I recently had to call a local provider’s contact center for
assistance with an issue. Well after navigating the menu and waiting for what
seemed like an eternity I eventually spoke a customer service representative.
The customer service experience was one of the worst I have encountered in all
my years of working in customer service. Contact centers are driven by metrics such
as First-call resolution (FCR), Average Waiting Time (AWT), Average Hold Time
(AHT) just to name a few and these have to be monitored and adjustments made
during the workday in order to meet stated customer service objectives.
But what could cause such a poor customer experience in the
first place. Well, here are my top five reasons.
Agent absenteeism – More so seeing T&T is ranked fifth among
countries in the world with the highest rates of workplace absenteeism.
High staff turnover – Negatively impacts quality, because
every time a trained agent leaves, fewer are on hand to ensure an optimum level
of service.
Little focus on first-call-resolution – Resulting in
the customer having to speak to several agents regarding a single inquiry
Poor integration of IT platforms – Resulting in the employee
having to access multiple systems (CRM databases, workforce management tools
and sales order processing applications) to satisfy customer request thus increasing
the transaction time.
Employee/Job mismatch – Wrong person for the job.
What's the longest you had to wait to speak to a customer care agent?
I don't normally count the time but it's always much longer than desired. I also find it extremely annoying when you speak to one agent then if you need to call back, you have to relate the entire story to another agent.
ReplyDeleteSad. What should happen is the rep before transferring the customer should alert the next rep as to what the customer issues are so that the customer doesn't have to repeat the issues to the second rep. Simple call center quality and customer experience practices that are sadly lacking. I called WASA once to get water and had to hold for 20 minutes.
ReplyDelete