Category Archives: Customer Experience

Telltale Signs: How to Identify Call Center Agent Burnout

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How to Identify Call Center Agent BurnoutCall centers have become notorious for possessing one of the highest employee attrition rates of any industry. According to Talkdesk, call centers have a turnover rate ranging from 30 to 45 percent. This is a staggering number, given that the average employee turnover rate in 2015 for all industries in the United States was 16.7 percent.

This isn’t entirely surprising: Call centers are stressful work environments. Agents are required to deal with challenging, frustrated customers, with the knowledge that the calls (and their performance) are being monitored and timed. On top of this, a U.S. News Careers report found that customer service representatives suffer from below-average job flexibility.

We’ve previously discussed ways to combat agent burnout, but today we ask: What are the symptoms? How do we properly make an early diagnosis? Identifying the symptoms of burnout as soon as possible can significantly boost your service quality, workplace satisfaction, and bottom line. Continue reading →

4 Contact Center Reports to Kick off 2019

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4 Contact Center Reports to Kick off 2019It’s been a while since we did a report round-up post. It’s not for lack of material! Our inboxes here at Fonolo HQ are full of great reports covering call center technology and trends. The steady pace of industry news has simply made it hard to find a quiet week to slip in a post like this.

Below are four reports that we think are worth your time. Thanks, as always, to the companies that sponsor these reports. The availability of this information helps the whole industry become more innovative.

By the way, don’t forget to check out the report we just released: On the Horizon: Customer Service Trends in 2019. It features a sparkling new sci-fi theme that helps to keep the pages turning.

 

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#Trending: Call Centers Are Addicted to Call-Backs

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Trending - Call Centers are addicted to call-backsHere’s what we know: In the call center industry, it feels as though there is a carousel of new and emerging call center trends forever in rotation. A trend doesn’t even have to be new or never-before-seen, mind you; it could very well be an existing technology, process, product, or service that has finally garnered the attention it deserves.

In the call center industry, something big is trending: Call-backs. And it’s no surprise that call centers are addicted to this solution because, quite simply, it’s the secret to customer happiness.

 

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How to Efficiently Manage Service Levels with the Right Technology [Webinar]

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How-to Efficiently Manage Service Level with the Right Technology‘Service level’ measures the accessibility of a company to their customers, and that company’s ability to manage call volume fluctuations and execute their staffing strategy. It is directly tied to customer service quality and is often a vital indicator of a contact center’s overall performance.

A declining service level can point to a number of issues: Poor scheduling; calls taking longer than expected; unplanned call fluctuations; and much more. On the other hand, if a contact center’s service level is improving, it’s usually a sign that the right technology, optimal agent scheduling, and accurate call planning are in place.

How can contact centers better manage their service levels? Leveraging the right technology can go a long way in improving a less-than-optimal service level and,  as a result, the overall quality of customer service. From optimizing workforce management to enabling agent call-backs, managers and decision-makers who implement the right technology will reap the rewards.

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On the Horizon: Customer Service Trends in 2019 [Report]

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Top Contact Center Trends 2019

We open in the year 2019.

It’s a challenging time for customer service executives. Customer expectations are higher than ever … and competition is stiff. Roughly 82% of customers are willing to leave a brand because of poor customer service.

The protagonist prepares for a long journey through the customer service galaxy. The goal is simple: To provide customer support executives with the insights they need to meet the expectations of their customers in 2019 (and beyond). This field guide will help him, and you, on your journey to this goal. In it, you’ll find the following easily-digestible sections in the report:

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Avaya’s Annual Show Highlights Strength, New Directions

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Avaya’s Annual Show Highlights Strength, New Directions

Avaya made good use of its annual Avaya ENGAGE® conference to show off its new branding while impressing partners, press, analysts, and customers with its momentum. There were too many announcements at last week’s show to cover them all in this post. So, I’ll just touch on some highlights, give links to the most interesting coverage, and summarize what the analysts thought. We will circle back to some of the specific topics in later posts.

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17 Surprising Stats About Call Centers

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17 Surprising Facts About Call Centers 1We have 17 gifts for you today, or rather, 17 intriguing facts about call centers!

You may know a few of these already, but trust us: It never hurts to revisit some of the pivotal advancements, trends, stats, and interesting facts that have made waves in the call center industry (both past and present). With the “era of the customer” in full swing; the increase in customer expectation for omnichannel communication; and the never-ending developments in communication methods through AI-powered self-service; it is easy to overlook the importance that the call center plays in the customer experience.

Although customers begin their service journey with self-service before contacting an agent, the reality is that once self-service fails (which it does when the support issue is too complex, or when the stakes are higher for the customer), customers will take to their phones to resolve their issues. So, there is a limit to self-service, which will always lead the customer back to the loving arms of the call center.

Without further ado, here are some surprising, fundamental, and/or entertaining stats about the call center, a customer service lifesaver that is here to stay:

 

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The Top Contact Center Acquisitions of the Last 6 Months

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The Top Contact Center Acquisitions of the Last 6 MonthsThis post was supposed to be about the “Top Contact Center Acquisitions of 2018”, but two significant deals occurred in the last two weeks, and I didn’t want to wait another year to include them on the list. Plus, we already published a blog on “5 Intriguing Call Center Acquisitions from the First Half of 2018”, so there was no point in repeating some of the deals that were covered in that post.

We continue to see a very active M&A market in the contact center space. Sometimes people call this “consolidation,” but I think that oversimplifies the motivations behind these deals.

So, here we go, in reverse chronological order:

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The State of Bots in 2019: Successes and Failures

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The State of Bots in 2019 Successes and Failures“We are in the Era of the Customer,” says Shep Hyken.

We are indeed. It’s a modern reality where customers call the shots, armed with the knowledge that they have options. This includes their expectation of a certain level of customer experience, one that is seamless, omnichannel, and with bot offerings. In fact, according to Forrester, today’s “consumers have more tech at their disposal than ever before and it has fundamentally changed how they experience brands.” With more than 50% of companies already using chatbots, and 80% of businesses wanting chatbots by 2020 ( says Oracle), bots have been, and will be, rapidly transforming the customer service and customer experience landscape, especially in retail. In an article by Retail Dive, “Juniper estimates that by 2023 over 70% of chatbots accessed will be retail based.” Think about how many digital assistants, chatbots, and IVR’s that actually refers to, and in what capacity.

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Life Lessons: What IKEA Gets Right About Customer Experience

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What IKEA Gets Right About Customer Experience

Live Unboring.

It’s an IKEA slogan. It’s also IKEA’s raison d’être.

At a healthy 75 years’ old, the Scandinavian born-and-bred brand has well surpassed middle-age and earned its place among retail royalty, continuing to thrive and expand its utilitarian-while-whimsical offerings into the online world. Its products are nestled in households across the globe. Phrases from its brilliantly funny ads have crawled into common parlance. IKEA isn’t simply a store: It’s a cultural force.

IKEA’s long-running epic success is the result of its allegiance to a specific set of principles that guide its every move: To nurture loyalty, a company must dare to be a fixture at every stage of customers’ lives. It must consider their every want and desire. It must meet their needs with products, online and in-store experiences, and customer service offerings.

The proof is in the pudding: Loyal consumers continue to flock to the imposing blue mecca in their town centers (and soon, urban centers) because of IKEA’s ability to hold a customer’s familiar hand throughout their lifetime. With seven decades under its belt, the company has much to teach us about how offering powerful customer experiences can make a brand a force to be reckoned with.

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