Call Quality Monitoring is essential for any contact center aiming to enhance customer satisfaction, improve agent performance, and ensure compliance with brand standards. This guide delves into the fundamentals of call quality, outlines the steps involved in Call Quality Monitoring, and emphasizes its importance in maintaining operational efficiency.

Did you know that 97% of consumers decide to stay with a brand or shift to a competitor based on the quality of the brand’s customer service? As contact centers are the primary touchpoint between customers and brands, it’s thus essential to maintain the highest quality standards in such centers to boost customer loyalty. Every call between a customer and a contact center agent is an opportunity to either reinforce or damage the brand’s reputation.

This is where Call Quality Monitoring (CQM) comes into play. CQM allows businesses to systematically review and assess calls, providing valuable insights that can drive improvements in customer service and operational efficiency.

What is Call Quality?

Call quality refers to the standard of communication between an agent and a customer during a phone call. It encompasses various factors, including the clarity of the conversation, the agent’s tone and attitude, adherence to scripts, and the resolution of the customer’s issue. High call quality indicates that the interaction was effective, professional, and aligned with the company’s values.

Basics of Call Quality Monitoring 

Call Quality Monitoring (CQM) involves systematically listening to and evaluating customer calls to assess the performance of contact center agents. The primary goals of CQM are to ensure:

»Higher Customer Satisfaction: Investing in new customers has been found to be 5-25 times more expensive than retaining existing ones. Thus, focusing on satisfying existing customers is a good strategy to boost business revenue as it can encourage repeat purchases. CQM identifies and addresses areas where agents can improve. It thus helps ensure that customers have positive experiences and higher satisfaction rates.

»Better Agent Performance: 88% of high-performing service decision-makers are investing significantly in agent training. CQM helps in identifying the training needs so that the business can target training resources in the right area. In the long run, this positively impacts agent performance.

»Increased Operational Efficiency: As CQM sheds light on training needs and improves agent performance, operational inefficiencies are reduced. It can also help identify the need to employ AI and other advanced tools to assist agents in boosting their productivity.

»Compliance: It is important to maintain consistency in interactions to avoid customer frustration. Thus, CQM also seeks to ensure that agents adhere to company policies and brand guidelines. For instance, if the brand is focused on the Gen Z audience and takes on a more informal tone in all its brand communication, the agents must adhere to that. Further, agents should meet regulatory requirements, especially in industries like BFSI. This mitigates compliance risks for the organization.

How Does Call Quality Monitoring Work?

Effective CQM involves several key steps, each critical to the success of the program. If you have decided to go ahead with the process, here’s how you can get started:

1. Set Up Evaluation Criteria and Select KPIs

You should first define what constitutes a high-quality call by setting clear evaluation criteria. This might include factors such as script adherence, tone of voice, problem resolution, and customer satisfaction. To facilitate scientific measurement, you must select Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that will help in measuring the success of the calls. Common KPIs include First Call Resolution (FCR), Average Handle Time (AHT), and Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT).

2. Use Reliable Call Recording Software

Call recording is one of the most important steps in the CQM process. It allows agents and management to analyze their performance. You should, therefore, invest in call recording software that allows you to capture and store conversations for later review. The software should offer high-quality recordings and be compliant with legal regulations. It is important to note here that though call recording is a helpful tool, it is reactive in nature. Proactive monitoring facilitated by real-time analysis tools such as those by Exotel is a better choice.

3. Create a Dedicated Quality Assurance Team

It is always recommended that clear accountability and responsibility structures be set. You should establish a dedicated team responsible for regularly reviewing and evaluating calls. This team should consist of trained professionals who understand the business’s goals and can provide constructive feedback to agents.

4. Leverage Advanced Technologies

The CQM process can become complicated, say, for large businesses that use various communication channels. Therefore, it is prudent to utilize tools such as speech analytics and Artificial Intelligence to automate parts of the monitoring process. These technologies can help identify trends, detect emotions, and provide insights at scale.

5. Communicate Evaluation Results to Agents

Finally, the results of the quality monitoring process must be communicated to the agents. It should however be done in a constructive manner to avoid hampering the morale of the agents. Try to provide them with actionable feedback and work with them to develop improvement plans.

Why is Exotel’s CQM Tool Important for a Call Center?

As discussed in the previous sections, CQM can help boost customer satisfaction, improve agent performance, and increase operational efficiency. Advanced tools like Exotel’s AI-powered Call Quality Monitoring tool can simplify the entire process. Instead of manual monitoring, using Exotel’s CQM tool can allow you to:

»Monitor an increased number of calls in real time across multiple channels

»Reduce operational costs by automating the monitoring process

»Maintain an agile approach in the face of changing KPIs

»Get deeper insights with the help of advanced analytics and algorithms

»Minimize human errors and bias

»Facilitate multilingual conversation analysis for a global audience

In addition to the above capabilities, you can also enjoy unparalleled reliability and security with Exotel. You can monitor the system’s health in real-time with our transparent reports and download data easily from the console to make targeted improvements. The tool also adheres to ISO, PCI-DSS, SOC2 certifications.

The best part? It can seamlessly integrate with knowledge bases, contact centers, and other conversation platforms, facilitating real-time data access and analysis. Thus, you can ensure a truly omnichannel experience for your customers and agents.

Interested to know more? Chat with an Exotel expert for a 30-minute strategy session and schedule a demo.

The Bottom Line

Call Quality Monitoring is a critical component of any successful contact center operation. By systematically evaluating calls, contact centers can improve customer satisfaction, enhance agent performance, and ensure compliance with company standards. Exotel’s AI-powered Call Quality Monitoring tool provides the necessary support and technology to make the monitoring process both efficient and effective, ultimately contributing to the overall success of the contact center.