Store clerks used to be the main form of customer service, but with eCommerce this has changed. Now customer contact centers take the lead, but many of these operations need an upgrade. In particular, inbound call centers are not providing excellent customer service. Examples of poor experiences include customers being on hold for too long, customer service agents not having enough information, and customers getting passed from one agent to another without resolution.

If your eCommerce business is not providing excellent customer service, you need to do an assessment now rather than later. Specifically, one good idea is for you to assess your operation using a call center maturity model. This is a good way to assess and address deficiencies affecting your customers’ call center experience. For specifics, see below on how to do an assessment and set objectives to start delighting your customers.

Increase Your Current Call Center Maturity Level To Achieve Excellent Customer Service.

If your business receives a call, e-mail or a social media message from a customer, your business has taken on all the responsibilities of an inbound call center. Realizing this, next ask the question how mature is your call center? Also, is it one that is chaotic, or worst negligent, or is it customer-focus, a champion of the customer?  From these questions, it should be obvious that you need an assessment of your call center. For instance, a good way to assess the effectiveness of your call center is to use a call center maturity model. For examples of a call center maturity model, see Nice’s CX Maturity Model Infographic, and SmartCustomerService’s A Maturity Model for Delivering Superior Customer Service. 

Stop Losing Sales By Making It A Priority To Minimize Customer Churn And Bad Online Reviews.

In most cases if an existing customer contacts an eCommerce business, the customer has a problem that you need to solve. Obviously if you do not solve the problem to the customer’s satisfaction, you will probably lose this customer. Worse, the customer will write a bad online review, reducing your future sales revenues. Hence if you do not take steps to improve your call center experience for your customers, it is likely that you will be out of business sooner than later. Accordingly, what are you waiting for?.

Implement Key Performance Indicators (KPI) To Achieve Excellent Customer Service.

Call center maturity models help you to assess the gaps you have in delighting your customers. Additionally, these models suggest goals and characteristics for you to increase the maturity of your call center. Furthermore, this assessment can help you to identify your Key Performance Indicators (KPI). For example, KPIs for your inbound call center can include:

1. Reduce Average Handle Time.

This is an indicator that the customer did not have to wait too long to get their issue addressed. Additionally, usually calls are longer if the agent did not have immediate access to the information needed to resolve the issue or possibly the agent has a training issue.

2. Increase First Call Resolution Rate.

Ideally, a mature help desk should solve most problems without passing the customer over to a 2nd tier support person. Without a doubt customers desire to communicate with the person who can solve their problem.

3. Eliminate Abandoned Call Rate.

If your customers are abandoning their calls prior to reaching an agent, this is a tragedy. To detail, they called because they have a problem, your call center puts them on hold, and then they give up on you and your business.

For more information on Improving call center performance and KPIs see Vibe’s What is the call center experience?, Phdata’s  Improving Customer Experience In Call Centers With Data, and Convoso’s Top 15 Inbound Call Center KPIs and Customer Service Metrics.

A Spectacular Call Center Experience – Technology Applied The Right Way

For more information from Supply Chain Tech Insights, see Is Your Customer Delivery Experience In A Tailspin? – Know The 6 Steps For More Delighted Customers and A Spectacular Call Center Experience – Technology Applied The Right Way.