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What’s CX best practice in Australia?

While we’re managing whiplash-inducing change in our business and personal lives right now, as Contact Centre professionals it’s important we still keep our eye on the ultimate prize: delivering an exceptional customer experience. Our professionalism and commitment (or lack of it) in these most trying of times has the potential to impact our brand reputation, and the loyalty that goes with it, more than ever before.

Australian best practice – new benchmarking study

Recognising the dearth of solid benchmarking data for our industry in Australia, SMAART Recruitment surveyed more than 100 contact centres around the country and analysed results in 24 different categories. They released their 2019 Australian Contact Centre Industry Best Practice Report in February this year – just in time for us to get into some deep iso reading.

According to CX Central, the report identified retention and technology as the top challenges for contact centres over the coming year. With average turnovers of 45% and an average tenure of just under two years, it’s understandable that centre managers are concerned about the loss of knowledge capital, and the impacts of training new staff to effective levels of competency.

Employee satisfaction and engagement plays a substantial role in creating a great customer experience. Your agents are the voice of your business, and their attitude, tone and professionalism are critical to making your customers feel heard, respected, and valued.

The tech factor: Can it solve two challenges at once?

It’s interesting that technology should be listed with retention as the top challenges, as we believe the former can help address the latter.

The Report shows just over 11% of Australian centres are using chatbots; and just over 13% are using gamification technology. Both are aspects of technology that can help improve the overall customer experience, give agents the additional support they need, and provide the real-time stats managers want to respond to day-to-day shifts and challenges in the customer service environment.

Australian agents are on calls for nearly five hours of every eight-hour shift, handling an average of 42 inbound and 53 outbound calls. It can be tough on the voice, and mentally demanding as they strive to interact with a range of different personalities, needs and issues, while they’re keeping up the company persona. Being able to leverage available technologies – such as IVR and self-service options, as well as chatbots and other resources – can help break up agents’ task loads, speed up resolutions, and even reduce call numbers as customers manage their own accounts online.

Premier Contact Point helps contact centres lift their customer experience game while boosting their agents’ levels of engagement and satisfaction, and reducing the brain drain. Taking advantage of the latest technology solution can also help build real-time business insights, so you can adjust campaigns, identify emerging issues, and respond quickly – both a huge advantage for keeping your customers, and your staff, happy.

Best practices for challenging times

The team at Premier Contact Point is here to support you as you guide your business, and your customer service team, through these uncharted waters. Get in touch with us today to talk about how we can help you design a solution that will overcome the challenges you’re facing right now, without compromising your customer experience reputation.

Want to have your say for 2020?

SMAART Recruitment have launched their survey for 2020 and are keen to hear from more Australian contact centres. If you’d like to add your voice, join their survey here.

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