In the world of contact centers, Quality of Service (QS) is much more than a simple indicator; it is the barometer of operational efficiency, measuring the ability to respond effectively and quickly to incoming calls. Although the ultimate goal of 100% may seem out of reach, getting close to it is still entirely possible. What exactly is QS, what are the issues, and what strategies can be deployed to improve it? Let’s see it together!
1. What is QS?
QS is a measure of a contact center’s ability to respond promptly and efficiently to inbound calls. Expressed as a percentage, it relates the number of calls handled to the total number of calls received. A high QS indicates prompt call response, while a low QS indicates long wait times and unanswered calls.
2. What conclusions should we draw from this?
a) If the QS is high ✅
- Decreased abandonment rate: Customers are more likely to stay online if they are supported quickly overall.
- Resource Optimization: Better call management enables more efficient use of available resources.
- Customer satisfaction: even if QS does not directly reflect the quality of service, it contributes to a positive perception of the attention given to customers.
b) If the QS is low ❌
- Customer dissatisfaction: Long wait times can lead to frustration and dissatisfaction.
- Reputational impacts: Negative customer experiences can damage the company’s reputation through negative reviews or word of mouth.
- Increased call abandonment: Customers are more likely to hang up when experiencing long wait times.
- Impact on productivity: Agents are most likely overloaded, with these call peaks affecting their efficiency and causing an additional source of stress in their work.
3. Strategies to put in place
- Optimizing waiting time: implement solutions such as virtual queuing, efficient IVR or automatic callbacks to reduce delays.
- Diversification of communication channels: encourage the use of alternative channels such as social media or email to relieve pressure on phone lines.
- Self-care development: Offer customers self-help tools such as dynamic FAQs or chatbots to solve their problems independently.
- Overflow strategy: anticipate call peaks by setting up automatic messages, call forwarding or voice messages.
- Call volume forecasting: Use reliable forecasting tools and analyze historical data to anticipate peaks in activity and optimize shift planning.
4. Conclusion
QS is an important indicator that you should seek to maximize in your customer relations strategy. With this in mind, a suitable telephony tool with an effective ACD is the primary condition for good management of inbound calls. Do you want to be able to personalize call routing rules based on skills, availability or even waiting time? Do you want to manage call peaks with robust infrastructure and overflow strategies to limit the number of abandoned calls?
Find out how our solution can meet your needs and guarantee you excellent QS!
