If a picture is worth a thousand words, what do billions of words look like? Here at Mattersight, we found out the answer to that question last month, when we analyzed our 100 millionth call center conversation of the year.
It wasn’t entirely pretty.
All that call analysis — of word choices, tone, tempo and speech patterns — painted a picture of serious disconnect between consumers and brands. Callers are frustrated. Agents are burned out. Needs aren’t being met on either ends of the phone line, and satisfaction and loyalty are suffering as a result.
But as often as call center conversations go wrong, we also heard what it sounds like when they go right. When it happens, it’s magic.
Here are 3 things our call center analytics revealed
about the current state of the call center:
1) Your customers don’t want what you’re trying to give them
Are you still following the old conventional wisdom about needing to “delight” customers? If so, stop. CEB blew that myth out of the water in The Effortless Experience, and our analysis backs up their findings.
What’s really delightful to a customer is having her problem solved quickly, in exactly the way she wants it solved. Everything that stands in the way of that satisfying resolution, however cheerful or well-intentioned, is a strike against a brand in the eyes of a customer. Which brings us to the fact that…
2) Your call center script probably isn’t working
Customers want to be treated like human beings. That means being treated by human beings. But there’s no denying the mechanical sameness of the language most call center agents are equipped with. Attempting to manage agent responses down to the syllable with a rigid script will almost always result in the kind of robotic interactions that drive your customers crazy – and may ultimately drive them away.
Don’t automate the conversation. Automate the connection. When two people with a natural inclination to click and bond are paired up, the conversation will take care of itself. And it’s far more likely to be a good one.
3) The suspense is killing you
Whether it’s in a hamburger, a hotel stay, or a customer service call, consumers crave predictability. Not knowing what kind of agent they might get, or how long a call will take, causes significant distress for most people before they even start dialing. And if the agent/caller personality connection isn’t a good one, that distress can be an impossible obstacle to overcome.
Get a clear picture of your agent performance variability, then act to reduce it. That could involve changes to your hiring practices, your call routing system, your coaching and training program, or a combination of all three. “Consistently pretty good” service is infinitely preferable to customers than “sometimes great but sometimes awful.”
You don’t have to analyze 100 million conversations to figure out what your customers really want. But you do have to listen. What are your customers (and for that matter, your agents) telling you — through their language and beyond it — about the quality of their experience with your brand? What can your call center do more of, less of, better or differently to give it to them?