IVR Post-call Surveys
Collecting customer feedback scores and comments immediately after a contact center interaction takes place. Invented by us in the early 1990s to measure the customer experience. We design & manage post-call survey programs.
Have you failed to implement the Survey Calibration process?
“Have you failed to implement the Survey Calibration process?” is a question that was included in the 25 Mistakes to Avoid with Post-call IVR Surveys eBook and self-assessment. The eBook and self-assessment includes diagnostic questions for you to examine your post-call IVR survey program against the many problems I have come across since inventing it for contact centers almost 20 years ago. Honestly, this item is one of the very most important items on the list.
Why is this a problem?
Simply said, Survey Calibration is a process within any survey program where the data is sanitized to ensure accuracy. Don’t think data scrubbing, think data integrity. By conducting Survey Calibration you are ensuring that the survey is linked to the correct agent and that the comments validate the scores that the customer gave. This allows contact center agents and all internal stakeholders to feel confident in ownership and actions taken based on the information. With Survey Calibration you can legally and confidently coach, promote, or terminate (let’s hope not) contact center agents based on the scores received because they are the ones who earned/deserves them. Continue reading “Have you failed to implement the Survey Calibration process?” »
Will automating the transfer to post-call IVR surveys prevent agents from cheating?
“Do you agree automating the process for callers to participate in post-call IVR surveys will prevent agents from cheating?” is a question that was included in the 25 Mistakes to Avoid with Post-call IVR Surveys eBook and self-assessment. The eBook and self-assessment includes diagnostic questions for you to uncover problems in your program that I have come across since inventing post-call IVR surveying in contact centers 20 years ago. Many of the misunderstandings have become false truths, and this question is part of a topic that is widely misunderstood.
Why is this a problem?
Automated is not the same as fool-proof. Dictionary.com defines automated: to apply the principles of automation to a mechanical process, industry, office, etc. Nowhere in that definition does it state that doing so will create a perfect, fool-proof process. In this case, automated means customers answering ‘yes’ they would like to participate in a survey when prompted by the IVR at the start of the call will then be transferred to complete the survey once the agent disconnects. Sounds fool-proof and simple enough, right? Not so much. Continue reading “Will automating the transfer to post-call IVR surveys prevent agents from cheating?” »
Why isn’t your customer experience program a top priority?
You probably made your customer experience program a top priority five short months ago when you sat down to make your New Year’s resolutions for your contact centers. Let’s do a gut check…did the priority to better your customer experience program fall by the way side just like your resolution of a smaller waistline? I’m sure that your intentions were noble but the hectic day-to-day of running your contact centers can easily get in the way of your long-range goals. There’s still time to redirect your focus back to your goals.
According to a recent CustomerManagementIQ survey, nearly 76% of the customer management executives and leaders rated customer experience a ‘5’ on a scale of 1-5 (with 5 being of the highest importance). Could those executives and leaders be your competitors? It’s very likely. All the more reason customer experience and a revision of your Voice of the Customer (VoC) program should be a ‘5’ on your list too. Once customer experience is your highest priority and you are ready to get to work, where should you start? Who owns the customer experience?
While in my opinion everyone should own the customer experience in some way, for the purpose of this piece let’s focus on how the contact center contributes to the customer experience. Think about how the contact center is responsible for many of the touch points and has influence over many other touch points. So the contact center can own the voice of the customer. The easiest place to start in building a customer experience program from the ground up, or revamping your current one is with post-call IVR surveys. Continue reading “Why isn’t your customer experience program a top priority?” »
Are you afraid contact center agents will try to cheat your survey process?
“Are you terrified that agents will try to cheat the process?” is a question that was included in the 25 Mistakes to Avoid with Post-call IVR Surveys e-book and self-assessment. The e-book and self-assessment includes one bonus question so you actually get 26. After 20 years experience designing and operating post-call IVR survey programs in contact centers, I have compiled this book to help others. Many of the questions are ones that I have been answering for years. Read and then share the ebook to help others in your company or in the contact center industry so the common mistakes can be eliminated.
Why is this a problem?
It’s because all contact center agents are out to get you! Is this one of the nightmares that wakes you up late at night? I hope not. However, I can’t believe how many contact center leaders worry that agents will cheat the post-call IVR survey process. The feeling is too common among managers, and it does not need to be. Continue reading “Are you afraid contact center agents will try to cheat your survey process?” »
Does your data collection system prevent conditional branching?
“Does your data collection system prevent conditional branching?” is one of the questions in the eBook and self-assessment 25 Mistakes to Avoid with Post-call IVR Surveys, the compilation of the mistakes I have seen in the twenty years since inventing the post-call IVR survey methodology for contact centers. Take the self-assessment to determine where your program has weaknesses. The data collection system conditional branching as one of the self-assessment items is what I talk about in this article.
Why is this a problem?
The question that seems to hit the heart of this topic is to think about the collective group of your contact center’s calls and ask “does one size fit all?” If the majority of your calls are ostensibly the same, you do have a one size fits all scenario. I have not seen many customer service centers where that is true, despite what people think internally. This fact typically comes out when I lead the measurement design portion of our managed service programs. As soon as you think about the different kind of calls, the attributes that need to be measured begin to deviate from the one-size-fits-all list. I generally have to invest a lot of effort trying to reign in a client’s purported differences to identify a core set of service criteria across call types. Eventually we do come to a solution that will allow me to collect the data needed to drive their desired outcomes. Continue reading “Does your data collection system prevent conditional branching?” »
Do you think it’s a good idea to transfer upset customers from the survey to supervisors?
“Do you think it’s a good idea to transfer upset customers from the survey to supervisors?” is a question that was included in the 25 Mistakes to Avoid with Post-call IVR Surveys eBook and self-assessment. The eBook and self-assessment includes diagnostic questions for you to uncover weaknesses in your post-call IVR survey program or implement a new program that is not loaded with mistakes that others have made. Now is the time to take advantage of the compilation of problems I have come across in the 20 years since inventing post-call IVR surveying in contact centers.
Why is this a problem?
I know what you’re thinking; who wouldn’t prefer to have their issue dealt with right away compared to when somebody ‘gets around to’ returning their call, right? In this world of instant information, that would tend to be the common choice, however, let’s think about the big picture and ramifications of executing that from a human and business perspective. Continue reading “Do you think it’s a good idea to transfer upset customers from the survey to supervisors?” »
Why contact center leaders feel like punching bags and how to fight back
Contact centers are staffed with nice people who easily become punching bags. These people are ready and willing to answer questions and serve internal (in addition to external) customer needs. If you say jump, these kind contact center agents simply ask, how high? It is becoming more widely accepted that the contact center is the customer hub of any business. The people in contact centers selflessly serve the needs of the customer and report the customer experience data across all business units. But we know that the contact center does not always get the respect it so rightly deserves. Far too often the benefits the contact center delivers to the business as a whole is overlooked. But contact center professionals do not have to take punches. You can hold our heads up high and (in a nice way) battle back. Here is your chance to “get off the ropes”!
If you need to get off the ropes, here is a great opportunity for you to leverage your trusty post-call IVR survey. By collecting a statistically representative sample of customer interactions you have a stronger backbone because of customer experience data. And the more data you have (good, clean data that is), and the more you mine that data for customer insights, the stronger your backbone becomes. In the contact center you have powerful information and the rest of the company’s success relies on the collecting, mining and the distributing of this customer data. You don’t have to actually punch your way out, let the data do it for you. Ding! Round one of this boxing match just went to you in the contact center. Continue reading “Why contact center leaders feel like punching bags and how to fight back” »
Do you think any survey is better than no survey?
“Do you think any survey is better than no survey?” is a question that was included in the 25 Mistakes to Avoid with Post-call IVR Surveys e-book and self-assessment. The e-book and self-assessment includes a bonus so you actually get 26 questions. The questions are an accumulation of more than 20 years of experience designing and operating post-call IVR survey programs in contact centers. Many of these questions are ones that I have been providing answers to for years. So do everyone a big favor and share the ebook with others in the contact center industry, we need your help to eliminate some of the ignorance about post-call IVR surveying.
Why is this a problem?
While this mindset is not uncommon in companies around the globe, it is not a very productive one and could end up costing you millions over time. And, more than money, it costs people a lot of mental stress. How many times have you tried to explain survey results with the pain of anxiety in your stomach? Continue reading “Do you think any survey is better than no survey?” »
Does your current post-call IVR survey prevent collecting multiple customer comments?
“Does your current post-call IVR survey prevent you from collecting multiple customer comments?” is one of the 26 items outlined in the 25 Mistakes to Avoid with Post-call IVR Surveys e-book and self-assessment. There’s a bonus item to make the total 26. Answer the diagnostic assessment questions to uncover issues with your own post-call survey program. You can even use it to build a program that exceeds all expectations. Customer Relationship Metrics has documented the common mistakes we have seen since inventing and providing post-call IVR surveying programs in contact centers 20 years ago. To fulfill one of our missions to better the contact center industry, we freely provide the insights we have learned to everyone.
Why is this a problem?
The act of “collecting” customer feedback with a post-call IVR survey is not extremely difficult. This is part of the problem. It is not uncommon for contact center managers to fulfill the requirement to have a customer feedback tool by activating some software module to collect the data. Turn it on and the data starts to pour in, right? Like every other area in your contact center, you have too much useless data accumulating. Well, that is true and there are 25 other points in this self-assessment to stop garbage data coming from your post-call IVR survey program. Continue reading “Does your current post-call IVR survey prevent collecting multiple customer comments?” »
Is your post-call IVR survey program an internal auditor?
How many of you are using post-call IVR surveys in your Voice of the Customer (VoC) customer experience programs? Good. Even if you are not, this will be of interest to you because they are in your future. In the contact center industry, you never want to say “never”. Now, how many of you believe that your surveys are well-executed customer satisfaction measurement tools that deliver more answers than questions? Ok, still a few of you left. Finally, are you using your post-call IVR surveys to be an internal auditor that helps you to identify policy and process problems that negatively impact the customer experience and the employee experience? Hmm…anyone left?
Contrary to popular belief, it’s hard to create that perfect post-call IVR survey program. Only the most skilled craftsmen know how to write questions from a customer experience perspective so they garner actionable insights. Then you must test to find the proper length so you know how many survey questions your customers are willing to answer. Then you have to work hard to get buy-in at all levels so that they develop an ownership to make the organization more customer-centric. Do you think this is enough? Continue reading “Is your post-call IVR survey program an internal auditor?” »
Do you think a 1-5 scale is the best?
“Do you think a 1-5 scale is the best?” is a question that was included in the 25 Mistakes to Avoid with Post-call IVR Surveys e-book and self-assessment. The e-book and self-assessment includes 26 questions because we threw in a bonus. The questions are designed to provide a diagnostic that can be used to uncover many of the problems that have been created with post-call IVR surveys since I invented them in contact centers almost 20 years ago. Many of these questions I have been providing answers to from the very beginning, so please share the ebook with your colleagues, we need your help to stop some of the madness. Continue reading “Do you think a 1-5 scale is the best?” »
How to safeguard against customer experience inconsistencies in your call center
Have you ever been disappointed going to a restaurant based on a friend’s recommendation but the great food and service they raved about, and you expected, was just the opposite? I don’t know what’s worse, having the bad experience or lying to your friend so their feelings are not hurt.
Unfortunately, the same disappointment happens in contact centers too – customer experience inconsistency is the bane of our existence! In a perfect world the customers call in, reach a knowledgeable agent, and have their issue resolved promptly and professionally. Done. But, there is no worry in that. It’s the not-so-perfect world that we fear – the customers who have the opposite, disappointing and unexpected experience. Continue reading “How to safeguard against customer experience inconsistencies in your call center” »
Why only angry people participate in post-call IVR surveys
“Do you think only angry people participate in post-call IVR surveys?” is one of the 26 questions included in the ebook 25 Mistakes to Avoid with Post-call IVR Surveys (there is a bonus question included). The e-book and self-assessment includes diagnostic questions, like this one, to uncover many of the common mistakes people make in their post-call IVR survey programs. I never thought that after inventing post-call IVR surveys I would have to spend so much effort to overcome the misinformation that abounds about them. Please share the ebook with your colleagues so they can learn from the mistakes of others.
Why thinking this a problem?
If you think only angry people participate in post-call IVR surveys you would be terribly mistaken. And if you had a post-call IVR survey program where this happened, it is direct evidence of a massive program design flaw. It was unintentionally built to capture only the angry. Continue reading “Why only angry people participate in post-call IVR surveys” »
Do you have a rule to keep your post-call IVR surveys very short?
“Do you have a rule to keep the survey very short?” is a question that was included in the 25 Mistakes to Avoid with Post-call IVR Surveys ebook and self-assessment. The ebook and self-assessment contains numerous diagnostic questions to help you to identify many of the common mistakes companies make when implementing post-call IVR survey programs. Twenty years ago when I invented post-call IVR surveying in contact centers, surveys that were too short was not the common problem like it is today. Continue reading “Do you have a rule to keep your post-call IVR surveys very short?” »
Does your company consider post-call IVR surveying to be a technology?
“Does your company consider post-call IVR surveying to be a technology?” is a question that was included in the 25 Mistakes to Avoid with Post-call IVR Surveys ebook and self-assessment. The ebook and self-assessment includes diagnostic questions to uncover many of the problems I have come across since inventing post-call IVR surveying in contact centers almost 20 years ago.
Why this is a problem?
It seems like there is an app for everything nowadays, and this seems like a very good thing for consumers. Similarly, there seems to be software for everything we need to do in our businesses. You are probably involved in no less than one major software/hardware installation and two or three minor ones that support business automation. Continue reading “Does your company consider post-call IVR surveying to be a technology?” »
