Contact center metrics are certainly a valuable tool in assessing the efficiency and performance of your contact center but there are other, more subtle indicators of issues that are negatively affecting customer experience (CX) and they highlight the often-overlooked problem of bad process. The good news is that once you know what to look for, bad process is easy to identify and easy to fix.
Sign #1: Sticky Note Overload
Sticky notes are great for labeling food in your fridge or leaving yourself a personal reminder. They’re not great for guiding processes in your contact center. Every time your agent puts a sticky note up on his or her monitor, the agent is trying to fill the gaps in your processes because they simply just don’t know what to do. So, your agents use these sticky notes as a shortcut or a life raft (or maybe even a cry for help ????). Eventually, every agent has their own unmanageable set of sticky notes, resulting in non-uniformed processes across your contact center floor, leading to an unclear path to customer service success.
Sign #2: Extensive Knowledge Bases
Your organization has most likely put a lot of effort into documenting processes and making that documentation available to your agents in a knowledge base. In theory, the knowledge base is meant to guide your agents through every possible customer call so every issue is handled correctly every time. Unfortunately, every time an agent goes to the knowledge base, they have to search for the information they need, read through the instructions and interpret how best to proceed, most likely while your customer waits on hold. Even the most comprehensive knowledge bases are inefficient and increase the likelihood for error.
Sign #3: Binders and Folders
Keeping documentation of processes in binders, folders and other large documents causes the same kind of inefficiency and errors as knowledge bases and is another sign that there are breakdowns in your call center processes. Once again, agents are asked to search, read and interpret information for individual call scenarios, taking up time, leading to errors and making for a poor customer experience.
Sign #4: Agent Attrition
It is no secret that the job of a customer service agent is stressful and difficult. Not having clear processes for every call leads to unnecessary stress for your agents as they struggle to properly resolve customer issues without easy-to-follow directions. This stress leads to high turnover rates, which leads to a heavier workload on your remaining agents, creating a vicious cycle of unhappy employees.
There is a misconception that poor CX is the result of poor technology, insufficient technology or not enough training for the agents using it. But in reality great customer service and a thriving contact center is about creating clear, simple and unified processes for your agents to follow on every call. Giving your agents the right technology and clear processes ensures that your agents finish every call feeling confident, informed and stress-free and your customers walk away happier and satisfied.
Learn more about how to simplify your agent’s processes today!
