As the backbone of customer service, call centers are essential for modern businesses. They are often the first point of contact for customers, and their performance can make or break a customer's experience. That's why it's critical for call centers to maintain high levels of quality assurance (QA).
What is Call Center Quality Assurance?
Call center QA is the process of monitoring and evaluating the quality of customer interactions with call center agents. QA programs are designed to ensure that agents are providing customers with the best possible experience by adhering to company standards and procedures.
Why is Quality Assurance Important for Call Centers?
Today, 89% of companies compete primarily on the basis of customer experience – up from just 36% in 2010. Quality assurance is essential for call centers because it helps to improve customer experience, and ultimately, loyalty. It ensures that agents are providing accurate and timely information to customers, resolving their issues, and meeting their needs while complying with policies and regulations. Additionally, QA programs can help companies identify areas where they can improve their processes and procedures to better serve their customers.
What are the Benefits of Quality Assurance for Call Centers?
Customer service is an essential component of any successful business. When done correctly, using rigorous QA processes and analytics, call center QA can deliver the following improvements in customer service outcomes:
Improved customer satisfaction and loyalty
Increased agent efficiency and productivity
Decreased call handling times
Improved first call resolution rates
Reduced customer churn rates
Enhanced brand reputation and customer loyalty
What are Key Quality Assurance Metrics for Call Centers?
To measure the effectiveness of their QA programs, call centers use a variety of metrics. Some of the most critical metrics include:
Average handle time (AHT)
First call resolution (FCR) rate
Customer satisfaction (CSAT) score
Net promoter score (NPS)
Call abandonment rate
Service level agreement (SLA) compliance
Innovations in AI and CX Observability technologies are leading towards new QA metrics that assess the ‘people experience’ of voice interactions, providing insights such as:
What level of service is provided by 3rd-party agents?
How does poor voice quality impact customer sentiment?
Are work-at-home agents happier?
Are customers happier when interacting with work-at-home agents?
What are the technical drivers behind an agent’s low customer sentiment scores?
What are the Top Call Center Quality Assurance Best Practices?
There are several best practices that call centers can follow to improve their QA programs:
Define clear quality standards and procedures based on industry requirements while also enabling exceptional customer experience
Provide continuous training and coaching to agents based on a holistic evaluation across unified data
Use call monitoring and recording for every second of every call, to gather data and enable rich CX insights
Use customer feedback to improve processes, e.g., use customer survey results as part of agent assessments
Establish a QA scorecard based on unified technical, operations, and experience data
Regularly review and update QA programs based on insights obtained from tooling such as CX Observability platforms
Why Should End-to-End Voice Connectivity Receive QA Focus?
End-to-end voice connectivity is essential for call centers as it ensures that calls are clear and uninterrupted. By focusing on end-to-end voice connectivity as part of their QA programs, call centers can ensure that their customers have the best possible experience, during the interactions that matter the most – conversations with agents and other company representatives.
Why is Quality Assurance Important for Cloud Contact Center Deployments?
Quality assurance is especially important for cloud contact center deployments because they rely on the internet to function, and there are technical demarcation lines between the CCaaS provider and the contact center. Any issues with connectivity or call quality can significantly impact customer satisfaction. By implementing a robust, continuous QA program, companies can accelerate cloud contact center deployments and ensure that the end-to-end technology is working optimally.
Recommended Next Steps
If you're looking to improve the quality of your call center operations, it's essential to implement a comprehensive QA program based on CX Observability insights derived from continuous monitoring of technical, operations, and experience data. By defining clear standards and procedures, providing continuous training and coaching to agents, and regularly reviewing and updating your QA program, you can ensure that your call center is providing customers with the best possible experience.
Operata Platform provides a CX Observability and assurance platform for cloud contact centers. Our platform can help you continuously monitor and optimize your call center operations to ensure that you're delivering the best possible experience to your customers. If you’d like to see it in action in your own CCaaS environment and receive a personalized 30-minute deployment and training session, sign up for a free 14-day trial.
