15 ways to handle a huge surge in contact volume

Two contact center leaders recently contacted me about the same issue. Their contact center was getting overwhelmed with volume.

Each faced multiple risks and worries.

• Long wait times increased complaints.

• Irritated customers were at risk of leaving.

• Overwhelmed contact center agents were at risk of quitting.

Staffing alone isn't the solution. It's hard to find and train qualified agents fast enough. More immediate actions are needed.

One manager faced the added challenge of getting executive support. It's tough to handle the surge if you don't have the authority to hire more agents or improve efficiency.

I've been there as a contact center manager. It's not fun.

Here is the advice I shared with the two leaders. It's sorted into immediate, short, and long-term actions. Each tactic has proven to be effective.

Immediate Actions

There are a few things that you can do right now to reduce your queues. These actions can make a significant dent in your volume. Some are counterintuitive, but trust me, they work.

#1 Stop showing agents the queue

Most contact centers let agents know how many customers are waiting. The idea is to let agents know when they need to work a little faster or put off taking a break.

What it actually does is generate more contact volume.

Agents spend less time calmling upset customers when they're in a hurry. Unfortunately, upset customers are more judgmental and less open to solutions. This makes calls take longer.

Listening skills are also degraded when we're in a rush. Poor listening means missed opportunities to fully solve problems and prevent future calls.

One client implemented this tactic, and the results were immediate:

#2 Focus agents on first contact resolution (FCR)

Stop showing real-time productivity data to agents, including average handle time, emails per hour, and chats per hour. Ask agents to focus on fully solving each customer's problem and preventing that customer from having to make a second contact.

Repeat contacts drive a lot of volume. One analysis I did showed that a contact center with an 80 percent FCR could get 23 percent of its call volume from repeat calls!

You don't have to create a convoluted FCR measurement. Just ask agents to forget about handle time and instead focus on politely and efficiently serving each customer. Contact center expert, Myra Golden, has some great call control tips that can help.

Now here's the strange thing. Contact centers that focus on FCR don't see an increase in handle time.

#3 Focus agents on one channel at a time

Small contact centers often have agents respond to emails in between phone calls. This causes both calls and emails to take longer, and agents are more likely to make mistakes.

Mistakes create additional contacts.

I've worked with multiple contact centers to run an experiment. Agents were separated into phone and email teams, and each team focused exclusively on that channel. In all cases, productivity and quality both went up.

You can still move agents between channels as needed. Just keep them focused on one channel at a time.

#4 Go into emergency mode

Do whatever you can to clear your queues in the short-term. Customers tend to contact companies multiple times when they are waiting, which creates a multiplier effect for your queue.

Here are a few things you can do:

1. Give your team extra hours.

2. Ask for help from other departments if feasible.

3. Prioritize live channels (phone, chat) over messaging (email, sms).

#5 Proactively update customers

Companies should generally respond to email within one hour. That’s hard to do if you prioritize live channels (see #4 above). When volumes soar, it's a good idea to share multiple messages to let customers know wait times are abnormally long.

This will reduce repeat contacts and avoid some contacts entirely.

For email and web tickets, set an autoresponder to let people know there's an unusually long response time. The message can also give customers additional options, including self-service and calling.

Resetting expectations will likely prevent far more contacts than it will cause.

Here are a few more ideas:

• Update your hold message.

• Add a banner to the contact or support page on your website.

• Post updates to your social media.

You can even create a web page that shows the status of various issues. For instance, my website is powered by Squarespace. Anytime something gets wonky, I first check status.squarespace.com for updates.

#6 Adjust schedules

It’s easy to lose sight of the basics in the heat of the moment. Make sure you've adjusted your schedule to meet demand.

Many small contact centers keep consistent schedules all year. It gives agents some stability, but it can also cause problems over time.

One client would get hammered with calls on Monday morning and then have agents sitting idle on Wednesday afternoon. Updating the schedule allowed the contact center to redistribute staffing levels to eliminate the queue without cutting hours.

Short-term Actions

The immediate actions above can have a dramatic impact on your queue. But sometimes volume surges continue. Here are a few more actions you can take to get ahead.

#7 Find the root cause

There’s a good chance a few specific things are driving a lot of your volume. Perhaps a defective product is frustrating customers, a marketing campaign is going bonkers, or world events are wrecking havoc on your supply chain.

Gather hard data when possible. That turns "we're getting a lot of calls" into "50 percent of our extra call volume is related to this confusing feature on our new product."

Hard data can get other departments to act.

#8 Fix self-service

Customers often try to solve simple problems on their own before contacting customer service. Look for fast fixes to self-service if your contact volume is driven by a lot of simple issues.

One counterintuitive solution is to make it easier for customers to contact a live agent. Many companies try to hide their contact information, but studies show customers feel more confident trying self-service if they know they can quickly contact someone to get help.

Another fix is to make answers easier to find.

For example, Dollar Shave Club found that 40 percent of its customer email volume could have been handled via self-service. It used a feature in its Zendesk customer service software called Answer Bot that made it easier for customers to locate self-help articles.

This small change prevented 5,000 emails per month.

#9 Document the cost

You can get more support from your boss or other departments by connecting high contact volumes and long wait times to financial metrics. Here are just a few things to consider:

• Are you losing agents because of high volume?

• Are you losing customers because of the volume?

• Are your goodwill costs (e.g. extra discounts, etc.) going up?

• Are your survey scores being hurt by high volumes?

• Are your servicing costs (overtime, outsourcing, etc.) going up?

Customer experience legend, Jeanne Bliss, shares some great advice for showing executives the money in this entertaining interview.

#10 Offer callbacks

Consider offering a callback service, such as Fonolo. These services allow customers to request a callback when an agent is available. You can even configure it so customers can schedule a callback at a later time.

Check out my interview with Fonolo CEO, Shai Berger, who explains how callback services can smooth out your queues.

#11 Reduce perceived wait time

We know that customers tend to get more aggravated the longer they wait, and aggravated customers are harder to serve. That makes contacts take longer.

You can soothe customers by making the wait seem shorter.

For instance, a looping hold message reinforces the feeling that you've been waiting on hold for a long time. You can make the wait seem shorter by changing your hold message to intersperse helpful updates with funny reminders or catchy music.

Here's a list of ways to reduce wait time perception.

#12 Hire temporary agents

Some contact centers can easily separate simple and challenging contacts. Some use a tiered support system. Others find email is easier for beginners because they can spend more time researching the answer, use templates to help craft a response, and have an experienced colleague check their work before sending.

This is a perfect opportunity to hire seasonal or temporary agents. You can quickly train them to focus on a few basic contacts, freeing up the rest of your team to focus on more complicated issues.

Long-term Actions

Contact centers eventually have to adjust to the new normal if high contact volumes persist. Here are a few long-term actions that can help.

#13 Start recruiting now

Hiring takes a long time. It can take several weeks to post a job, screen applicants, interview candidates, and make someone an offer.

Get ahead of the curve by starting your recruiting process now, even if you don't have any openings. Build a roster of interested candidates you can hire immediately once you get the green light to add agents.

#14 Improve new hire training

The average contact center agent takes 12 weeks to fully train. Years ago, I discovered a method to cut that time in half while getting better agent performance.

The secret is using scenario-based training.

Most contact centers train each agent skill independently. So agents learn how to use various software programs, how to interact with customers, product knowledge, and company procedures all as separate modules. But that's not how agents actually use those skills.

With scenario-based training, agents learn the job by following realistic scenarios. Scenarios start simple and get progressively more complicated, which reinforces core skills such as using software systems, customer service, and using the knowledge base to find answers.

The result is much faster training with better skill retention and on-the-job performance.

#15 Outsource some volume

Partnering with an outsourced contact center is one of the best ways to give your customer service team added flexibility. You can handle more volume spikes, ramp up faster, and even wind down programs more quickly.

Two of my favorites are Transparent BPO and Callzilla. Both are finalists for ICMI's 2021 best contact center outsourcer award.

Need More Help?

A huge spike in volume can feel overwhelming, but you don’t have to tackle it alone.

Find someone to help you out or just give you a fresh perspective. Reach out to trusted colleagues, advisors, and mentors. And you can always contact me.

Why your chatbot is talking customers out of doing business with you

I recently went online to check the status of a delayed order.

This should be an easy process in today's age. It wasn't. The company wasn't sharing any helpful information via it's ecommerce system.

So I went looking for live help.

The company's contact information was intentionally buried. I had to first navigate through an endless series of menus designed to deflect my question. None of the options were a match.

Finally, I found a chat button.

I clicked the button expecting to connect with a live agent. Instead, it connected me to a chatbot that didn't understand my question.

I know I'm not alone. We've all had frustrating experiences with chatbots. This is a growing problem for businesses.

Two recent studies from goMoxie reveal how chatbots are sending customers to the competition.

Your customers are struggling online

It's 2021. You'd think companies would have figured out how to make basic online interactions simple and reliable by now.

You'd be wrong.

One goMoxie study asked 1,056 consumers about their online banking experiences. A whopping 55 percent had recently struggled to complete basic tasks on their bank's website such as logging in, transferring money, or updating personal information.

The really infuriating thing for customers is when they try to contact their bank via phone, email, or chat, they are typically prompted with "did you know you can do that online?"

Another study asked 1,063 consumers about online retail experiences. It found that 42 percent were unable to complete a recent online transaction.

• 43 percent couldn't find necessary information

• 43 percent had difficulty navigating

• 36 percent received error messages

You might assume its older customers who experiences these issues. The goMoxie retail study found that all age groups experienced online challenges, with younger consumers reporting a higher percentage of problems.

Here's the scary part for businesses: 62 percent of customers abandoned the purchase after encountering the first struggle.

Only 26 percent contacted customer service. When they did, a chatbot was the last thing they wanted.

Your customers don't want to deal with a bot

Companies use chatbots to reduce costs by automating customer interactions. The problem is that customers don't want to deal with a bot.

This is not a new trend. A 2018 study from PwC found that 71 percent of Americans would rather interact with a human than a chatbot.

The goMoxie banking survey discovered that 60 percent of banking customers don't trust bots to communicate their issues effectively. One third said chatbots weren't able to answer their questions.

Where do chatbots land on consumers list of preferred channels? According to goMoxie’s retail study, it’s last.

The explanation is simple. When a customer experiences an ecommerce problem, contacting a live support agent is the customer's way of escalating the problem.

Making customers deal with a chatbot is like telling a customer "No, you can't speak to my supervisor."

How to provide a better customer experience (cost-effectively)

Let's go back to the reason companies use chatbots. The idea is that chatbots are cheaper than a live agent, so therefore chatbots are cheaper.

Are they?

How cheap is that chatbot if it costs you a customer?

How cheap is that chatbot if a customer gets so frustrated, they end up speaking to a live agent anyway? And that live agent has to spend twice as long solving the problem because the customer is now angry?

There is a better solution.

First, fix chronic ecommerce issues. This seems simple, yet we know the problems are widespread. And I can tell you executives aren't taking this seriously.

One executive was dismissive of his company's confusing website. Each day, dozens of customers had the same question about a basic function.

The executive derided the customers as lazy and stupid.

While the answer to the question might have been obvious to him, he completely missed another obvious answer. A simple fix would prevent dozens of daily complaints.

Second, make it easier for customers to connect to a live human when they need help.

Oddly enough, making it easy to reach a human gives customers more confidence in the self-service options you provide. They're more likely to use self-service and feel good about it when they know help is readily available if they need it.

How Elephants Delicatessen wins customers with a great brand promise

Advertising disclosure: This blog participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.

Dining out quickly loses its luster when you travel for work.

Several years ago, I had a long-term consulting project in Portland, Oregon. I'd fly in on a Monday, work crazy hours, and then fly home at the end of the week. I did this every week for several months.

Dining out for three meals a day makes it difficult to get proper nutrition. I needed to find a solution.

Fortunately, I discovered Elephants Delicatessen.

The Elephants brand promise is "Great local foods from scratch since 1979." That's exactly what it delivered—offering me a chance to get a tasty, healthy meal on the go.

I recently interviewed Cheyenne Terbrueggen, Marketing Communications Manager at Elephants to learn how the company keeps its brand promise and wins fans like me.

Here are a few of the questions that Terbrueggen answered. I've included the point in the interview where she answered it.

• What makes a good brand promise? (1:51)

• How can a brand promise help employees? (4:21)

• How does a brand promise influence your marketing message? (9:40)

• What makes a brand promise attractive to customers? (12:09)

• How does a brand promise influence product decisions? (17:24)

You can watch the full interview or read the highlights below.

What makes a good brand promise?

Terbrueggen explained that the brand promise encapsulates everything that Elephants does in one simple, straightforward sentence.

Great local foods from scratch since 1979.

"When you put it all together, it's basic and it's straightforward, and it's friendly--all things that we want to be."

The first part, great local foods, reflects the company's commitment to sourcing fresh ingredients from the community.

"Ninety percent of our main suppliers are located within 200 miles of our stores," explained Terbrueggen.

The second part, from scratch, communicates that the food is home-made and reinforces the feeling of fresh, healthy, and tasty.

"We make everything ourselves," said Terbrueggen. "Everything you eat is something that we've made."

Finally, adding 1979 shows that Elephants has been doing it for a very long time. The company isn't just trying to be trendy—they've made a real commitment.

Terbrueggen referred to the brand promise as a tagline throughout the interview, since it plays such a prominent role in Elephants' marketing. Notice how it's clearly communicated on the company's home page.

Terbrueggen admitted there is often an impulse to change the brand promise. When she was first hired, she was asked to come up with some alternatives. Terbrueggen came up with several ideas, but none were as authentic and impactful as the existing one.

"As many times as I've tried to come up with a better tagline that states what we do, I just can't."

Hear more on this topic at 1:51 in the interview.

How can a brand promise help employees?

Many people think of a brand promise as something that's exclusively for marketing. Yet employees are the keepers of that promise.

"It's important for the consumer, it is," said Terbrueggen. "But we have 250 employees. And I can tell you that they all know our tagline."

A good brand promise functions as a company's customer experience vision. This is a shared definition of an outstanding experience that gets all employees on the same page.

At Elephants, the brand promise helps employees understand what they do and guides their daily work.

Terbrueggen explained that it's often used as a way to simplify all that the company does into one simple message. "We do so many things, it's nice to have a really descriptive, straightforward tagline."

New employees learn about the tagline in their initial training. They hear multiple leaders talk about it, and what it means. It then becomes an integral part of their jobs.

This discussion starts at 4:21 in the interview.

How can a brand promise simplify your marketing message?

Many marketers confide that crafting the right message is a struggle. Companies offer so many products and services to many different types of customers.

Sometimes, it can be difficult to distill that down to one clear message.

Terbrueggen explained that she always comes back to the tagline whenever there's any doubt. It helps answer the question, "When there's so much to say, what's the one thing I should say?"

Elephants has run advertisements that focus exclusively on the tagline. Executives reference it as talking points during interviews. It even influences product decisions.

"Everything we do that's important for people to know is in the tagline," said Terbrueggen.

Go to the 9:40 mark to hear more.

How can a great brand promise attract more customers?

This was a fun segment of the interview, because it gave me a chance to tell Terbrueggen why I'm a fan of Elephants.

Customers ultimately buy products and services to help them solve a problem. A good brand promise speaks clearly to a specific problem a customer is trying to solve.

As a business traveler, the problem I needed to solve was to get a healthy, tasty meal on the go. I didn't want another heavy meal weighing me down. Elephants solved that problem nicely, and I ate there regularly.

One important side note is that I discovered Elephants through word-of-mouth. My clients routinely ordered lunch from Elephants, so I got to experience the quality myself.

Companies that have a strong brand promise make it easier for existing customers to refer the company to new customers. They can use the brand promise to help describe what makes the company special.

Listen to the full discussion at 12:09.

How does a brand promise influence product decisions?

Customer-focused companies often take a cross-functional approach to creating new products and services. The goal is to create something that customers will not only love, but that the company is capable of consistently delivering.

In my book, The Guaranteed Customer Experience, I profiled multiple companies like Osprey Packs, Domino's, and Briggs & Riley that involve marketing, repairs, customer service, and other departments when developing new products.

The same is true at Elephants, where marketing, chefs, and procurement work together to create menu items. Ultimately, the availability of fresh, local ingredients determines whether or not a menu item can be offered.

"We wanted to do strawberry muffins this week but we can't, because we can't get great strawberries," said Terbruggen. "We can get good blueberries right now, so we're doing blueberry sour cream muffins instead."

Elephants regularly changes its menu to ensure it's keeping its promise of providing fresh local foods from scratch.

"We'd rather do that than purchase something that's not fresh and local," said Terbrueggen. "We have to be guided by what's available and what our suppliers have."

More on this at the 17:24 mark in the interview.

Take Action

First, make sure you visit Elephants the next time you are in Portland.

If you can't make it to Portland anytime soon, check out the Elephants website. Notice how the tagline is clearly communicated. (You can also order gift boxes!)

Next, discuss these questions with your team to implement these concepts in your own organization:

• What is our brand promise?

• Do we communicate it clearly to our customers?

• Do we communicate it clearly to employees?

• How can we be sure our employees know the brand promise?

• What do we do to ensure our brand promise is kept?

This last one is just for fun.

Portlandia, a TV show that poked fun at many of Portland's eccentricities, had this wonderful sketch about the importance of food being truly local.

How to write customer service procedures your employees will love

Updated: July 3, 2023

Customer service managers write a lot of procedures.

The big challenge is getting employees to follow them. Employees forget. They get confused. Sometimes, they just don't wanna.

This creates consequences.

Customer experience becomes inconsistent. Service quality erodes. The manager has to spend extra time fixing problems.

There is a simple solution. Here's a five step process for writing customer service procedures your employees will love. (And actually follow.)

Step one: Clarify the goal

Start by making it clear why you want employees to follow a procedure. Help them understand the "why" behind it.

These questions can help:

• What are the benefits of following the procedure?

• What are the consequences of not following the procedure??

• How does the procedure connect to the bigger picture?

A hotel parking operator was in danger of losing its contract with the hotel because valet parking attendants failed to consistently follow service procedures. The hotel used mystery shoppers to evaluate its operations, and the valets had earned a string of poor reports.

The manager used a simple strategy to turn things around.

He called a team meeting and revealed that the contract was in jeopardy. The valets had not known the client was unhappy. Now they knew the stakes involved in following procedures.

Next, the manager started sharing each mystery shopper report with the team. He posted them on a bulletin board in the office so they could see exactly how they were performing.

The scores instantly improved and the contract was saved.

Step two: Get input

Procedures that are ineffective, confusing, or cumbersome can frustrate employees. Avoid this problem by involving employees in the development process.

Associates at one retailer struggled to follow procedures for building product displays. The procedures were written by employees at the corporate office who assembled the displays in a conference room rather than in a store. As a result, they often missed critical steps or underestimated how much time it would take to create a new display.

Micah Peterson, VP of Product Management at ProcedureFlow, recommends having key stakeholders walk through a procedure and record each step they take.

"Mapping out the experience of senior colleagues, trainers, and policy creators in a visual way gives new users immediate access to expert knowledge. It's like having them right beside you, guiding you along!"

For the retailer, that meant having store employees build an in-store display and documenting the actual steps they took.

PDCA is a tool that can help you create more effective procedures. It’s an acronym that outlines four steps:

1. Plan. Get employee input on an initial procedure.

2. Do. Test the procedure on a limited basis.

3. Check. Verify whether the procedure works as intended.

4. Adjust. Make changes to improve the procedure before sharing it with everyone.

Step three: Write clearly

Employees are often in a hurry when following a procedure, so it's important to make procedures easy to understand and follow.

"You must write them in plain language," says Leslie O'Flahavan, owner of E-WRITE.

"That means you have to use terms even new employees will understand and make the steps easy to see and follow. When it comes to procedures, plain language means answering employees’ questions: What should I do? In what order? And where do I get more help if I need it?"

Imagine a new customer service employee on the phone with a customer, trying to explain how to return an item. They find the return procedure to guide them.

This procedure would be hard to follow:

Ascertain the reason the customer wishes to make the return. Click on the drop-down menu and select the return code that most closely fits the customer's expressed reason for making the return. Verify that the customer's email address is accurate or otherwise enter their address in the email field and click on the button marked “RETURN.” Inform the customer that you will be emailing them instructions to facilitate the return. Explain that they should take the return to the nearest UPS store and show the clerk the return email, which can either be printed out or shown on their smartphone. Inform the customer that the UPS employee will package the return and ship it back to us.

Big words, long sentences, and a lack of formatting would make that procedure difficult to read. Here's the same procedure with a few improvements:

1. Ask the reason for the return.

2. Select the best return code from the drop-down menu.

3. Confirm or add the customer's email address.

4. Press the "RETURN" button.

5. Tell the customer a return email is on its way.

6. Ask the customer to bring their return and the email to the nearest UPS store. (They can print the email, or show it on their phone.)

7. Ask them to show the email to a UPS employee who will take care of the rest!

Get more writing tips from O'Flahavan's excellent LinkedIn Learning course, Writing in Plain Language.

Step four: Make it accessible

Procedures should be easy for employees to quickly access when they need them. They shouldn't have to search through endless email updates or decide which version of the procedure is the most accurate.

Tracy O'Rourke, Co-Founder of the Just-in-Time Cafe, suggests creating job aids.

"Job aids help make procedures accessible, simple, and easy to understand. A guideline for the job aids is to use as many pictures as possible. Pictures are easier to process than long text documents."

Employees in a small office had trouble remembering the procedure for greeting visitors when the receptionist was absent or on a break. The solution was putting a small job aid at the front counter that illustrated the three step procedure.

Some jobs require employees to be aware of multiple procedures.

A great option is to create a knowledge base that puts all procedures in one searchable directory. Knowledge bases work well in contact centers or other places where employees work from a computer.

One company sold products to local governments. Each government customer had a complex set of procedures for verifying, shipping, and billing orders. A knowledge base made it easy for employees to quickly access each customer's requirements without skipping a beat!

Step five: Reinforce procedures

It's easy to develop bad habits if good ones aren't reinforced. Review procedures with your team on a regular basis to make sure they are following them.

One hotel was getting a lot of guest complaints about room cleanliness.

An inspection revealed rooms weren’t being cleaned correctly. The hotel had a proven procedure, but housekeepers didn’t have the right cleaning supplies on their carts. This made it impossible for the procedure to be followed.

It was an easy fix. The right supplies were provided and the cleaning procedure was reviewed with the team. Cleanliness complaints dropped as housekeepers began following the correct procedure again.

Conclusion

Proven procedures allow you to provide a more consistent customer experience. You can take it to the next level by offering an experience guarantee.

Guarantees can help you:

1. Earn new business

2. Win repeat business

3. Prevent lost business

The Guaranteed Customer Experience provides a step-by-step guide.

Download the first chapter to learn how a convenience store chain earns four times as many customers per location than their competitors by promising clean restrooms.

Three easy ways to develop empathy super powers

The webinar software wasn't working.

An important client was paying me to facilitate a virtual session for its employees. The client had juggled a lot of schedules to make sure everyone could attend. A lot was riding on this.

I could feel a rising sense of anxiety. There was less than 30 minutes before the webinar started.

To my surprise, a friendly employee quickly answered my technical support call. To my greater surprise, she expertly diagnosed and resolved the problem without first insisting on asking me 50 irrelevant questions.

Then, she did something shocking.

"I know your webinar is about to start," she said. "I'm going to stay on the line with you for a few minutes. I think we've fixed everything, but I'll be right here just in case something goes wrong."

Wow.

Empathy like this doesn't always come easily. Here's how to help your team develop empathy super powers.

What is empathy?

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines empathy this way:

the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner

Yeah, it’s a mouthful. It means we understand how another person is feeling.

In customer service, we take this definition a bit further. Empathy means understanding the negative emotions your customer is experiencing and taking action to help them feel better.

The technical support rep sensed that I was anxious about the webinar. Fixing the issue gave me a strong sense of relief. The rep offered to stay on the phone to provide reassurance that everything was now working.

Customer service managers tell me empathy is the top skill they hire for.

Why is empathy important in customer service?

Customers have two types of basic needs: rational and emotional.

• Rational needs: what a customers needs us to do

• Emotional needs: how a customer wants to feel

When I frantically contacted technical support, my rational need was getting the webinar software to work properly. My emotional need was to get relief from the anxiety the issue was causing me.

I needed to be in a positive state of mind to facilitate a great session for my client.

Customer service employees are trained to detect rational needs, but it’s rare that employees are taught to listen for emotional needs.

That’s a mistake, because emotional needs are more important. This short video explains more.

Tending to emotional needs from Working with Upset Customers by Jeff Toister

How to develop customer empathy skills

Empathizing with someone else requires you to have had a similar or relatable experience so you can understand how they are feeling.

The secret to becoming great at empathy is to tap into your own experiences, or add new ones, that will help you better understand your customer's emotions. Once you do this, empathy becomes much easier.

Here are three techniques you can use.

Technique #1: Be your own customer

Spend some time being a customer of the company you work for so you understand exactly how it feels to be in your customers' shoes.

• Use your product or service

• Visit a physical location as a customer

• Contact your company’s customer service department

Employees at REI are very empathetic because they tend to be outdoor enthusiasts, just like their customers. They understand the anticipation and anxiety of preparing for a big camping trip or a mountain climbing expedition because they do it themselves.

Support agents at the customer service software company, Zendesk, use Zendesk to support their customers. This helps them understand exactly what their customers are experiencing.

My own Customer Service Tip of the Week email goes out to thousands of subscribers, including me. This lets me see each new email exactly how everyone else sees it.

Technique #2: Interview customers

You might work in an industry where it's not easy to become a customer. In this case, an alternative way to develop empathy is to interview customers.

For instance, when clients want to hire me as a keynote speaker for an event, I often ask them several additional questions:

• What is the overall theme of the event?

• What is the importance of this event to you?

• What would make this event a successful one?

I also conduct interviews with several people who will be in the audience, so I can learn more about their perspective on the topic I’ll be covering.

Legal practice management software maker, Clio, had its employees conduct in-depth interviews with at least one customer. This provided people in a wide variety of roles, from accounts payable to product development, with a new perspective on their customers.

Technique #3: Find relatable experiences

Another great technique is to search your memory for experiences that created feelings similar to what your customer is experiencing.

Here's how it works:

1. Pick a specific situation where a customer had strong emotions.

2. Identify what emotions the customer was feeling.

3. Try to imagine why the customer felt that way.

4. Imagine a situation when you had the same feelings.

5. Think about what you could do to make the customer feel better.

I once witnessed an airline gate agent masterfully use this technique to calm down an irate passenger who had missed her flight. It's a great story.

Empathy Resources

You'll find a lot of a great examples of customer-focused companies that help employees empathize in The Service Culture Handbook.

Beware of empathizing too often with too many customers. Empathy fatigue is real, and it causes us to lose our ability to care about others. Here are some ideas to avoid it.

You can also see empathy in action and get more ideas from this short video.

Empathize with customers from Customer Service Foundations by Jeff Toister

The surprising reasons why you should not try to wow customers

Advertising disclosure: This blog participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

"We're working on ways to Wow our customers."

It's a message I receive from a lot of subscribers to the Customer Service Tip of the Week, my free weekly email.

My surprising advice?

Forget about wow. Focus on being consistently good instead.

I first learned this lesson from a mentor many years ago. His advice helped me understand there were at least three problems with constantly striving to go the extra mile.

Here's why consistently good is so much better.

What is a customer service wow?

Wow customer service is an experience that exceeds the customer's expectations. It might literally leave them saying, "Wow," or create such a positive impression that they can't wait to tell their friends about it.

There are three basic outcomes in any customer service interaction:

• Good service is when the experience meets expectations.

• Poor service is when the experience falls short of expectations.

• Great service is when the experience exceeds expectations.

It's the customer who ultimately decides if service is good, poor, or great. The big challenge is individual customers have different expectations. So a wow for one customer might be ho-hum for another.

There are a few more caveats that you can learn about in this short video.

Define outstanding customer service from Customer Service Foundations by Jeff Toister

Three problems with trying to wow customers

Trying to wow customers sounds good in theory, but in practice is can cause several problems and ultimately lead to service failures. Here are three of the most common.

1. High chance of failure

A group of coworkers took their boss to a fancy restaurant to celebrate the boss's upcoming retirement. They called the restaurant ahead of time and ordered a cake to be brought out for dessert.

The restaurant host, eager to wow, agreed to arrange for the cake to be made and delivered for dessert. This wasn’t part of the restaurant’s normal procedure, so it involved going the extra mile to order the cake and make sure the server delivered it to the table for dessert.

Unfortunately, the cake never got made. The coworkers discovered the problem when the unsuspecting server presented the table with dessert menus after the meal.

What was supposed to be a big surprise turned into a big disappointment.

Going for a wow involves risk. Stretching to delight a customer can cause the basics to get overlooked. There's a good chance that trying to wow a customer will backfire and cause a service failure.

You can see wow-induced service failures in other places.

A contact center agent spent extra time on the phone with each customer, building rapport and answering every question. Many customers ended the phone call feeling like they had just had a long chat with an old friend.

And it was a long chat. Other customers had to spend extra time waiting on hold because the agent took twice as long per call as her peers.

Here's one more example.

A car wash decided to surprise customers with free air freshener, which was normally an add-on item. This backfired and annoyed customers who didn't like the smell!

2. Today’s wow is tomorrow’s expectation

The online retailer, Zappos, faced this challenge. It used to "Wow" customers by automatically upgrading ground shipping to two-day air. Customers would be wowed when they got their orders faster than expected.

Regular customers soon came to expect their orders to be upgraded to two-day air. This left them no incentive to pay the extra fee customers would normally pay.

A wow loses its impact the second time you do it. It becomes something customers expect because you've done it before. Now you have to do something different to wow customers again.

You might even upset customers if you don’t do it.

A hardware store offered customers free bags of popcorn. It was a conversation starter and a nice treat until one day the popcorn machine was gone. Customers were upset to learn the hardware store didn’t have the necessary health permits to serve food and were required to stop giving away popcorn.

One of my favorite stories about a wow backfiring comes from my book, Getting Service Right:

Steve was the parking operations manager for a large sports stadium. One day, he bought donuts for his employees as a way to recognize their hard work and great customer service. The donuts were such a hit that he bought them again before the next game. This soon became a tradition, and Steve brought in dozens of donuts every time there was an event.

Steve's employees were initially delighted by the donuts, but they soon learned to expect them every time. Some employees got discouraged if they didn't get their favorite variety, while others got upset with coworkers who made off with more than their fair share. A few employees even complained that they only received donuts but never bagels or other pastries.

The end result for Zappos, the hardware store, and Steve, is the impact of the wow was lost once the wow became an expectation.

3. Wow doesn't pay

You've probably heard a customer proclaim they've become a customer for life after being wowed. What might surprise you is this rarely happens. Customers who are wowed are no more loyal than customers who just get good service.

Matt Dixon co-authored a book called The Effortless Experience that shared the results of research Dixon and his colleagues conducted. They discovered that it doesn't pay to surprise and delight customers.

You can hear Dixon describe the findings himself in this interview.

Why consistently good is the new wow

Customers do business with companies they trust. The best way to build trust is to be consistently good. That means doing what you say you will do, every time.

In-N-Out Burger is my favorite fast food chain.

Most people who try an In-N-Out burger for the first time agree it's pretty good. It's not a life-changing, world-altering, epiphany-inducing experience. It's pretty darn good.

Where In-N-Out wins legions of loyal fans is it's remarkable consistency. Its burgers really are better than most other fast food burgers. Employees are consistently cheerful and friendly, and the facilities are consistently clean.

And unlike most fast food places, In-N-Out consistently gets my order right. In fact, after going 1-2 times per month for over 20 years, I can only count two mistakes.

One was a leaf of lettuce on my burger (I prefer no lettuce). The other was four orders of fries when I had ordered two. (Yay, extra fries!)

That type of consistency is absolutely incredible.

Think about the businesses you know and love. There's a good chance they consistently do something very well.

Resources

Are you ready to begin your quest for consistently good? Here are a few resources that can help you get there.

Customer Service Tip of the Week: Anyone can sign up to receive these weekly tips. They're designed to help you keep your skills sharp by reminding you about the fundamentals.

Customer Service Foundations: Build your customer service skills with this course on LinkedIn Learning. It covers all you need to know to consistently deliver good service.

The Guaranteed Customer Experience: This book is a guide to winning and retaining customers simply by keeping your promises.

Why one-way video interviews are a bad way to hire

There's a new hiring tool on the rise, and candidates aren't happy.

Hiring managers are increasingly using asynchronous video interviews to screen job applicants. These are one-way interviews where candidates are given a short time to record their answers to pre-set interview questions.

Recruiters then review the videos at a later time.

According to this article from CBC, video interview platforms such as HireVue, Knockri, and VidCruiter saw dramatic increases in volume during 2020. Employers are rapidly adopting this technique.

One-way video promises efficiency and cost savings for employers, but there is also a huge downside that many fail to consider.

One-way video interviews might be turning away top talent.

How do one-way video interviews help employers?

One-way video interviews promise to save recruiters time, speed up the selection process, and reduce biases against qualified applicants.

In a typical recruiting process, qualified candidates are selected from the initial applicant pool. These candidates then go through a short pre-screen interview with a recruiter. The goal is to narrow down the field and identify the top candidates to bring in for formal interviews.

It can take a lot of time for the recruiter to coordinate schedules with applicants and conduct each phone interview.

One-way video interviews eliminate this time-consuming step, allowing multiple applicants to quickly complete this phase of the selection process on their own time. Video interviews also have the potential to create a fairer, more consistent process since each candidate responds to exactly the same questions.

What do candidates say about one-way video interviews?

I posted the question on LinkedIn and received quite a few responses. You can read the full conversation here.

Many people said they would not consider a company that required a one-way video interview.

"That right there shows me that I wouldn't want to work for that company," said Stephanie Persic, a customer service representative. "They can't even take the time to meet with me one-on-one so that we can gauge each other."

"Hell no," said Mark-Allen Perry, a technical project manager.

"When I was going through the interview process, I skipped over any companies that sent me these one-way video interviews," added Nick Poetsch, a project manager. "It's very impersonal."

Others reported a frustrating and awkward experience.

"It was appallingly managed and the worst interview experience I've ever had," said Fiona Barker, a change management leader. Barker explained that the request for a video interview came with no instructions on how to use the system and there wasn't an opportunity to practice or re-record answers if something went wrong.

"I did email the company with feedback on the process," said Barker. "They didn't bother to reply."

Lilly Obina, a senior project leader, described a stressful and time-consuming process. "You have to find a quiet room, look for lights especially for dark skinned folks like me. You need a great device to tape so it produces good quality video which was very expensive for me considering every penny counts when you have no job. Answering the questions are very stressful because you have to think of your answer, think of the short time you have and when recording around other people who are helping out to hold camera and lighting, you end up somehow disorganized."

Vanessa Penick, an alumni relations specialist, found it difficult to be authentic. "It was awkward and I was focused too much on what I looked like and how I sounded, vs really trying to connect with a person, be myself, and answer truthfully. I am a very personable person. How can you determine that with a one-way interview?"

Jasonda Desmond, an instructional designer, wrote that the experience was so bad that she would likely not apply to companies in the future that used one-way interviews. "I've done one of these as an interviewee and I hated it. It took me 2x the time to record as it would have to do the interview live. Some of the questions were vague and I couldn't ask for clarification."

The employee selection process is a reflection of your company's culture. While one-way interviews might save a little time, it's clear that many applicants are getting a strong negative impression from their experience.

Any cost savings is negated if you lose out on highly qualified candidates who won’t work for your company.

What are alternatives to one-way video interviews?

There are a few things companies can do to recruit more efficiently while maintaining a positive impression with applicants.

1. Create an ideal candidate profile

You can save a lot of time by creating an ideal candidate profile. This tool helps you fine-tune the qualifications you're looking for in a candidate.

Many companies rely on outdated selection criteria or biased assessments to vet candidates. The unfortunate result is many great candidates are excluded while too many unqualified applicants make it to the next round of interviews.

An ideal candidate profile can fix this by homing in on the qualifications successful candidates actually need. The process includes eliminating unnecessary qualifications and validating the criteria to make sure the model is accurate.

One client had a critical position open for months and struggled to find the right person. After creating an ideal candidate profile, they found an amazing hire in just a few days!

2. Develop consistent interview questions

Inconsistent, irrelevant, or inappropriate interview questions can hurt your selection process whether you're using a live recruiter or one-way video.

Some recruiters doggedly believe they can assess an applicant’s fit by having an informal conversation. The opposite is true. Research shows companies would make better hires if they skipped the interview altogether rather than rely on informal conversations.

Interviews can still play an important role in the selection process, but you must ask a consistent set of carefully-designed questions. The good news is you can quickly develop better interview questions with a few simple steps.

3. Focus on fit over skills

Many of the skills that employees need on the job are trainable. Finding the right fit with your workplace culture is the real challenge.

There are some potential pitfalls here. Without the appropriate safeguards, trying to hire for culture fit can lead to lower quality candidates and even illegal discrimination.

Do this right, and you'll attract a diverse group of amazing employees. Just follow this step-by-step guide.

Conclusion

A good interview process should help you attract highly-qualified employees.

Julianne Bennett, a public relations intern, passed on several companies that required one-way video interviews. "I ended up landing an opportunity with an in-person interview. For me, the energy of an in-person interview can't be beat by software."

How to fix customer experience by keeping your promises

Domino’s helped me survive college.

My school had a deal with the local Domino’s franchise where you could use your meal plan to order a pizza. The meal plan even covered the delivery driver’s tip.

It was way too convenient for a student who was strapped for cash.

To say I ordered a lot of Domino’s was an understatement. I ordered A LOT of pizza. And when I wasn’t ordering Domino’s, my friends were. Or my classmates when we were working on a project.

By the time I graduated, I needed a break.

Recently, I ordered Domino’s for old time sake. It appeared on my doorstep like a long-lost friend and we spent some time getting reacquainted.

A lot had happened over the years.

The following is an excerpt from The Guaranteed Customer Experience: How to Win Customers by Keeping Your Promises. The book launched on March 23 and is available on Amazon and BookPal.

Business looked bleak for Domino's in early 2009.

The 2008 fiscal year had been tough for the chain of pizza restaurants. Revenue was down 2.6 percent from the prior year. The company relies heavily on franchise operators, yet it had a net decrease of 108 franchises in the United States. An audit revealed that 12 percent of the company's 1,200 franchise locations worldwide were chronically underperforming.

The company's problems continued to grow as the year went on. In April 2009, a video of two franchise employees defiling customer orders went viral. Among other disgusting acts, one employee was filmed putting cheese in his nose before putting it on a sandwich. The video led to the employees' arrests and a lot of grossed-out customers.

Customers were already widely dissatisfied with the quality of Domino's pizza. In a 2009 consumer survey conducted by research firm Brand Keys, the company tied Chuck E. Cheese for worst-tasting pizza among the major pizza chains in the United States.

The company's problems can be traced to a string of broken promises. Think about what you expect when you order a pizza for delivery: the pizza will arrive on time, taste good, and look like the pizza you ordered.

Domino's initially built its reputation around fast delivery. Until 1993, the company had offered a "30 minutes or less guarantee" on deliveries. The original guarantee promised customers a free pizza if it wasn't delivered within 30 minutes of placing their order. The guarantee was later changed to give customers $3 off their total.

The guarantee had many critics, as delivery drivers were accused of driving recklessly in order to meet the 30-minute promise. Domino's finally eliminated it in 1993 after facing two high-profile lawsuits when one delivery driver killed a motorist in a crash, and a second delivery driver severely injured another in a separate incident.

Fifteen years later, the company discovered an innovative way to set delivery expectations. In early 2008, Domino's rolled out the Pizza Tracker™, an online tool allowing customers to track their pizza from the time it was ordered until it was delivered to their door. The tool also included a way for customers to submit feedback about their order—feedback that went straight to the store manager.

The Pizza Tracker™ might have helped Domino's do a better job of keeping its delivery promises, but the company still failed to keep its basic promise of serving high-quality pizza. Domino's CEO, Patrick Doyle, admitted some years later, "When we did consumer tests, if they knew the pizza was Domino’s, they actually liked it less than if they just thought it was a random unbranded pizza."

In late 2009, the company offered a mea culpa in a new advertising campaign. One video produced by the company shared blunt feedback from customer focus groups and surveys. "Where's the love?" asked one customer featured in the video. "There doesn't feel like there's much love in Domino's pizza." Another customer said, "Domino's pizza crust, to me, is like cardboard."

Doyle directly addressed the feedback in that same video. "You can either use negative comments to get you down, or you can use them to excite you and energize your process of making a better pizza. We did the latter."

That video, and other Domino's commercials released during the ad campaign, offered customers a new promise. The company had listened to customer feedback and extensively reworked its recipes. Domino's promised its pizza was actually good again!

The promise of better-tasting pizza was real, and customers took notice. Domino's attracted positive publicity for its better-tasting pizza, and customers were increasingly willing to give it another try. Same-store sales rose 14 percent in the first three months of 2010.

There was one more broken promise that Domino's took aim at fixing. The pizzas shown in commercials and other advertising were not how a pizza really looked when it showed up at your doorstep.

A video released by Domino's in July 2010 showed a behind-the-scenes look at how pizza commercials were filmed. People dubbed "food stylists" used an array of tricks to make the pizza look better on camera. Pepperoni slices were hand-cut and painstakingly arranged to make the slices look evenly distributed. Torches crisped the edge of the crust and heated the cheese to make it stringier. Hidden screws secured the pizza to a board, so the rest of the pizza would stay in place when a hand model pulled out a slice.

The company announced it would begin using photos of real pizzas in its advertising. It launched a "Show Us Your Pizza" campaign, inviting customers to submit their own photos of Domino's pizzas.

CEO Patrick Doyle addressed one poor-looking photo in a commercial. A customer submitted a picture of a Domino's pizza with its toppings stuck to the underside of the box lid, as if the pizza had been squished inside the box. "This is not acceptable," said Doyle. "You shouldn't have to get this from Domino's. We're better than this."

Doyle then reiterated the company's commitment to keeping promises. "I'm Patrick Doyle. I'm the CEO of this company. We're not gonna fail. We're not gonna deliver pizzas like this. I guarantee it."

All these changes aimed at keeping promises paid off. By the end of 2010, revenue had increased 12 percent after two straight years of declines. The company continued to grow. And in 2018, Domino's finally surpassed its longtime rival, Pizza Hut, in total sales in the United States.

Read the rest of the story

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The one customer insight you absolutely must know

Sometimes, you just get lucky.

Years ago, I became the membership director for the San Diego chapter of the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD San Diego). It's a nonprofit professional association for corporate trainers.

Membership grew 67 percent over the course of my two year term.

It might surprise you to learn we didn't resort to any traditional tactics:

• Lower our prices

• Offer new member discounts

• Run a membership drive

What we did instead was leverage one specific insight to retain members and grow via word-of-mouth.

I discovered this insight by luck. Later, I discovered it’s applicable across a wide range of industries. It's now the cornerstone of my new book, The Guaranteed Customer Experience.

I'll share that insight in a moment. But first, let's look at why so many companies struggle to win and retain customers.

Why companies struggle to grow

In the simplest terms, companies grow by adding more customers than they lose. If you lose one customer, you need to add at least two new customers to post a net gain.

Lose too many customers, and growth becomes insanely difficult.

ASTD San Diego had lost 25 percent of its members over the past year when I became membership director. Even worse, the chapter was almost out of cash.

There was a palpable desperation amongst the leadership team.

Many of my colleagues wanted to offer a membership discount. Some argued we should offer a discount to new members while others felt we should offer a discount to existing members to entice them to renew.

I made a surprising counter-proposal: raise our dues.

It might seem strange to raise prices when you're losing members, but I had good data to back it up.

First, our dues were already lower than comparable professional associations. An additional discount would only cheapen the perceived value of a membership.

Second, we weren't losing members due to price.

I knew this because I had called every person who chose not to renew their membership in the past year. I also contacted everyone whose membership was expiring within the next 60 days.

My calls revealed exactly why so many members were leaving.

What you need to know about your customers

Business leaders have a lot of data, but they don't always know what to look for. There's one particular insight that can make all the difference.

What problem is your customer trying to solve?

This insight was popularized by Clayton Christensen. Customers don't purchase a product or service, Christensen argued. They hire a product or service to solve a problem.

For example, millions of people choose Amazon when they want a fast and convenient way to get nearly any product delivered.

Starbucks wins customers by making it easy to get a consistently good cup of coffee.

People join professional associations like ASTD San Diego because they want to grow in their careers. The chapter was losing members because it wasn't addressing that problem:

1. It lacked programs and other opportunities for career growth.

2. When interesting programs were promoted, they often failed to be as good as advertised.

A lack of value was the same reason the chapter struggled to recruit new members.

It didn’t matter what we charged members. Heck, we could make membership free! People wouldn’t join the chapter unless we promised to help them grow in their career.

This insight provided a clear path for our leadership team.

How to fuel customer-driven growth

Addressing the problem your customer is trying to solve is the key to growth. You win customers by promising to solve their problem. You retain them when you prove you can keep your promises.

I was fortunate that my fellow board members took the membership feedback seriously. The team committed to creating the strongest membership value proposition possible.

• A mentoring program for new trainers was expanded.

• The quality of monthly programs was improved.

• Events were offered in multiple places to make them easy for more members to attend.

• A one-day conference was created to expand learning opportunities.

• Multiple volunteer positions were created that helped people develop new skills.

Our mantra was to make the chapter's value proposition so strong that joining or renewing was a no-brainer.

Amazing things began happening. More members started renewing. Soon, the top two reasons our chapter lost members were:

1. They moved out of town.

2. They were no longer in the training industry.

People stopped leaving due to a lack of value.

The more members that stayed, the more new members we attracted via word-of-mouth. Coworkers, professional colleagues, and friends started recommending the chapter to people they knew. Companies enrolled their whole training departments.

Over the next two years, our membership grew 67 percent.

We didn’t offer a discount. In fact, we raised our rates. We didn’t run an advertising campaign to attract more members. Our happy members did the advertising for us.

We simply helped more members grow in their careers.

How to identify your customer’s problem

There are two big advantages to identifying the problem your customer is trying to solve.

1. You can attract new customers with a promise to solve that problem.

2. You can retain customers by consistently keeping your promise.

The first chapter of The Guaranteed Customer Experience describes how to identify the problem your customer is trying to solve.

I've made it available as a special preview.

Download it now to read about a chain of convenience stores that earns far more money than its rivals by leveraging an incredibly simple insight: people want clean restrooms.

The Guaranteed Customer Experience

Get Chapter 1

Contact center agent satisfaction remains high after a rough year

This past year has been tough on contact center agents.

The pandemic shifted more agents to working at home. Those who were at home already likely had their lives disrupted in some other way.

Some contact centers endured unimaginable spikes in volume. Others saw their businesses dry up and were forced to lay people off.

A report from Benchmark Portal found that agent satisfaction has remained fairly high. This post examines a few of the positive trends along with some areas for concern that must be addressed.

About the Benchmark Portal Agent Voices Report

The report is based on a detailed survey that was given to more than 10,000 contact center agents and leads in North America. The survey was conducted in 2020.

The survey consisted of questions grouped into 15 categories, ranging from overall satisfaction to leadership, training, and culture.

Benchmark Portal's last Agent Voices Report was released in 2015. The new report compares the current results to the results in the previous report.

The full, 64-page report is available for purchase from Benchmark Portal.

Bright spots for contact center agents

Agents gave their contact centers high marks in several categories. Here are five that really stood out.

Overall satisfaction

You might expect a steep drop in agent satisfaction, but it was only 3 percent lower than in 2015. Most agents were satisfied with their job and hoped to still be working for the same company in two years.

One result that really stood out was company pride. 83.78 percent of agents agreed or strongly agreed with this statement:

I am proud to say I work for this company.

Vision

This was another category of questions that surprised, with the results remaining virtually unchanged from 2015. 

If you read this blog with any regularity, you know I often write about the importance of having a clear customer service vision. So I was happy to see that 78.44 percent of agents agreed or strongly agreed with this statement:

The organization's vision is clearly communicated and understood by employees.

Leadership

A crisis can often galvanize our faith in leadership. This appeared to be the case in 2020, where the overall leadership score increased by 5.3 percent from the 2015 survey.

One question that's important is whether or not agents perceive that senior leaders value the contact center. Here, 81.04 percent of agents agreed or strongly agreed with this statement:

Leadership recognizes the importance of the contact center.

Teamwork

The people you work with every day have an enormous impact on how you feel about your job, your company, and your ability to get things done. Many employees will work through other job-related challenges if they like and trust the people on their team.

This was another strong category in 2020, showing a 4.6 percent increase from 2015. One question really stood out, with 92.04 percent agreeing or strongly agreeing with this statement:

There is a real sense of community within my team.

Direct Supervisor

The one person who likely has the biggest impact on your job satisfaction and performance is your direct supervisor. The results for this category were virtually the same as in 2015, but there was one big eye-opener.

Posting a 7.4 percent gain from 2015, a total of 87.44 percent of agents agreed or strongly agreed with this statement:

I have a good working relationship with my manager.

Opportunities to improve contact centers

The Agent Voices report highlighted several areas where contact centers need to improve agent satisfaction. Unfortunately, these have all been challenges for many years.

Career Growth and Compensation

This category had a steep 17.7 percent drop from 2015 to 2020. This shouldn't be too surprising, given the high number of layoffs in 2020, but companies now need to rebuild trust with the employees who stay.

Compensation is a particular issue, with just 62.11 percent of agents agreeing or strongly agreeing with this statement:

My compensation is comparable to, or better than, other similar jobs in the community.

Voice of Customer

The overall results for this category were relatively unchanged from 2015, and a high number of agents acknowledge their contact center collects customer feedback.

Agents don't feel as though their ideas are heard enough, however, with just 65.94 percent agreeing or strongly agreeing with this statement:

If I have an idea for improving customer service, I know I will be heard.

Recognition, Value, and Appreciation

Many contact centers rely on games, contests, pizza parties, and other frivolity to recognize agents. Logistically, that's more difficult if agents are working from home. 

Practically, what agents really want is to know they are making a difference. Only 62.11 percent agreed or strongly agreed with this statement:

I've seen improvements take place as a result of feedback I have given.

Communication

This category continues the theme of agents feeling they are part of something, rather than just a cog in the machine. The results were fairly low in 2015, and they decreased 2.6 percent in 2020.

One problem is when agents feel blind-sided by a change. Just 62.38 percent agreed or strongly agreed with this statement:

Changes that affect our customers are communicated to us before they affect the customer.

Take Action

The Benchmark Portal Agent Voices Report indicates contact centers are doing a lot of things well, particularly in the areas of vision, leadership, teamwork, and the direct supervisor.

The biggest area for improvement is making sure agents feel they matter.

You can accomplish this, and tap into a wealth of information, through regular conversations.

• One-on-one conversations to review performance.

• Share customer feedback with the team and discuss ways to improve.

• Conduct stay interviews to find out why agents remain with the company.

• Get feedback from agents when making major decisions.

• Update agents on critical changes before customers learn about them.

Finally, consider investing in the full, 64-page report.

It provides extensive insights from 15 categories of questions, along with analysis and recommendations for improvement.