Learning how to improve quality assurance in a call center is key to consistently providing a high-quality experience for customers. Assuring customer satisfaction is a preeminent responsibility of every call center—not only for the customers they serve and the brand partners they represent—but the success of the call center itself depends on it, too.
Call centers play a vital role in helping companies as they expand and grow. Some businesses can handle their in-house operation, but many choose to outsource to a professional center. There are three principal roles that a call center partner is hired to fulfill. The first is to manage inbound calls, where trained agents answer customer questions, solve problems, take orders, and so forth. Another role of a call center is to make outbound calls to existing or potential customers, typically sales-related, but also to conduct surveys or promotional activities. The third role is to operate as a full-service omnichannel contact center, where they offer a variety of inbound and outbound solutions and services across multiple platforms that can be meticulously customized using specific technology to meet the individual needs of clients.
Implementing quality assurance practices ensures that the call center follows a defined set of quality standards that leads to satisfactory results for clients. Quality assurance programs regularly consist of measurable key performance indicators (KPIs) combined with coaching, training, quality monitoring of interactions, agent assessments, qualitative customer feedback and much more.
Call Center Quality Assurance
A quality assurance program is the total of the standardized processes a company establishes to measure overall performance. An effective program provides the foundation for a total customer experience while improving the operational efficiency of the company. Here are six quality assurance processes to consider that will enhance and improve your call center:
1. The Importance of Standards
Call center standards are, in essence, a set of instructional processes, procedural methods, and defined expectations for agents to learn and follow in the performance of their job. Standards are as much as an informative guide as they are the written “rules of the game.” Once established, agents know what is expected of them and the metrics used to measure their performance. Used as a benchmark, standards are an effective tool to assess the progress of agents, as well as a standard to improve their performance.
2. KPIs
Quality assurance involves monitoring and measuring KPIs—the sets of actionable performance-based metrics that once defined, help measure and achieve call center goals. Call center agents need to know and understand these metrics, but just as important for call center managers to identify the metrics that really matter for the organization to deliver on customer experience, satisfaction and efficiency.
3. Measuring Results and Feedback
Quality assurance is an ever-evolving, ongoing process. Once benchmarks have been set, results and feedback should be constantly and consistently measured and analyzed. Take action when needed to improve processes. Especially, use the data to let employees know when they are doing well or, conversely, show them the areas where they are weak and how they can improve.
4. Agent Training
Spend time training agents on the correct procedures to follow about interactions with customers. Agents should also have a working knowledge of the call center platform and associated software. Make sure all questions and as many concerns are addressed during training. The goal is to ensure the QA process works as smoothly as possible.
5. Quality Monitor Interactions
Quality monitoring interactions between agents and customers is a process that customer service organizations follow to track and evaluate agent performance, helping to improve customer relations in call centers. Monitor call center interactions and take representable samples for review.
6. Benchmark Performance
Simply put, a benchmark is a standard or point of reference against which other things may be compared. Call center activity metrics, KPIs, are quantifiable benchmarks that establish data points necessary to measure the performance of agents. As performance indicators, benchmarks are a useful, if not essential, quality assurance tool that ensures call centers meet or exceed the standards they have set. Track such KPIs as Average Speed of Answering (ASA), First-Call Resolution (FCR), Conversion Rates (CR), Average Handling Time (AHT), and so forth, to build strategies for success.
At Telecom, our contact center sets our quality assurance standards high. Our top priority is consistently providing an exceptional experience for all our customers. To ensure the effectiveness of our team representing brand partners, we combine real-time and review processes of agent interactions with customers. All channels of communication are measured for accuracy and efficiency, be it social media, chat, email or phone. We analyze a minimum sample size of five percent of audio content and digital interactions for our partners and will increase a project’s percent size upon request. We understand that quality assurance as a process is fluid, dynamic and constantly in flux. But the overall goal remains the same—to provide standardized, measurable and exemplary quality service for our customers.
If you’re looking for more information on our services, contact us today!