A common hesitation to call center automation is performance anxiety. With or without automation, numbers need to be hit. What about AHT and service levels? How will it affect CSAT and NPS? After all, the whole point is to create happy customers.
WE RAN SOME NUMBERS
Specifically, we looked at our own clients’ reporting and experiences. We looked at data from peak season last year. We looked at numbers before and after turning on Flip. We went full Sherlock Holmes, and we have some findings.
Here’s how customer service automation influences call center performance.
TALK TIME
The brass tacks, how much labor time is needed to help customers? One of our clients, an e-commerce website, was averaging 9 hours of talk time daily. The problem was unpredictable call arrival patterns. This caused the common stress of managing labor costs against service level.
One week after turning on Flip, we were automating 14% of their Tier 1 customer service calls. This resulted in a 20% reduction of the total talk time for their agents, as they were able to focus on handling more complex call types.
This also had the benefit of dropping average talk time per call for human agents. Before switching on our virtual agent, the average talk time for human agents was 4:05 per call. The very next week, human agents were averaging just 3:35 per call. That’s a whole 30 seconds off AHT!
ABANDONED CALLS
Those unpredictable arrival patterns from the previous example resulted in a 10% abandoned call rate, even at low overall volume. Abandoned calls have a negative impact on customer experience. It should be low hanging fruit. With Flip, it is. The very next week, abandon rates were cut in half with a virtual agent in place.
CSAT
Call center automation creates efficiency and savings. But those things only matter if customers are happy. Last year, another e-commerce brand, beloved by its customers, was in a pinch. Flip helped them handle large surges of unexpected customer service volume. When comparing CSAT scores between calls resolved by our virtual agent and calls handled by human agents, they were the same. Customers loved Flip!
AUTOMATION IMPROVES CALL CENTER KPIS
The age of automation is here. Bringing conversational AI to your contact center can reduce your talk time and labor costs, mitigate surges in call volume, stabilize your service levels, and reduce wait times and abandoned calls.
Flip can do all of that while maintaining CSAT scores.
Pre-built integrations with many common e-Commerce platforms and phone systems means turning on automation in minutes, not weeks. No need to wait for Q1, start automating calls today.
