Client Activity:

Call Centre

Headline:

Call quality improved to 97% good within 6 months

Background

Customer research indicated that the quality of interaction when a customer rang into the call centre was a key driver in customer satisfaction, but also correlates strongly to a customer’s willingness to recommend the client as a provider. Therefore call quality links to growth of the business. The call centre (approximately 1000 people across 3 sites) was underperforming; customers were unhappy with the quality of service for almost 1 in 4 calls, and there were a similar proportion of regulatory breaches, such as confidential information given out in error.

Action

- Detailed customer research to establish what customers viewed as a ‘good call’ and ‘bad call’.
- This translated into a call scoring mechanism that could be applied consistently and fairly
- Customer feedback sought to ensure actual customer scores matched client internal scores – to validate internal scoring mechanism
- 50 team leaders trained to score calls consistently to new standards
- Team leaders rewards and measures moved from project delivery focus to call monitoring, scoring and coaching
- Communications to customer service workforce as to new standards and approach; rewards and measures changed appropriately
- Learning & Development team engaged to build and supply training as necessary to support improvements
- Process to manage best and worst performers designed, communicated and implemented
- Results monitored and measured
- Ongoing consistency sessions embedded to ensure call scoring remains accurate and consistent

Result

- Call quality moved from 76% good to 97% good in first 6 months across all sites
- Ongoing outbound call scoring demonstrated customers felt similar impact
- Regulatory factors reduced to <1% error rate
- Call centre won “North East Call Centre of the Year”
- Project presented ad marketing week Customer Centricity Conference as all industry best practice
- Call Centre leader promoted to board of directors!