Satisfaction with Government Contact Centers Hits 6-Year Low
CFI Group's 2019 Government Contact Center Satisfaction Index (GCCSI) fell to 63 on a 100-point scale, down 7 percent from 2018. The research blames the interplay between websites and contact centers, noting that 75 percent of customers who reach out to government contact centers first try to resolve their issues online. As a result, simple questions are being handled by customers on agency websites, saving the complicated, frustrating questions for contact center agents.
"Customers are increasingly trying to resolve their issues online before reaching out to the contact center for help," said Kelly Stallard, program director at CFI Group, in a statement. "So, it's critical that agencies assess the contact center's role with the customer service experience within the context of the whole customer service journey, which includes customer interaction with the agency website. Measuring the customer experience across the journey's touchpoints enables an agency to identify and focus on those high-impact areas that, when improved, will have the greatest influence on customer satisfaction with the entire customer service experience."
According to the study, agent effectiveness and empowerment are the two primary factors that drive overall government contact center satisfaction. When customers reach agency contact centers, they are looking for skilled, professional agents who can effectively address their issues and help them find the information they need to complete their transactions. To facilitate this customer support, agencies need to hire and train talented agents and empower those agents with flexible policies and a degree of authority to offer customers a tailored solution.
The study also found that when agents are empowered, they can deliver effective first-agent resolution, first-call resolution, and low call handle time, three factors that help ensure a great contact center experience.
Customer satisfaction is 28 percent higher when the issue is resolved on the first call instead of two or more calls. It is 18 percent higher when the issue is resolved in less than 15 minutes instead of more than 15 minutes. It is 3 percent higher when issues are resolved by one agent instead of two or more agents.
To deliver an excellent customer service journey experience, government agencies must implement the systems and processes needed to provide online self-serve tools to customers, while also ensuring that customers can easily reach an effective and empowered agent when needed, the research concluded.