Customer Service Level 3Monitor the quality of customer service interactions

Understand how to monitor the quality of customer service interactions

Monitoring customer service interactions

It’s important for businesses to understand what their customers think about the level of service, products and services that we provide.

Nearly all businesses will monitor customer service interactions in some form.

Monitoring what your customers think, will help businesses highlight what they are doing well at and what they need to do to improve.

Techniques for gathering customer feedback

Email

This is a great tool to ask customers what they thought about their experience. These can be sent to large groups of customers, or individually tailored emails.

Short surveys

This is a great way to get a quick snap shop of what your customers think. They can be done in a number of ways, such as electronic, paper based and over the telephone.

Can you think of an example when you

have sent an email for feedback?

Why do we do it?

Full-length surveys

This is a tool that is very similar to the short survey, however they are much more in depth. The questions will usually be designed to follow the same journey as the customer. For example, from entering the store right the way through to using the product at home.

Online

Lots of websites will ask you about your experience, this could be about how you found the website, or it could be to ask you to rate a product. There are also ways of gathering customer feedback externally online, such as Trip Advisor or other customer forums.

Face-to-face interviews

Sometimes businesses will complete face-to-face interviews with customers. For example, this could be after a customer has visited the store.

Focus groups

Can you think of an example when you have completed a

face-to-face survey?

Can you think of an example when you have completed

feedback online?

Can you think of an example when you have completed a

full-length survey?

Can you think of an example when you have completed a

short survey?

These are usually a group of customers who are assembled to participate in a discussion. This could be about a product before it is launched, or to provide feedback, such as a recent TV ad.

Comments cards

These are an effective way to allow customers to share their view on a product or service.

Social media

Lots of businesses now have social media pages to allow customers to interactive with them, such as Facebook or Twitter. This channel is also used by customers to display their feedback about a product or service themselves without being asked by the business. Such as tweeting or status updates.

Telephone

Telephone surveys are used to gather customer feedback on a recent experience. This process is usually called CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone Interviews)

Can you think of an example when you have given telephone feedback?

Can you think of an example when you have used social

media to give feedback?

Can you think of an example when you have used a comment card?

Can you think of an example when you would use a focus

group?

Text

This is another effective way of gathering feedback from customers in an efficient manner. It is used frequently by call centres to gather feedback on the callers experience.

Organisational Procedures for gathering feedback

Organisational Procedures for gathering feedback

Make sure your procedures and targets are SMART:

Specific Measurements Achievements Realistic Time Bound

By who? How? When?

What do we want to know?

Target? How often? What will we do with it?

Why do we do it?

Can you think of an example when you have given text

feedback?

Techniques for monitoring customer feedback

EmailAdvantages•Inexpensive•Able to reach large numbers of customers quicklyWhat else?Disadvantages•Low response rate•Not able to reach customers who don’t use emailWhat else?EMAIL

Short Surveys Advantages•Quick snap shop•Customers more likely to completeWhat else?Disadvantages•Doesn’t give you the full pictureWhat else?

Full-Length Surveys Advantages•Gives you the full pictureWhat else?Disadvantages•Customers less likely to completeWhat else?

Online Advantages•InexpensiveWhat else?Disadvantages•Low response ratesWhat else?

Face to Face Interviews Advantages•ExpensiveWhat else?Disadvantages

•Customers may feel pressured or uncomfortable to completeWhat else?

Focus Groups Advantages•ExpensiveWhat else?Disadvantages•Challenging to get groups togetherWhat else?

Comments Cards Advantages•InexpensiveWhat else?Disadvantages•Only gives you feedback of what the customer wants to sayWhat else?

Social Media Advantages•Inexpensive•FlexibleWhat else?Disadvantages•Does not give you 100% controlWhat else?

Telephone Advantages•Gives you a full story•Works well for remote services such as mail order etcWhat else?Disadvantages•Expensive•Customers may feel harassed to completeWhat else?

Text Advantages•InexpensiveWhat else?

Disadvantages•Low response ratesWhat else?

Understand how to monitor the quality of customer service interactions

Monitoring techniquesThere are a number of methods which can be used to monitor customer service interactions. These can include:

listening to calls reviewing written communication getting direct feedback from customers use of mystery shoppers.

Listening to callsListening to calls is especially popular in call centre environments. A senior colleague will listen to the way the agent handles the call against an agreed set of criteria. This is then fed back to the colleague for developmental purposes.AdvantagesAble to monitor how effectively agents handle callsAble to identify re-occurring patternsDisadvantagesYou have to make the customer aware that the call may be monitored Can be demoralising for agents

Reviewing written communicationsThis method is popular for when you want to know how your team deal with customers via letter, email or text.AdvantagesEnsure accuracy Able to identify re-occurring patternsDisadvantagesTime consuming Unable to change poor communication, only learn from it

Getting direct feedback from customersThis is an effective way of monitoring customer service interaction by asking questions through dialogue with customers.AdvantagesReal-time feedback Through the customers eyes DisadvantagesNo record to identify trends Generally will only hear really positive or really negative feedbackMystery shoppers

Many retailers will use external companies to complete mystery shops in the store to measure how the store is performing. AdvantagesAble to test systems and process effectiveness Through the customers eyes DisadvantagesCostly Staff may be able to identify a mystery shopper which will sway results

Representative samples for gathering feedbackRepresentativeWho do you want to speak to? SampleThe number of people you want to speak to.

Representative samples for gathering feedbackFirst, you need to understand what you want to find out. For example, as a store manager you want to know what the customer experience is when they visit your store.Once you have selected your technique to gather customer feedback, eg mystery shopper, you then need to ask yourself what you want to know. For example, store cleanliness, product availability and customer service skills of the people you deal with.Representative You will need to think about the people you have interest in hearing your opinion. This could be all your customers, or just a particular segment. SampleYou will need to think when you have enough feedback to get a clear picture. For example, in a retail store you would need to ensure that your sample contained people that visited the store throughout the opening times, not just a particular time. In the same way, having a sample of just one customer would not give you a clear enough picture.

Data protectionWhen monitoring customer service interactions, you will need to consider the data protection act. The Data Protection Act is a law designed to protect personal data.

Things to consider when monitoring customer service interactions:

Informed consent – ensuring individuals have a clear understanding of the purpose of collecting data and that they give permission of use of the data.The key principles of the Data Protection Act are met. You must make sure that respondents know how you will handle the data.

Data Protection – The key principlesPersonal data shall be processed fairly and lawfully and, in particular, shall not be processed unless (a) at least one of the conditions in Schedule 2 is met, and(b) in the case of sensitive personal data, at least one of the conditions in Schedule 3 is also met.

Personal data shall be obtained only for one or more specified and lawful purposes, and shall not be further processed in any manner incompatible with that purpose or those purposes.

Personal data shall be adequate, relevant and not excessive in relation to the purpose or purposes for which they are processed.

Personal data shall be accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date.

Personal data processed for any purpose or purposes shall not be kept for longer than is necessary for that purpose or those purposes.

Personal data shall be processed in accordance with the rights of data subjects under this Act.

Appropriate technical and organisational measures shall be taken against unauthorised or unlawful processing of personal data and against accidental loss or destruction of, or damage to, personal data.

Personal data shall not be transferred to a country or territory outside the European Economic Area unless that country or territory ensures an adequate level of protection for the rights and freedoms of data subjects in relation to the processing of personal data.

Using monitoring techniques to improveOnce you have collated all of your information, it is important that you do something with it.

The first stage is to analyse the data and identify what it is telling you.

Identifying the criteria

Before you begin to monitor the quality of customer service interactions, you firstly need to decide what you want to measure.

Scenario

You are a manager of a call centre who handles customer service enquiries.

When you are deciding the criteria to monitor, it can be useful to refer to your organisation’s:

Customer service statement

What customers can expect when they deal with you

Customer service policy

How the organisation does to meet what they promise in the service statement

Sampling frames

Monitoring techniques

There are a number of methods which can be used to monitor customer service interactions. These can include:

Listening to calls Reviewing written communication Getting direct feedback from customers Use of mystery shoppers

Creating awareness

Its important that you make both your staff and customers aware of the fact they will be monitored.

What is the main act that covers this requirement?

For customers, there are a number of things that can be done to create awareness.Prompt to advise them before they call ‘We record our calls to improve our service.’ Disclaimer at the bottom of written communications Posters and leafletsAdvised by staffFor staff, there are a number of things that can be done to create awareness.Disclaimer at the bottom of written communications Posters and leafletsExplain to staff why we do it, and what we do with the data collected

Monitor with minimal disruption

When you begin to monitor the quality of customer service interactions, its important to ensure that it doesn’t disrupt the business in any way. If it did, it could cause a negative effect on customer service interactions.

Customer service interactions could be:

face to face on the telephone online written through social media.

Ensure staff and customers are made awareEnsure it doesn’t create additional work for customer service delivers Don’t over monitor interactions Plan what you will monitorPlan what you will do with the data Plan what you will do to improve

Work SMART

Assess the quality

Once you have established the criteria that you will monitor, you will then need to assess your monitoring activities against this.

It is useful to set a benchmark of what you would expect.

For example:

We expect all calls handled by our call centre to be answered in a friendly and professional manner.

Identifying trends

When you are monitoring customer service interactions, you will need to be able to read the data to see if there are any trends or patterns in the results.

Giving constructive feedback to colleagues

Following your monitoring activities, it is really important to give feedback to your colleagues on their performance so they can understand what they are doing well at, what they could be doing better at, and how they can achieve it.

This could be done through:

on-going performance discussions providing specific performance pointers following up on coaching discussions giving corrective guidance letting someone know the consequences of their behaviour.

Six tips to giving constructive feedback.

1. If you can’t think of a constructive purpose don’t give it at all. 2. Focus on description rather than judgement. 3. Focus on observation rather than inference. 4. Focus on behaviour rather than the person. 5. Provide a balance of positive and negative feedback. 6. Be aware of feedback overload.

Its useful to document the feedback discussion that you have with your colleague. This could include:

details of the monitoring activity performance against the agreed criteria employee and manager comments an action plan for improvement.

Techniques for gathering customer feedback

Email

This is a great tool to ask customers what they thought about their experience. These can be sent to large groups of customers, or individually tailored emails.

Short surveys

This is a great way to get a quick snap shop of what your customers think. They can be done in a number of ways, such as electronic, paper based and over the telephone.

Full-length surveys

This is a tool that is very similar to the short survey, however, they are much more in depth. The questions will usually be designed to follow the same journey as the customer. For example, from entering the store right the way through to using the product at home.

Online

Lots of websites will ask you about your experience, this could be about how you found the website, or it could be to ask you to rate a product. There are also ways of gathering customer feedback externally online, such as Trip Advisor or other customer forums.

Face-to-face interviews

Sometimes businesses will complete face to face interviews with customers. For example, this could be after a customer has visited the store.

Focus groups

These are usually a group of customers who are assembled to participate in a discussion. This could be about a product before it is launched, or to provide feedback, such as a recent TV ad.

Comments cards

These are an effective way to allow customers to share their view on a product or service.

Social media

Lots of businesses now have social media pages to allow customers to interactive with them, such as Facebook or Twitter. This channel is also used by customers to display their feedback about a product or service themselves without being asked by the business. Such as tweeting or status updates.

Telephone

Telephone surveys are used to gather customer feedback on a recent experience. This process is usually called CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone Interviews).

Text

This is another effective way of gathering feedback from customers in an efficient manner. It is used frequently by call centres to gather feedback on the callers experience.

Monitoring techniques

There are a number of methods which can be used to monitor customer service interactions. These can include:

listening to calls

reviewing written communication getting direct feedback from customers the use of mystery shoppers.

Listening to calls

Listening to calls is especially popular in call centre environments. A senior colleague will listen to the way the agent handles the call against an agreed set of criteria. This is then fed back to the colleague for developmental purposes.AdvantagesAble to monitor how effectively agents handle callsAble to identify re-occurring patternsDisadvantagesYou have to make the customer aware that the call may be monitored Can be demoralising for agents

Reviewing written communications

This method is popular for when you want to know how your team deal with customers via letter, email or text.AdvantagesEnsure accuracy Able to identify re-occurring patternsDisadvantagesTime consuming Unable to change poor communication, only learn from it

Getting direct feedback from customersThis is an effective way of monitoring customer service interaction by asking questions through dialogue with customers.AdvantagesReal-time feedback Through the customers eyes DisadvantagesNo record to identify trends Generally will only hear really positive or really negative feedback

Mystery shoppersMany retailers will use external companies to complete mystery shops in the store to measure how the store is performing. AdvantagesAble to test systems and process effectiveness Through the customers eyes DisadvantagesCostly Staff may be able to identify a mystery shopper which will sway results

Data Protection

When monitoring customer service interactions, you will need to consider the data protection act.

The data protection act is a law designed to protect personal data. Things to consider when monitoring customer service interactions: Informed consent – ensuring individuals have a clear understanding of the purpose of

collecting data and that they give permission of use of the data. The key principles of the Data Protection Act are met. You must make sure that respondents know how you will handle the data.