer service.
Building a quality monitoring scorecard is all about paying attention to an organization’s processes, goals, and objectives. Here’s how:
STEP ONE – Identify the Overall Purpose
Focusing on purpose gives clarity and helps determine what to measure, making the end results more effective. Some questions to consider:
- What is the endgame of using scorecards?
- What weaknesses in the call center need to be targeted?
- Is there a need for more focus or systematization for coaching agents?
STEP TWO – Solicit the Input of Agents
Asking support agents and stakeholders for input can help create a more effective and accurate scorecard. This is because agents are most familiar with the call center and its processes, and therefore may have suggestions on how to serve customers better.
STEP THREE – Seek Input from Customers
Companies should use surveys to identify what criteria customers care about the most. For instance, if customers emphasize that they dislike long wait or response times, managers should focus on improving employees’ responsiveness and first-time resolution.
STEP FOUR – Choose the Criteria to Measure
Scorecard measuring criteria should take inspiration from a company’s goals and objectives, to ensure results are aligned with wider company targets. A few examples of the performance criteria that might be relevant to a call center include:
- Knowledge of products and services
- Conflict resolution
- Problem-solving
- Follow-up service
KPIs that give a snapshot of the interaction’s overall effectiveness should also be developed.
STEP FIVE – Design the Scorecard
Call center scorecards must be concise and easy to complete by customers and other stakeholders. A scorecard with 10 to 20 points can be more accessible for customers to fill out than longer questionnaires, and also make it easier for the organization to analyze results.
Finding a balance is essential. Too few questions, and a slight change in a single KPI could throw off the whole score. Too many, and an entire area can suffer significantly without causing a visible impact on the overall score.
STEP SIX – Select a Technology Platform
Many call centers still rely on Excel spreadsheets to collect their scorecard data. A more integrated, and better, approach is using Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems with dedicated feedback and scoring systems. There are also platforms that can create scorecards and manage an entire call center workforce from a single view, eliminating redundant tools.
STEP SEVEN – Implement the Call Center Quality Monitoring Scorecard System
A call center scorecard’s reliability, accuracy, and clarity are only evident when used. Therefore, the implementation of scorecards is vital in the design process to make room for potential changes following its launch. Implementation can begin with a selected group of agents before launching company wide.
STEP EIGHT – Collect and Compile Data
Data should be presented in a way that helps managers identify strengths and weaknesses in the call center and coach agents accordingly. It may also be necessary to present this data to agents in a way that facilitates self-monitoring, such as by creating mental maps of which actions affect which KPIs.
STEP NINE – Monitor and Review Periodically
Scorecards should be continuously monitored and periodically updated to reflect the latest needs of the call center so that the data collected remains relevant and worthwhile.
Call center agents are at the epicenter of CX, and when customers reach out for support, they expect a high standard of service. With a scorecard template, organizations can look at how their call center reps perform and identify improvement areas, creating a system for excellent customer service day in and day out.
Looking to learn more tricks of the QA trade? If so, check out our article: How Quality Assurance Teams Are Increasing Their Value In the Contact Centre
