5 Powerful Statistics Showing Why You Need To Overhaul Your Call Center Operations Right Now

In the modern ‘digital-first’ consumer landscape, customers demand excellent experiences every time they interact with a brand. So today, as most businesses compete on customer experience (CX) rather than on product/service quality, it’s the organizations that take CX seriously that stand out from the crowd and win loyal customers. And to do so, an old-school call center with simple phone-based operations, scripted responses, and automated IVR processes is no longer sufficient. What organizations now need is high-performance, technology-led contact center solutions, or ‘customer experience center’ solutions.

The modern contact center is much more than a simple connection point between an organization and its customers. It can be a powerful way to develop meaningful relationships with them and provide value that goes beyond monetary transactions. It can also be a rich source of new opportunities to boost sales and increase profits. Again, the key here is technology.

If your organization is still sticking with a traditional call center where people make random cold calls and give stock answers to incoming queries, you risk much more than a growing tribe of frustrated customers. You also risk losing business (and money), your reputation, and even your very existence. That’s why you need to overhaul your contact center operations with technology sooner rather than later.

But if these facts are not enough to convince you, the following statistics surely will.

1. In 2019, a majority of customers (49%) used 3 to 5 channels to contact customer service.

Per the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Global State of Customer Service Survey, voice remains the preferred channel (71%) to contact customer service, followed by email (64%), self-service (53%), and live chat (48%). To improve issue resolution, it’s important to create seamless customer experiences across the entire channel landscape. But this can only happen when you have the right contact center software that provides a comprehensive view of the customer journey across channels and time.

2. 72% of customers expect companies to know their purchase history.

This stat has two key implications: i) you need to understand what customers want and need at any given time and, ii) you must continuously monitor how they want to be served based on different situations. To do well on both aspects, you need to gain a deep understanding of the customer’s goals and desires, and then provide them the best experience across all their preferred communication platforms. Does your call center software have these capabilities?

3. For every 1% increase in FCR, organizations can anticipate a 1% increase in CSAT.

Today’s customers expect their issues to be resolved on the first contact. Improving FCR can enhance customer perceptions of your brand and provide opportunities for up-selling and cross-selling. Moreover, repeat calls represent 23% of the average contact center’s operating budget. So by improving FCR, you can not only improve CSAT; you can also lower your costs. But, if you don’t have enough insights into cross-channel customer journeys – a problem with old-fashioned call centers – you won’t be able to measure or improve FCR or capture the many benefits of optimizing it.

4. Two-thirds (58%) of consumers will sever a relationship with a business due to poor customer service.

Today, when a customer contacts a contact center, they expect quick issue resolution as well as a good experience. If neither of these happens, they don’t think twice before rejecting a brand and switching over to a competitor. This is especially true in the U.S., where 63% of consumers are willing to end a brand relationship following a below-par customer service experience.

5. By the end of 2020, customer experience will overtake price and product as the key brand differentiator.

In 2018, PWC found that 63% of U.S. consumers were willing to share more information with a company if it gave them a great CX. CX has become even more critical in 2020, with an increasing number of customers willing to pay more for a better CX. Less agile companies who don’t invest in technology- and data-led contact centers struggle to adapt to these trends, and eventually find themselves disconnected from their customers. This has a substantial negative impact on customer retention and loyalty.

A final word

As customer expectations evolve, companies need to implement multi-channel servicing while also providing a consistent CX across every channel and touchpoint. To this end, they need the right contact center tools and systems that combine the best of new-age technology and human touch. NovelVox has been providing such high-performance contact center software solutions for over a decade. Our Unified Agent Desktops, Contact Center Wallboards, and integrated solutions empower organizations across a range of industries to resolve customer queries faster and deliver memorable customer experiences time after time. Our unified contact center solutions can be tailored to meet the specific contact center needs of companies, empowering them to take customer engagement and satisfaction to the next level.