Insights
When it comes to digital transformation, the call centre has already come a long way. As we enter an age where customers want and expect fast resolutions to their queries, call centres have taken steps to implement and maximise the effectiveness of self-service and virtual customer service technology.
This means traditional phone interactions will become less and less frequent, meaning the more complex, emotional and crucial interactions are still left to call centre agents.
Even though we’re making great strides in operational efficiency and improving the customer experience by removing humans from the equation – when there’s a critical issue, people still like to talk to other people.
A quick chat on the phone gives customers the responsiveness and accountability from the brand they call centre that they need in order to feel looked after, and confident they can quickly resolve their problem.
What does this mean for the future of the call centre?
As call centre and customer service professionals, we have a huge incentive to make sure the next generation of agents can minimise costly repeat contacts, reduce damaging customer churn, and focus on providing an emotionally rich customer experience that digital self-service functions simply aren’t yet equipped to deliver.
As the playing field has been levelled for brands with regard to product and pricing, customer service will become the key differentiator for businesses who wish to maximise profits and successes in an increasingly competitive landscape.
Making sure your call centre creates super-agents.
But, creating customer service heroes who are driven, motivated and engaged isn’t as easy as we’d like it to be. There are more than a few barriers to call centre agent coaching and transforming millennial employees into the super-agents we desperately need.
- Agents fail to improve their efficiency when presented with complex operational information that makes them switch off.
- Team leaders waste hours manually gathering data to deliver nothing but ineffective reports and headaches, with little time to spend coaching teams who need guidance.
- Call centre managers miss out on golden opportunities to greatly improve the business using insights they can quickly act on.
If we want to tackle this problem once and for all, we need simple, accessible and relevant information that all call centre staff can easily and quickly use to improve every aspect of the call centre service, and maximise the financial return it delivers.
By Tom Palmer
Tom is EvaluAgent’s Head of Digital and takes the lead on developing and implementing our digital and content management strategies which results in creating a compelling, digital-first customer marketing experience.
