Contact Us

Improving Call Center Quality Assurance: Methods, Tips, and Best Practices

A staggering 47% of consumers have switched from a certain company to a competitor due to subpar customer service in the past. Bad customer service costs companies huge amounts of money. Research indicates that in the U.S. alone, $62 billion is lost each year due to poor customer service.
Quality assurance (QA) is the backbone of any call center’s operations if you want a seamless and satisfying customer experience. Good QA involves setting standards, monitoring calls, and taking corrective action.
Though almost every business today recognizes the importance of good QA systems, the real challenge is in implementing them successfully. This article will provide a guide to getting started.

Have a Clear QA Strategy

Rather than trying to spread resources thin on too many different criteria, firms should focus mostly on call auditing and calibration and improving agent performance. Having a clear QA strategy involves identifying goals, reverse-engineering the path to achieve them, defining Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), training team members, and finally establishing monitoring processes. Implementing well-thought-out strategies will make for improved performance.

Monitor Customer Support Channels

To gauge their starting point, businesses need to research customer perceptions of their call center interactions. This should be done by monitoring all customer support channels. Adding short post-call surveys allows customers to rank their service experience, providing valuable feedback.

With a flood of calls flowing into the average center, the focus should be on calls that deviate significantly from the norm. Successful calls serve as training tools, while unsuccessful ones provide opportunities for targeted coaching and negative examples.

Improve Agent & Team Management

Call center success hinges on having the right team. Managers who are experienced at coaching and agents eager to improve are the most important factors. Assign quality assurance supervision to an experienced team member to make the system more accountable and bottom-up.

Provide agents with real-time analytics and performance benchmarking to improve accountability and inclusion. Balancing corrective feedback with positive reinforcement is crucial.

Utilise Data to Standardise Best Practises

External benchmarking, facilitated by professional third-party QA consultants, can offer insights into call center performance as compared to industry standards. This information should then guide the selection of relevant KPIs and the setting of goals. Standardise best practices in your workforce and set a minimum benchmark. Strict adherence to TCPA (Telephonic Consumer Protection Act) guidelines should be observed.

Use the DMAIC Method

DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) is a structured methodology for quality assurance. It begins by defining the problem areas and goals, followed by measuring key metrics to establish a baseline. Analysis of data identifies root causes, leading to targeted improvements, and the final step involves implementing controls to sustain these changes over time.

Some More Helpful Tips...

Finally, here are some quick tips to round out this guide:

  1. Retraining is a major tool in your arsenal and is crucial to improve productivity. There should be regular retraining and refresher courses based on the latest data and methodologies.
  2. Agents should be motivated through a system of performance-based incentives and transparency. This will improve both individual and team performance. Weekly appreciation sessions should be held to maintain morale.
  3. Targets should be reasonable and constantly updated. Too ambitious a target will lower morale and lead to unreasonable expectations – it is better to set a series of moderate and achievable targets.
  4. Hold individual quality sessions with agents to help them improve. Feedback should be shared, and flaws should be pointed out so that they can be corrected in the future.
  5. To sum up, businesses should define and publish standards, establish processes for continuous monitoring, and use corrective actions to improve service quality. A professional consultant can audit your calls to aid in this.
Facebook-f Instagram Twitter

Need an Expert Hand At Call Centre Quality Management? Contact Us!

Click here