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In 2024, consumer expectations for the experience your company provides will reach an all-time high. The price for failing to meet these expectations will also skyrocket, because not only are consumers more willing to jump ship after a single bad experience, but your reputation can be easily and seriously damaged by negative online reviews and bad experiences going viral on social media.
But the challenge is that the customer journey is rarely linear — today’s customers access between 20-500 touchpoints before they make a purchase. If you truly want to deliver a great experience, you have to create a cohesive journey and perfect each of those touchpoints as they move across channels.
When unifying the customer experience, many brands overlook the importance of the contact center experience. This channel is a make-or-break for your brand — if you give callers Groundhog Day vibes with an endless series of transfers, your revenue and reputation will suffer. Simply saying “your call is very important to us” isn’t enough — you have to prove it.
Read on to get the latest statistics about the call center and learn how managers are gearing up for 2024.
The Customer Experience Is More Important Than Ever
1. 74% of consumers are at least somewhat likely to buy based on experiences alone. In most industries, the customer experience is a key competitive differentiator. (source: Forbes & Arm Treasure Data)
2. Consumers will pay a 16% price premium for a great customer experience. If you save your customers time and hassle, they’ll reward you. (source: PwC)
3. 9 out of 10 consumers want an omnichannel experience with seamless service between communication channels. To deliver the kinds of experiences consumers have come to expect, brands need to connect their online and offline channels. (source: CX Today)
4. 87% of consumers want proactive customer service from the companies they buy from. When consumers call your contact center, they expect you to already know who they are and have some idea of what they need. (source: Jive)
5. 95% of contact center professionals view customer satisfaction as the most important call center metric. Keeping your customers happy is tantamount — if you do this, revenue will follow. (source: Call Centre Helper)
6. Companies with strong omnichannel customer engagement retain 89% of their customers. Great experiences not only help with customer acquisition but also retention. (source: Invesp)
7. The majority of call centers currently prioritize addressing 80% of incoming calls within 20 seconds. Many companies are aiming to elevate this standard and achieve 90% in under 15 seconds. (Source: callcentrehelper.com)
Poor Call Center Experiences Cost You Customers
8. $1.6T is lost every year in the U.S. because of poor customer service. Poor customer experiences are a liability to your business and need to be addressed. (source: Accenture Strategy)
9. 32% of customers stop doing business with a brand they love after only one bad experience. Brand loyalty isn’t what it once was — in today’s hyperconnected world, switching to a competitor is now as easy as clicking a button. (source: PwC)
10. Loyal customers spend 67% more than new customers. Repeat customers are a critical revenue source for your business — to keep them coming back, you need to ensure you’re delivering top-notch contact center experiences. (source: Business.com)
11. Acquiring new customers costs 5-10 times more than selling to existing ones. Focusing on customer retention is worth the effort — new customers are costly to acquire and they spend less. (source: Business.com)
12. 71% of customers anticipate personalized interactions from companies, and 76% get frustrated when this expectation is not met. Customers expect personalization not just online, but over the phone as well. (Source: mckinsey.com)
13. 58% of US customers are willing to pay a premium to a brand that can deliver a superior customer experience. Enhancing the call experience can build loyalty and pay big dividends down the road. (Source: Forbes.com)
When Consumers Are Shopping for High-Stakes Purchases, The Phone Call Experience Is Critical
14. 87% of respondents said talking to a person on the phone to answer questions made them feel more confident in making high-consideration purchases, versus purchasing directly online. It can feel daunting to make an expensive purchase without hearing a human voice that can reassure you and answer your detailed questions. (source: Invoca)
15. Consumers prefer to communicate with businesses via phone (68%), email (55%), in person (40%), live agent chat (33%), and chatbot (13%). Sorry, chatbots. It turns out, people aren’t fond of typing out detailed questions only to get “Sorry, I didn’t quite understand that” in reply. (source: Invoca)
Consumers Won’t Call If They Think You’ll Waste Their Time
16. The top 3 reasons customers avoid calling businesses are because of long wait times, other methods of communication are faster, and they anticipate being rerouted. If you make the contact experience painful, customers won’t call at all. (source: Invoca)
17. When consumers are placed on hold, 5% hang up immediately, 28% hang up after 5 minutes or less, 26% give 6-10 minutes, and only 6% hold for 30 minutes or longer. Be careful with that last group, they’re hanging on through spite alone! (source: Invoca)
18. 80% of calls answered within 20 seconds represent the global metric for service level in a call center, while the average speed to answer is around 28 seconds. If you fail to meet these benchmarks, your customers might just take their business elsewhere. (source: Cloudtalk)
Many Call Centers Are Failing to Deliver Seamless Experiences
19. 79% of callers are rerouted at least once. To fix this, some contact centers are using intent-based call routing technology to get customers to the right person, right away. (source: Invoca)
20. 71% of respondents said that they believe businesses already know why they’re calling. Today’s consumers expect brands to deliver seamless online-to-offline experiences — and they believe you have the data to do it. (source: Invoca)
21. When callers aren’t transferred, 49% of people feel relieved, 37% feel their business is valued, 34% are more inclined to complete a purchase. Respondents also said that when they aren’t transferred, they trust the business more — this makes the close that much easier. (source: Invoca)
22. Improving agent satisfaction boosts customer satisfaction. Call center managers believe improving job satisfaction can improve customer satisfaction scores by 62%, boost efficiency by 56% and improve agent retention by 39%. (Source: Invoca State of the Contact Center Report)
23. Gartner forecasts a fivefold increase in the automation rate of agent interactions, reaching around 10% by 2026, a significant rise from the 1.8% observed in 2022. It might be time to automate if you’re not already! (Source: Gartner)
24. 53% of consumers say they need to repeat their reason for calling multiple agents. Connecting the online to offline experience with conversation intelligence can solve this issue. (source: Invoca)
Many Teams Don’t Have the Right Tools and Data to Improve Contact Center Experiences
25. 86% of agents feel that they don’t have the resources or the authority to deal with customers effectively. To personalize experiences and increase close rates, contact centers are using conversation intelligence data. (source: Jive)
26. 60% of failed attempts at First Contact Resolution (FCR) are due to an agent’s inability to access the right data. If you don’t give your agents the right data, issues will go unresolved and your customers will get frustrated. (source: Jive)
27. 20-30% of call volume is about previously unresolved issues. Unresolved customer issues will come back to bite you later, clogging up your phone lines and taking up agent bandwidth. (source: Jive)
28. 50% of call center managers said that they didn’t have enough automation in their contact center tools. To address this challenge, call center managers are using tools like Invoca automated call QA, which automatically scores each inbound phone conversation. (source: Deloitte)
29. Call center managers said the biggest challenge that stops them from harnessing their strategic investments is “integration with existing systems.” It’s critical that when you onboard a new contact center tool, like conversation intelligence, you ensure that it integrates with the other technology tools in your stack. (source: Deloitte)
30. The top 3 most useful pieces of customer information that agents need to provide a better experience are the customer’s name, the product/service they’re interested in, and the customer’s phone number. Giving this info to your agents before the call is connected can help them improve close rates. (Source: Invoca State of the Contact Center Report)
The Future of The Call Center: Remote Workers and Conversation Intelligence
31. In a recent survey, 65% of respondents said they wanted to be full-time remote employees post-pandemic, and 31% said they wanted a hybrid remote work environment. That’s 96% who desire some form of remote work! (source: FlexJobs)
32. Despite bots and automation, conventional technologies like the telephone and email will account for 81.5% of the total contact center inbound interactions. Chatbots will never be able to match the warmth and reassurance of a genuine human interaction. (source: Call Centre Helper)
33. 66% of call center businesses are looking forward to investing in Advanced Analytics to provide a better customer journey. Advanced analytics solutions like conversation intelligence are helping call center teams provide better experiences for customers. (source: Biz30)
34. 76% of contact centers are planning to invest in artificial intelligence in the next two years. Automated QA and other AI-powered tools are helping contact centers increase efficiency and deliver better experiences at scale. (source: Deloitte)
35. 82% agree that insights from inbound calls and call experiences may reveal costly blind spots in their organizations. Calls are a rich source of data — the customer is literally telling you what product or service they’re interested in, how they want to engage with you, and any barriers to purchase they’re facing. (source: Forrester)
36. 48% of brands expect to enhance customer experiences when they implement conversation intelligence solutions. Other benefits they expect to reap include increased revenue growth, better-informed R&D decisions, improved employee productivity, and more. (source: Forrester)
37. We found some conflicting views between managers and agents when it comes to hybrid or in-person work environments. 68% of agents believe a hybrid work setting allows them to provide better customer service, but only 35% of managers agree. The same number of managers believe a fully in-person arrangement provides the best customer service while only 18% of agents agree. (Source: Invoca State of the Contact Center Report)
38. Contact center managers that use conversation intelligence are 50% more likely to say their agents feel positively about the coaching they receive. This signals a widespread recognition among managers of the transformative potential of conversation intelligence solutions. (Source: Invoca State of the Contact Center Report)
39. 85% of call center managers are likely to implement a conversation intelligence solution in the next year. This statistic highlights a shift towards technology-driven improvements in customer service and operational efficiency within the call center landscape. (Source: Invoca State of the Contact Center Report)
4 Quick Tips to Improve Call Center Performance Right Now
Elevating contact center performance is paramount for businesses aiming to deliver exceptional customer experiences. Here are five actionable tips to enhance contact center efficiency and boost conversion rates.
1. Implement AI-Powered Insights: Artificial intelligence (AI) provides contact centers with valuable insights into customer interactions. By analyzing call data and customer behaviors, businesses gain a nuanced understanding of customer needs. These insights enable agents to personalize interactions, proactively address customer concerns, and ultimately improve conversion rates.
2. Streamline Call Center Operations with Automation: Efficiency is at the core of a high-performing contact center. Automation plays a pivotal role in streamlining operations by handling routine tasks, allowing agents to focus on more complex customer inquiries. Automation not only enhances efficiency but also contributes to a seamless customer experience by reducing wait times and increasing agent availability.
3. Embrace Best Practices for Call Handling: Ensuring that contact center agents are well-equipped to handle customer inquiries is fundamental to success. We recommend adopting best practices for call handling, including comprehensive training, active listening, regular coaching sessions, and providing agents with the necessary scripts to resolve issues promptly. By adhering to these best practices, businesses can deliver outstanding service, thereby improving customer satisfaction and increasing conversion rates.
4. Prioritize the Customer Experience: A focus on delivering an exceptional customer experience is a key driver for improving contact center performance. Tools like Invoca help teams align contact center practices with customer expectations. By prioritizing the customer experience, businesses can build loyalty, foster positive relationships, and create a reputation for excellence in their industry.
Additional Reading
Want to learn more about how Invoca can help you drive more contact center revenue? Check out these resources:
