Getting the Most Out of your Contact Center Part 3

by Wayne Smith, Marketing Manager, Interactive Northwest, Inc.

Enhance your Contact Center with Meaningful Metrics

In the first article of our three part series, Getting the Most Out of your Contact Center, we looked at the importance of prioritizing the customer experience when automating the contact center. In our second article, we considered the three ways that automation in the contact center can affect profitability. In this article, we conclude our series by taking a look at metrics and how they can be used to increase the effectiveness of the contact center.

Okay, so you’ve automated your contact center with the latest applications and technology, trained your staff to be at their peak, and are serving your customers in a manner that is fast, thorough and full of customer conveniences–how do you know if it’s working? Measure and refine!

Measure the right data

Sounds simple, right? But it’s not. It’s very easy to have a misguided focus, measure the wrong things, or interpret data incorrectly. When it comes to metrics, there is a tendency in our industry to turn a disproportionate amount of focus inward on efficiency and cost reduction. Analyzing data only through this lens often results in shortsighted business decisions that can leave a lot of revenue on the table. For example, if your primary goal is to reduce the cost per contact center interaction, you can only drive a fixed amount of savings on your operating expenses. Sure, it’s important to run as efficiently as possible to maximize your profit margin, but if you look through the lens of the customer experience and prioritize increasing the Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)*, you can significantly grow revenue and profitability.

Focus on the customer experience

In the book Outside In**, the authors provide a great deal of evidence for a customer experience focused approach to metrics and continuous improvement. In their model, the foundation to customer perception lies in three critical areas:

  • Ensure the customer’s needs are met
  • Make the process easy
  • Provide an enjoyable experience

If you are able to obtain clear insight about your customer’s interactions with your products, people and automated systems in these three areas, you will be equipped with the data needed to make improvements that matter and to set business objectives that will enhance your customer’s experience. Organizations that implement improvements effectively based on customer insight gain competitive advantage, increase brand loyalty, and encourage repeat business; and that means increased CLV!

Take your cues from the voice of the customer

The best way to measure the customer experience is to go right to the source by employing customer experience surveys. Well-crafted surveys provide real-time data to evaluate new implementations, uncover trends, and detect changes in customer sentiment, allowing for swift organizational response. When crafting surveys, it is best to avoid open-ended questions that are difficult to quantify. Tie questions to measurable responses using multiple choice, ranking, or yes/no formats. Consider questions that focus on what they did and didn’t enjoy, which features were easy to use and which were not, how satisfied they were that their needs were met, and if their needs were met in a timely manner. Survey questions like these empower organizations to focus their resources more efficiently. Features and services that customers respond well to are validated and serve as models for future development, while areas that receive negative feedback are highlighted for improvement or elimination.

Continuous improvement is the engine that propels an organization securely into the future. In our series on enhancing the contact center, we’ve emphasized the importance of leveraging the latest technologies and self-service applications to increase customer satisfaction, fine tuning the contact center for improved profitability, and, finally, measuring the success of the contact center through the lens of the customer experience. With these tools in place, continuous improvement efforts are tethered to the customer, laying a solid foundation for effective business decisions that position an organization for sustained growth.

Schedule a consultation with one of our knowledgeable team members to learn more about how contact center automaton can improve customer satisfaction, increase profitability, and establish a foundation for more effective continuous improvement.

*    CLV is the net profit attributed to the entire future relationship with a customer.

**   Manning, Harley; Bodine, Kerry (2012-08-28). Outside In: The Power of Putting Customers at the Center of Your Business (pp. 10-11).