It’s natural to think your customer service strategy is purrr-fect. You’ve put in the effort, trained your team, and established processes that appear to be effective.
However, everyone has blind spots. Conducting a customer service audit is one of the most effective ways to make sure your support truly meets the mark.
Regularly conducting a customer service audit compels you to take a step back and evaluate objectively whether you’re delivering the top-notch customer experience you aim for.
In this piece, we’ll delve into what constitutes a strong customer service audit, examine the advantages of routinely assessing your customer service endeavors and support team, and provide a comprehensive guide on how to carry out an effective customer service audit.
Stick around to the end for a handy customer service audit checklist to make your next audit the cat’s pajamas.
Customer service audit — definition
The purpose of a customer service audit is to examine and enhance the quality of your customer service procedures. This entails assessing different facets of your team’s interactions with customers.
While the specific components of an audit may vary among organizations, typical areas under review include tools and procedures, customer feedback, team effectiveness, and the knowledge base.
The objective of a customer service audit is to pinpoint areas for enhancement throughout your customer support operations and ensure that your team consistently meets or surpasses customer expectations.
Benefits of customer service audits
A customer service audit takes work, but it’s well worth your time. Some of the benefits of performing a regular customer service audit include:
- Offering valuable insights into your customer service experience. A customer service audit grants a clear understanding of both strengths and weaknesses. It’s a potent method for identifying areas to leverage and issues to tackle head-on, providing a deeper comprehension of customers’ interactions with your service team.
- Pinpointing training needs. A customer service audit highlights where additional training may be beneficial. Equipped with the right skills and support, service agents become more adept and confident, fostering better interactions and prolonged tenure within the team. This insight is invaluable when shaping a training program.
- Nurturing a customer-centric culture across your organization. Regular customer service audits instill a heightened focus on customer satisfaction throughout the company. When every team member prioritizes delivering exceptional service, overall customer experience naturally improves.
- Enhancing customer retention. An overwhelming 93% of buyers are inclined to repurchase from businesses with outstanding customer service. A customer service audit uncovers areas where satisfaction may be lacking. Addressing these areas leads to heightened customer contentment, loyalty, and increased likelihood of repeat business.
- Driving revenue growth. 75% of customers are willing to spend more with companies offering superior customer service, regular audits play a pivotal role. Not only do they retain existing customers, but they also attract new ones through positive word-of-mouth. Thus, investing in customer service enhancements through audits directly contributes to revenue expansion.
Most companies that perform regular customer service audits will do so quarterly or annually. Finding the right frequency is important, but it’s not make or break. The critical thing to achieve is to build a regular habit of objectively reviewing your customer service.
How to audit customer service
Performing a customer service audit typically involves five key phases. While the specific details may vary depending on your business, these phases form the core framework for any effective audit:
- Establish objectives: Begin by clearly defining the goals of your audit. Determine which aspects of your customer service you want to assess and what outcomes you’re aiming for. Setting precise objectives helps maintain focus and ensures alignment with your support and business objectives.
- Gather data: Collect relevant data and information to evaluate your customer service performance. This may include customer feedback surveys, support ticket data, key service metrics, and evaluations from quality assurance reviews. Seek data from diverse sources for a comprehensive assessment.
- Analyze findings: Once you’ve gathered the data, analyze it to uncover patterns, trends, and areas needing improvement. Examine both quantitative metrics, such as response times, and qualitative insights, like common customer complaints or positive feedback.
- Identify areas for enhancement: Based on your analysis, pinpoint specific areas where improvements can be made in customer service. Prioritize these areas based on their impact on the overall customer experience, available resources, business goals, and required effort.
- Take action and monitor progress: An audit is only beneficial if it leads to action. Empower your team to implement improvements and track progress towards achieving your goals. Regularly monitor and reassess to ensure continuous improvement.
Consider utilizing customer service quality assurance software to streamline your audit process and make it more efficient.
Your customer service audit checklist
Having a clearly defined customer service audit checklist ensures that everyone involved in the process is on the same page.
Treat the following items on the customer service audit checklist as the baseline, and add additional items based on your audit objectives and your unique business needs:
✔️ Review internal processes, including tools and automation (Are they up-to-date? Do you actually need them all? Is there anything to improve?)
✔️ Take a look at your customer service KPIs and metrics (How is the team performing? Are the tracked customer service metrics still relevant for your team?)
✔️ Evaluate your reports and dashboards (Do they still make sense? Is there anything to update or add?)
✔️ Review agent conversations (Is it the right time to launch or improve your quality assurance program?)
✔️ Revise your self-service resources (Is your knowledge base up-to-date and easy-to-use? Are there any content gaps to address?)
Keep reading to learn how to cross these items off of your customer service audit checklist.
1. Evaluating internal processes, including tools and automation
Customer service procedures and software can differ widely from one company to another. Regardless of your setup, your audit should verify that they align with both your current requirements and future objectives. Here’s where to begin:
- Ensure your tools are current and assess if you’re utilizing pertinent features, while also determining the necessity of each tool.
- Review macros and other automated responses for precision and relevance.
- Evaluate the effectiveness of team onboarding and training materials.
- Assess the procedures for ticket escalation to confirm they remain suitable.
- Review the process for managing negative customer feedback to ensure it’s effective.
2. Monitoring customer service metrics
Consider the customer service metrics you monitor to assess your team’s performance and pinpoint areas for enhancing the customer experience. These metrics likely span individual agent performance, team effectiveness, and the overall customer service department, all aligned with overarching business objectives.
During your customer service audit, it’s essential to reevaluate whether your chosen KPIs still reflect the most pertinent indicators for your team’s success and to discover avenues for refining customer service practices. Key customer service metrics, along with associated inquiries, may include:
- First Response Time (FRT): What’s the average duration before initial response? Are there disparities across support channels? Are SLAs being met? Do adjustments to scheduling and workforce management need consideration?
- Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT): What factors primarily influence customer satisfaction? How has CSAT evolved over time? What adjustments can be made to enhance satisfaction levels?
- Internal Quality Score (IQS): What are the established standards for quality customer service? How is the quality score trending? Which areas require additional training for the customer service team? Can high-performing representatives in quality serve as mentors to struggling agents?
- First Contact Resolution (FCR): How can the FCR rate be improved? Which ticket types necessitate multiple interactions? How can processes be streamlined for these tickets?
3. Evaluating your reports
Each support team depends on reports and dashboards to visualize their performance. As part of your audit, evaluate whether your current reports and dashboards require any updates or enhancements.
- Examine the customer service metrics displayed on your team dashboard. Are they still relevant and meaningful? Do any filters need adjusting to provide clearer insights?
- Identify any gaps in your reporting. Since your last audit, what questions have been challenging to answer? Which aspects of your customer service representatives’ performance remain unclear? While not every aspect can be measured quantitatively, a well-crafted customer service report can serve as a strong motivator.
4. Reviewing support conversations
Customer service quality evaluations play a crucial role in enhancing support standards, training your team, and ensuring a uniform customer experience. If you haven’t already, integrate them into your customer service strategy.
Your customer service audit is a great time to launch a QA program or evaluate if your existing customer service QA scorecard needs to be updated. According to Customer Service Quality Benchmark Report 2023, commonly evaluated quality categories are:
- Solution
- Grammar
- Tone
- Empathy
- Personalization
- Following internal processes
- Going the extra mile
Interestingly, the average number of rating categories on a scorecard is 14 (although the median is a far more reasonable 8).
5. Revising your self-service resources
Examine your knowledge base or self-service materials to ensure they are easily accessible and offer precise, current information to your customers.
- Are the titles of articles clear and comprehensible?
- Do certain help center articles need updating due to changes in the product?
- Are there gaps in content or topics your customers search for that aren’t covered in your knowledge base?
- Does the organization and structure of your help center remain logical and intuitive?
Your customer experience is only as good as your customer service audit
A customer service audit stands as a pivotal process for evaluating and enhancing the quality of support offered to your customers. Without regular audits, you risk overlooking blind spots, missing customer inquiries, and settling for subpar experiences.
Fortunately, conducting a customer service audit doesn’t have to be overly time-consuming, especially when you start with a checklist like the one provided above. The more frequently you perform audits, the smoother the process becomes and the greater the benefits you reap.
While regular audits are crucial, the ultimate path to ensuring your customer support team excels lies in providing consistent, ongoing feedback to your service representatives.
