Aligning objectives and customer expectations

For contact center operators, success is measured in acronyms (CSAT, ASAT, NPS, FCR, AHT, SLA, CAR, AOR, CES, CTR, ATR). While CSAT and NPS may be chief among them, there is a commercial reality that cannot be ignored. The ContactBabel report asked contact centers what single CX metric senior management used to determine the success, or otherwise, of contact center operations. CSAT and NPS accounted for 54% of first responses, followed by cost per service interaction (16%) and overall revenue (12%). First contact resolution was considered most important for just 6% and customer retention for 5%.

Despite the availability of multiple channels for customer communication, voice calls still account for around 70% of contact center engagements. The industry’s digital transformation and the introduction of AI-powered technologies are primarily aimed at automating manual processes, avoiding calls, and improving workforce productivity. However, with so many engagements still being via voice, qualitative impact becomes just as important as stark performance metrics. If CSAT and NPS are the primary measures of success, what drives customer satisfaction and advocacy?

In the ContactBabel report, 1000 consumers were asked to rank a series of factors that influence CX in order of importance. The results indicate a disparity between what consumers and companies find important. For instance, a short call duration (AHT) is seen as an indicator of overall efficiency by operators but was ranked as the least important factor by customers. More important, ranked number one, was having their issue solved on the first call (FCR). The delta here is obvious. Customers place much more emphasis on first-contact resolution (28% ranked it as the most important factor compared to just 6% of companies). The second most important was short queue times.

Other factors that were seen to be important put the role of the agent in stark relief. Customers wanted to speak with local agents who were polite and friendly and didn’t want to be passed from one agent to another. It seems that a satisfying experience for a customer is not quite the same as for the contact center operator. To get customers to the point where they are satisfied with the experience and likely to become advocates, businesses must provide the right answer, the first time. While the duration of the call is not a major concern, customers want to be able to start a conversation quickly.

Technology plays a vital role in meeting the objectives of contact center operators. Widespread adoption of automation solutions such as IVR, intelligent routing, and virtual assistants helps business owners deliver the bottom-line result they seek. However, lower cost per interaction, higher rates of call avoidance, 24/7 multichannel operations and fewer agents do not help customers achieve their objectives.

Despite the introduction of automation, the average time to answer has risen over the past 20 years. This has resulted in a corresponding increase in call abandonment rates (up from an average of 5.3% between 2010 and 2020 to an average of 8.5% in the last three years). While the average time to answer in the UK sits at close to 2 minutes, customers perceive the time to be significantly longer – starting them down the path of a bad experience from the outset.

Customers with complex enquiries often need to pass through a series of automated options before they get to speak to an agent. By the time they do, they may be in a heightened state of frustration or anxiety; at which point technology needs to empower the agent to deliver on two key contributors to satisfaction – solve the problem the first time without passing the customer over to someone else. Here, tools like AI (real-time sentiment analysis and AI-driven suggestions for agents) and co-browsing can be used to augment the human experience.

The call-handling landscape has evolved over the past ten years. Throughout the 2010s most contact centers experienced a slow decline in call volumes, as digital channels and automation were able to handle basic enquiries more efficiently. In the early 2020s, global lockdowns had a profound impact on the industry. Many sectors experienced a surge in call volumes, with healthcare, hospitality, travel and consumer products affected more than most. During this time, digital channels saw an increase in adoption, but voice remains the primary medium for contact.

The nature of a typical call that reaches an agent has changed. The high volume of low-engagement calls has been replaced with fewer, more involved engagements. AHT has seen its influence wane as a KPI, with a longer call resulting in a first-time resolution being the preferred outcome. The numbers back this up too, with average call durations for both sales and service engagements on the rise.

Longer calls could be both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, a longer engagement is more likely to result in first-contact resolution, improving CSAT. Longer calls frequently present more opportunities for cross-selling and up-selling too, helping meet revenue objectives. Conversely, extended call durations mean agents are not available to answer new calls, increasing wait times for customers and negatively impacting CSAT.

It’s obvious that contact center operators need to carefully balance operational efficiency with CSAT and ASAT if corporate and customer objectives are both to be met successfully. The contact center market employs huge numbers of staff globally (almost 3 million in the US alone) but is plagued by high turnover rates (30-40% on average). Leveraging technology to handle high-volume, low-effort engagements will continue to help meet process efficiency objectives and empowering agents with the right tools to deliver customer experience excellence will deliver against other KPIs. The key will lie in the application of the right technology at the right time. The adoption of AI, such as real-time sentiment analysis, will help businesses identify the point at which escalation or intervention is required, reducing friction for customers and agents alike.

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