Data doesn't lie. It shows the truth of what is really happening in your company and call center. Customer contact centers are a great resource for your business, but it doesn't mean they can't have some serious hidden costs. By analyzing your customer interaction data, those hidden costs become much easier to identify, and better inform you when making decisions for your business.

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In this article, we’ve highlighted four costs that you may not be aware of but could be costing your team and contact center serious money. We’ve also offered tips on how you can use your contact center data to help measure these hidden costs and deliver better customer experiences.

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Cost 1: Outdated or Lack of Analytics Tech

Today’s contact center teams have numerous new productivity technologies at their disposal. The trouble often comes in identifying exactly which technologies and implementations may be best for your company’s business goals. Legacy contact center communication systems will undoubtedly require regular ongoing maintenance as more and more contact center software tools enter the market.

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However, with new or updated tech comes an increased need for better reporting and analytics of the customer interactions coming into your contact center. While the upfront investment may seem like an inconvenience, improving your contact center technology and analytics is the only way to keep your team engaged and keep up with your customers’ ever-increasing expectations.

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Our suggestion? Implement a reporting and analytics tool that adapts to your customer needs as they change over time.

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Brightmetrics customizable dashboards and reports allow you to easily sort through your customer call data providing you key insights and trends into what your customer wants from your business. Our reporting templates also provide contact center managers the tools they need to identify their top agents, as well as the agents with underdeveloped skills. Allowing them to better understand their team and identify areas for improvement.

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Cost 2: No Self-Service Knowledge Bases

Do your customers have an easy and simple way to search and find the answers to their own questions? If not, you may be missing out on major long-term savings. Not only do self-service knowledge bases direct a significant number of customers with simple questions away from your contact center, but it also provides another layer to your customer experience. Knowledge bases also allow your contact center agents to focus on addressing more complex customer issues and decrease overall queue times.

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Your current data analytics tool should enable you to monitor, track and pinpoint which questions your customers are asking regularly. Addressing these topics within your support hub with self-help articles, blog articles or video tutorials offers customers another way to troubleshoot their own problems, saving them time, and saving your company money.

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Cost 3: Missed Training Opportunities and Agent Churn

Employee turnover is a common issue in any business. However, this common issue seems to plague the contact center industry more than other occupations. In fact, according to research conducted by The Quality Assurance & Training Connection (QATC), the average annual turnover rate for agents in US contact centers ranges between 30-45 percent.

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However, with the proper utilization of your contact center agent data, this high average turnover rate can be prevented within your organization. Identifying agents who require additional training and coaching becomes easy with the right metrics and benchmarks for your team. Performance scorecards encouraging engagement and self-management, keep your team members accountable for their own success and improvement.

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What can you do? Brightmetrics’ Agent Balanced Scorecard™ feature, a key employee experience, and engagement indicator are easily accessible and customizable to highlight your team's service goals. Gamifying agent performance goals is another fun way of keeping your team members engaged in their self-improvement. Check out our gamification video for tips on implementing this in your contact center.

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Cost 4: Prolonged Call Handling Time

There are many different factors that affect the outcome of a customer service call. And while some are out of a contact center team’s control, others are, when delivering a great customer experience. A common metric that can easily be set and forgotten is Call Handling Time. Once the introductory and wrap-up script or procedures are set, these tend to be used over and over, never being updated, when in fact they should be constantly reevaluated based on customer feedback.

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Too lengthy an introduction or customer verification process may only add to a customer’s frustration. Analyzing an agent’s skill level for handling the calls coming into their queue, and optimizing processes can also contribute to decreasing your average Call Handling Time. By equipping your agents with the details of the issue at hand before even interacting with the customer, you decrease the need to reiterate information during the interaction. Using data to analyze your customer calls and interactions can help you understand where improvement is needed, thus keeping these interactions succinct and on track to resolving the customer issue as quickly as possible.

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What's Next?

Don’t underestimate the importance of your contact center to your organization and customers. While many are labeled as “cost” centers, they don’t have to be. Use your contact center analytics to identify areas that need improvement, reevaluate benchmarks, and key metrics. Your company will soon see significant savings with the help of your data.

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Brightmetrics reporting and analytics tools seamlessly bring your operational metrics to light, helping you to find ways of elevating your customer experience. Customizable analytics tools, like Brightmetrics, empower your agents and managers to reach their own performance goals resulting in better overall contact center optimization, better employee retention, and ultimately, saving you money down the line.

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Start a free Brightmetrics trial today.

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