Ways to improve efficiency for contact centre consulting services

Customer contact centres are the lifeline of your sales and support processes. Efficient after-sales service is necessary to acquire new customers and retain existing ones. However, a lack of training or an overworked staff could cost a large call centre as much as $1.5mn a year.

Contact centre – illustrative photo. Image credit: Luis Villasmil via Pixabay, free license

Efficient contact centres see higher customer satisfaction scores, lower overhead costs, and higher revenue. For higher efficiency, parameters such as agent workflows, workforce management, and telephony tech need to work flawlessly. Businesses stand to gain measurable performance with contact centre consulting services.

Define and measure the KPIs

By choosing and measuring the right key performance indicators (KPIs), you can get insights into the agents’ performance which is the most important factor for higher customer satisfaction. Some of the most important KPIs to measure efficiency are: 

• Number of calls per agent – Monitor if the call queues distribute traffic evenly among the agents. By distributing the calls evenly and sustainably, you can reduce burnout and increase efficiency.
• Resolution on the first call – Higher first-call resolution rates result in high CSAT scores and customer retention. It also reduces the number of call transfers within the contact centre teams.
• Average handling time – It is the average time your agents spend resolving a problem or answering a question. Lower AHTs mean higher efficiency. It could also mean that the agents are rushing through the calls. For higher efficiency, you need a balanced FCR and AHT.
• Average hold time – This is the average time a customer waits before connecting with an agent. Longer hold times could indicate poor agent training or that your agents do not have easy access to data to help the customers faster.

For example, call centres with a high call hold time could implement Interactive Voice Responses (IVRs) or a call-back solution for robust self-service. If the number of calls per agent is low, you can tighten the idle time to maximise resource utilisation.

Ways to improve the efficiency of customer contact centres

From monitoring the efficiency to improving the overall environment of the contact centre, there are various ways you can provide a better experience to the customer. Here are various ways companies improve their contact centre efficiency. 

Optimise agent workflows

By optimising the agent workflows, you can identify lost time and reasons for productivity loss. Set clear, daily goals for agents. For example, agents must know the number of calls they need to take daily and their average handling time. By setting a target, you can identify gaps, such as the relevant information not being available to the agent on time.

A database of information is not enough. Your agents should be able to access, navigate, and find the relevant information fast. Agents should also have an internal communication system, such as a chat tool to interact with other agents to reduce the AHT.

Gather as much customer information as possible. Use an IVR solution that can route the caller to the right agent. The second option is to use a call scheduler to collect customers’ information through a form and then schedule a call from an agent later.

Customer self-help

Customers choose to read the website and the FAQs or use a chatbot before calling the contact centre. Make the self-service resources accessible and powerful to keep low-priority calls resolved themselves. This way, your agents can devote time to complex issues that generate more revenue.

Training the chatbot with sufficient knowledge is important to quickly help the customer or divert to an agent. Else, customer self-service options could lead to a lower CSAT.

Reduce attrition-rates

One of the biggest and most expensive problems is handling high agent attrition rates. You can reduce this by –

• Using technology to reduce agent stress helps lower attrition rates. Customers’ frustration puts the most stress on agents. A call-back solution could help in this situation.
• Hiring agents with the right talent to handle the job.
• Incentivising agents for producing good results and surpassing preset milestones.
• Focusing on skilling agents to handle customers’ anger and confrontation, and in empathy and anger management.

Have a good agent-to-supervisor ratio

At times, irate customers want to speak to the supervisor for more complex queries. If the wait time to speak to the supervisor is more, it could make the customer hang up or even switch to your competitor for services. An ideal agent-to-supervisor ratio is 25:1. However, it could vary from business to business.

Reduce micromanagement

Encourage agent autonomy and focus on providing high-quality training. Agents know their products or services well and can resolve most issues using smart and creative ways. Greater autonomy for agents results in higher satisfaction and lower attrition.

Conclusion

Improving contact centre efficiency is a holistic and top-down approach that requires a combination of the right technology, such as omnichannel support, quick access to information, continuous training, and monitoring.

While customer feedback is important, companies must focus on employee satisfaction (ESAT) scores as well. It is not a quick solution. It requires a coordinated approach among multiple departments to create a win-win situation for agents and customers. But it can definitely prove very useful.