The Impact of Call Center Quality Assurance on Customer Experience

Call centres help create good customer experience. Well-managed call centres also help companies grow and last. To make sure your call centre provides high quality customer experience, you'll already know that Quality Assurance (QA) is key.

QA means having a variety of best practices and processes. These processes make sure your team consistently provides good customer service.

In this article, we discuss how call centre QA impacts customer interaction and experience. We will also explore the best ways to improve your customer service.

As a customer support manager, you already know how important Quality Assurance (QA) is. It's like the heart of a call centre, making sure everything is running smoothly and your customers are getting the best service possible.

QA is all about checking the interactions between your team and your customers. Usually QA involves looking at phone calls, emails, and chats to make sure your team is on top of its game.

To measure how well the team is doing, QA uses performance metrics. These are like a report card, telling you how quickly problems get solved, how long each call takes, and if your customers are satisfied.

To do this effectively, you'll usually need specialised software to keep an eye on everything and report back to you exactly what is going on with your team and the level of customer satisfaction.

QA is a standard process, and the idea behind it is to ensure that customer service is consistent no matter what day it is, or which agent your customers are speaking to. This also gives your call centre agents clear quality standards that they understand and aim for, to measure success in their roles.

Through QA, you can understand where your agents might need training. In areas like:

• Product knowledge
• Communication skills
• Problem-solving skills
• Company protocols

Call quality monitoring is when a manager listens to calls. This can happen either in real-time, as the call is happening, or they can listen to a call recording after it has finished.

This helps a QA team or supervisor gauge agent performance. The person listening to the call could be listening out for:

• Professionalism
• Script adherence
• Compliance with company quality of service standards
• Legal compliance

Then, the supervisor might offer feedback and/or training based on the agents' performance.

After monitoring calls and looking at agent performance, it is time for feedback. QA specialists or supervisors can use feedback to promote agent growth. Feedback can show an agent’s strengths and areas to improve. QA scorecards and dedicated feedback sessions can help provide feedback in a structured way.

With these coaching sessions, agents become stronger in their role and grow their skills. This also allows managers to figure out what tools and training best benefit the team as a whole.

Collecting data metrics helps QA specialists spot trends. They can point out strengths and areas of growth in regular operations. This data collection and analysis also helps companies measure key performance indicators (KPIs). These KPIs include:

• First-call Resolution (FCR)
• Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT)
• Net Promoter Score (NPS)
• Customer Effort Score (CES)
• Average Handle Time (AHT)

These KPIs and more are all set by call centre management. Paying attention to real-time KPI data can give helpful information to supervisors. This information can help make rapid, well-informed decisions for improving customer service quality.

The relationship between call centre quality assurance (QA) and customer experience is really important. QA involves monitoring and improving customer interactions, while customer experience refers to the overall interactions customers have with a company. QA helps identify areas for improvement, trains agents, and ensures consistency, leading to better customer experiences. By using customer feedback and performance data, call centres can address issues and continuously improve, resulting in higher customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Implementing a call centre quality assurance (QA) program helps identify areas for improvement by analyzing performance metrics, gathering customer feedback, and conducting root cause analysis.

These areas may include inefficiencies in call handling, low first-call resolution rates, or recurring customer complaints. By proactively addressing these identified areas, call centres can enhance agent performance and processes, leading to a smoother and more satisfying customer experience.

Training is vital for companies today. 68% of employees prefer to learn and train on-the-job. Along with this, 76% of Millennials believe professional development is needed for a strong company culture. QA training provides employees with the knowledge and skills they need to do their jobs well and therefore feel better job satisfaction.

QA analysis may find that a call centre team needs better communication skills or stronger product knowledge. Training that targets these gaps can lessen employee frustration and improve customer experience.

Actively asking for and analysing feedback from customers provides valuable insights for call centre teams. Customer feedback QA tools can also help. These tools often include customer feedback surveys or customer interviews.

Patterns and themes found through data analysis help call centre managers make better-informed decisions. Managers can then implement changes that improve customer satisfaction. For example, customer feedback may show complaints about long wait times. If this is the case, managers can set a new goal to reduce hold times and create a strategy to get there.

First call resolution (FCR) is a crucial KPI for call centre operations. FCR shows how agents are addressing and solving customer concerns on a customer's first call. With a good FCR, customer frustration is reduced as customers don't need to be passed around between departments over multiple calls.

This of course positively impacts customer satisfaction.

QA programs have a significant impact on enhancing customer satisfaction. By identifying areas for improvement, such as agent training or process refinement, QA enables call centres to address weaknesses and provide a more efficient and effective customer experience.

This proactive approach leads to increased customer satisfaction levels, improved loyalty, and a positive overall perception of the company's services.

Customer retention is crucial for many industries. Loyal customers are 60-70% more likely to make a purchase. Customer retention also helps save money in acquiring new customers. Along with this, 89% of companies report that good customer service plays an important part in keeping customers loyal.

A strong QA process helps closely monitor customer feedback. This helps gauge how happy a customer is, and how they want their calls to your company to go. With this information, call centres can improve customer experience. This helps customers feel heard and confident in the company.

A strong quality assurance (QA) program can attract new customers in several ways.

Firstly, it ensures consistent delivery of high-quality service, which leads to positive customer experiences and fosters word-of-mouth recommendations. Potential customers are more likely to choose a company with a reputation for exceptional service.

Secondly, a robust QA program demonstrates the call centre's expertise and trustworthiness, giving potential customers confidence in the service they will receive.

Thirdly, by identifying and addressing pain points through QA evaluations, customer support teams can tailor their marketing messages and solutions to attract customers seeking specific solutions to their challenges.

Overall, a strong QA program enhances a company's ability to attract new customers by showcasing its quality, expertise, and ability to address customer needs effectively.

When Second Nature got in touch with us, they were using Aircall but it was falling short in a few key areas. They were unable to get any real insight into the operations of their customer calls. Specifically, they were looking for:

• Reporting and data insights
• QA and CSAT
• Reliable and auditable call processing

Which is where Cordless came in. Managers at Second Nature were now able to see information about each phone call. They could look at the caller’s path through the phone system. They could also see the times when calls were most important. With this information, supervisors could choose which calls to listen to. They could even read written transcriptions and summaries of the conversations which saved them a huge amount of time during the QA process.

Additionally, Second Nature made their workflow smoother by integrating with their existing chat tool, Intercom, making the transition to Cordless simple.

Establishing clear quality standards is crucial for call centres to achieve consistent service delivery and set performance expectations for their agents. By defining these standards, organisations can create a unified understanding of the level of service that should be provided to customers.

Clear quality standards encompass various aspects such as:

• Call handling protocols
• Response time targets
• Customer engagement guidelines
• Adherence to company policies and procedures

Communicating these standards effectively to agents ensures that everyone is aligned with the organisation's service objectives and customer-centric values.

By consistently monitoring customer interactions and providing timely feedback, you can identify areas for improvement and support the professional development of your team.

Monitoring can be done through various methods, including call recording, live monitoring, and customer surveys.
These monitoring activities allow supervisors and quality assurance teams to assess agent performance, adherence to quality standards, and customer satisfaction levels.

Based on the monitoring results, constructive feedback can be provided to agents, highlighting their strengths and areas where improvement is needed. This continuous feedback loop not only helps agents enhance their skills and knowledge but also ensures that call centre operations are consistently aligned with customer expectations and business goals.

Utilising quality assurance technology is vital for enhancing call centre performance and ensuring great customer experience. Quality assurance software and tools offer advanced capabilities that streamline and automate various aspects of the quality assurance process. These technologies provide features such as call recording, speech analytics, sentiment analysis, and performance dashboards.

By using these tools, call centres can efficiently evaluate customer interactions, identify trends and patterns, and gain valuable insights into agent performance and customer satisfaction. This also allows for standardised evaluations, improving consistency and accuracy in the assessment of agent interactions, avoiding the potential for personal biases.

By actively seeking and incorporating feedback from customers, call centres gain valuable insights into their experiences, preferences, and expectations.

Customer feedback can be collected through various channels, such as post-call surveys, online reviews, and social media listening. By analysing this feedback, call centre teams can identify recurring themes, address pain points, and make necessary improvements to enhance the overall customer experience.

Incorporating customer feedback also demonstrates to customers that their opinions are valued, fostering trust and loyalty. By continuously integrating customer feedback into quality assurance processes, call centres can effectively align their operations with customer needs and consistently improve service delivery.

Call centre quality assurance (QA) helps improve customer satisfaction. The QA process helps call centre teams improve their quality of service and consistency. This brings customer satisfaction, brand loyalty, and new customers.

To recap:

• Call Center Quality Assurance (QA) is crucial for enhancing customer experience in today's competitive business environment.
• Understanding QA in the context of a call centre involves components such as training, monitoring, and feedback.
• Effective QA plays a significant role in ensuring customer satisfaction and improving the overall customer experience.
• Impacts of Call Center QA on customer experience include improved First Call Resolution, enhanced Customer Satisfaction, retaining existing customers, and attracting new ones.
• The case study of Second Nature switching from Aircall to Cordless showcases the positive impact of implementing technology for better understanding customer calls and simplifying QA.
• Tips for improving Call Center QA for a better customer experience include focusing on customer-centric aspects and implementing strategies that align with customer needs and expectations.

If you are looking for a modern contact centre solution with built-in QA tools, click here for a free 30-minute consultation.