With the number of Australians using social media still on the increase, as reported in data from Sensis, it’s crucial that companies present a consistent experience for customers across different channels.
Unfortunately that isn’t happening.
In fact, only 14 per cent of consumers strongly agree that companies effectively manage their experience across traditional and digital contact touch points, according to a study by Accenture. For contact centre managers this means the pressure is on to ensure that your agents can successfully continue customer journeys which often begin in the digital sphere.
Here are some tips for providing consistent customer experiences through creating a cohesive contact centre.
Work with your staff to set productive goals.1. Setting contact centre goals
One of the most important aspects of quality management is setting great goals.
First-contact resolution should be a priority for managers in any customer-facing department, as 80 per cent of consumers who switch providers do so because their problem wasn’t solved at the initial time of asking- another finding from the Accenture report.
By establishing a clear framework of key performance indicators (KPIs) agents know what’s expected of them when interacting with customers, and have something to aim for. This will encourage them to continue to grow professionally, and will translate to higher quality interactions with consumers.
2. Aligning the company
On average it takes 12 positive experiences to reverse the damage from just one bad one, according to customer experience expert Ruby Newell-Legner.
By creating a company-wide standard, with specific targets measuring different areas of performance, you establish a quality benchmark that customers will receive no matter which channel they choose to interact through. This greatly reduces the opportunities for these negative experiences to take place.
Align the company so everyone is pushing in the same direction.3. The power of task ownership
It can be easy for staff to lose sight of how their individual tasks contribute to the goals of the business as a whole. This is especially true in a contact centre setting where agents don’t often see the products or services the company sells.
It’s the role of the contact centre manager, therefore, to instill a sense of purpose within the workforce, and there are a numbers of ways to do this:
- Invest time and training in staff to help them solve problems for themselves.
- Praise and encourage high quality performance.
- Provide regular feedback.
- Make sure they know why their work is important.
Identifying the need for a more consistent customer journey is a key step for quality management in contact centres. Call Design offers tailored training and solutions to help managers empower their agents to provide a continually excellent customer experience. For more information, get in touch with the team at Call Design today.