What is the Most Common Adjective used in Inbound Care Calls?

This blog was provided by: Cloud 5 Communications 

By Ken Hayes, Cloud5 Communications

During a recent discussion about the effectiveness of contact center technology and how to measure true ROI based on resolution that is ‘contained’ within the technology (as opposed to resorting to a human phone call), an interesting tidbit came to light.

The tidbit came from a voice analytics expert who had compiled almost 10 years’ worth of data regarding the most common adjective used by customers trying to resolve their issues with customer service agents.

So, what do you think it is? Would you guess it’s positive or negative in connotation? It’s actually a very interesting and revealing word; it reveals a great deal about the entangled nature of omni-channel technology, our policies, and agent-empowerment level. It also reminds us of how brave and awesome our frontline, in-the-trenches agents truly are.

The word is, “ridiculous”, as in, “Uggghhh, that’s so ridiculous!!”. No other word reveals frustration (without swearing) like the word, “ridiculous”. From it, we learn that our customers are more frustrated than delighted with some part of what we’re doing. It could be that they had to call in the first place (the tech/self-serve route didn’t work). It could be that a policy is standing in the way of resolution. It could be that the agent needs to ask a manager…again! Or, it could be the all too familiar, ‘validation-that-broke-the-camel’s-back’.

The moral of the story, in my humble opinion, is that we must strive to assess the totality of the ways our customers can resolve their issues by noticing trends in where (omni-channel) and what (policies & agent empowerment) tends to create negative CSAT events. This means that not only is quality data capture essential; it also means that communication and self-serve platforms must be integrated so that a single resolution journey can be analyzed.

Remember, it is always a tremendous help to make sure your outsourcing partners are savvy enough to keep up with your technology wish list, but most of all, believe your customers when a majority of them think something is extremely “ridiculous”.

About the Author: Ken Hayes (https://www.linkedin.com/in/hayesken) is a 16-year+ veteran of BPO sales, consultation, and contact center program development specializing in communication consistency across channels and the corporate landscape for maximized brand preservation and promotion.

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