Neighbor recommends business to older couple after a great experience with an agent at a contact center.

Why You Can’t Uplevel Customer Satisfaction Without Agent Satisfaction

If your organization is ready to reach new heights in your contact center, it’s time to turn your attention to your agents.

You can’t move Customer Satisfaction without moving Agent Satisfaction — and the data explains just how direct the link is. According to a Gartner survey, 86% of CX executives believe Employee Experience (EX) is the most important factor in delivering Customer Experience (CX).

Why do agents make such a big difference when it comes to CSAT? And what should you consider as you aim to empower your agents? Keep reading to find out why it pays off to focus on agent success.

Your Agents Are on the Front Line

You’ve likely heard the expression that first impressions matter — but have you considered what it means for your contact center? Your agents are on the front lines of your organization. They may even represent the first time a customer interacts with your brand. That’s too important to leave to chance: that first impression is everything, and it’s up to your agents to make it a positive one.

Forbes revealed that your business has merely seven seconds until customers form an impression. When you empower your agents with the right training and tools, you can rest assured knowing your business is making a good impression.

Your Agents Determine How Quickly a Problem is Solved

How long are your customers willing to wait for their problem to be solved? Today’s consumer has high expectations. And the timeline to resolution is all up to your agents. When they’re ready for any problem coming their way, agents can handle issues quickly and exceed expectations. But without the right answers at their fingertips, agents may flounder.

Your agents are a crucial entryway as your customers interact with your brand, and time is central to the customer’s satisfaction. Ignore your agents and the problems will pile up.

Your Agents Have the Power to Develop Relationships

As customers continue to call in and make contact with your agents, they have the opportunity to develop a relationship with the agents and your business. How your agents take advantage of this opportunity determines the outcome. Will customers walk away feeling more connected to your organization? Or will they wish they didn’t have to interact with you at all?

In this age, relationships equal loyalty. When more options are available than ever before, good impressions and connections are vital to a customer’s decision-making. Especially when many customers interact with a business purely online, the opportunity to form a human relationship is not to be underestimated.

Your Agents Can Provide Essential Feedback

What changes does your contact center really need to make? Sometimes your agents are the only ones who can truly answer that question. With their experience using call center software, interacting with customer after customer, agents can provide valuable information on what’s really happening. While many contact centers are turning to data for answers, you can’t afford to ignore the people who pick up on things that machines can’t.

Why aren’t your customers (or your agents) happy? What can be done to improve the customer experience? How could call center software make things easier? Turn to your agents and you’ll gain information that you wouldn’t have otherwise.

What’s Next for your Agents?

It’s clear why the satisfaction of your agents drives the success of your contact center. And as your contact center grows to reach its full potential, this is only the beginning. 

Contact us for...

·       Steps you can take to make agent onboarding easy and effective

·       How smarter tools can empower agents to solve complex problems

·       The impact of motivating agents with personalized goals, trainings and experiences

For these reasons and more, your agents are the key to your contact center’s success. Invest in them and the tools they use and you’ll see impressive results.