Research Insights – How Are Contact Centres Rising to the Challenge of Delivering Great CX?

In our What Contact Centres Are Doing Right Now (2023 Edition) research – sponsored by Odigo – we polled contact centre leaders on the challenges of designing a great customer experience.

Here’s what they said…

31% of Customers Value First Call Resolution the Most

Customers Value FCR and Knowledgeable Advisors First and Foremost

Survey respondents claimed their customers valued first call resolution (FCR) (31.9%) and knowledgeable advisors (29.3%) the most – highlighting where many contact centres are focusing their customer service efforts right now.

Somewhat surprisingly, lagging were efficiency (9%), effective follow-up (8.5%), and professionalism (7.5%) – although it’s arguable that these are traits many take for granted when dealing with an organization and wouldn’t necessarily feel are notable points of value.

It is also interesting to see how the aspects of service customers value has changed over the years, as shown in the table below:

74% See Customer Feedback as Most Important in CX Design

Customers Placed Front and Centre of CX Design

It’s fantastic to see customers placed front and centre here, and quite rightly so, with 74.4% of survey respondents claiming that customer feedback is the most important element in customer experience design.

By comparison, employee feedback (12.8%), marketing strategy (6.4%), and social changes and attitudes (3.2%) are perceived to be less important elements in CX design.

Furthermore, of the 1.6% who said ‘other’, survey respondents also cited building visible and clear processes.

Only 6% Rely on Postal Surveys to Capture Customer Feedback

Voice of Employees, Email, and Transactional Surveys Top the Leaderboard – for Now

The 2023 research findings showed that voice of employees (56.7%), email surveys (49.7%), and transactional surveys (44.9%) are the most widely used methods for capturing customer feedback right now. However, there are clear signs of change ahead.

Email Surveys Are on Their Way Out, in Growing Favour of Speech Analytics

The findings also revealed that email surveys (down from 53.9% in 2022 to 49.7% in 2023), transactional surveys (significantly down from 61.8% in 2020 to 44.9% in 2023), and customer reason codes (down from 40.1% in 2022 to 37.4% in 2023) are falling out of favour – each receiving their lowest scores since 2019.

This is in parallel with the growing popularity of voice of employee surveys (up from 51.8% in 2022 to 56.7% in 2023), SMS/messaging app surveys (up from 19.5% in 2022 to 24.6% in 2023), and social listening (up from 18.4% in 2022 to 24.1% in 2023).

Not only that, but the use of speech and text analytics is on the rise too – hitting a five-year high in our survey records, climbing from 9.6% in 2019 to 19.3% in 2023.

39% Believe Investment in Self-Service Offers Maximum Value

Self-Service a Clear Winner

More than a third (39%) of survey respondents stated that investing in self-service was where they believed their organization could see maximum value for money.

Personalization (19.2%) and productivity tools (13.4%) were also perceived to be a strong investment.

By contrast, diagnostic tools and website capabilities were thought to be worse value for money. This suggests a strong trend in contact centres investing (or soon to be investing) in self-service to help improve the customer experience.

Chatbots Are Not Giving Value for Money

Only a surprising 8.6% of respondents said that chatbots are giving the maximum value for money – perhaps reflecting customer dissatisfaction with this new technology.

14% Using AI to Support Data Capture on Customer Interactions

Self-Service Key Focus for AI Application

When asked ‘Which AI application are you focusing on the most in the contact centre to improve CX?’, improving self-service took a clear lead at 36%.

A further 23.7% said interacting with customers, whilst data capture on customer interactions and routing customer interactions to best channel lagged.

This indicates that self-service is a clear priority for contact centres right now, with AI being perceived as a viable solution and means to deliver it.

Run in partnership with Sabio, Centrical, Odigo, Scorebuddy, and NICE, this survey focused on the key elements of a contact centre, including advisor experience and engagement, artificial intelligence (AI), customer experience, quality assurance, workforce management, and more!