Phone support is one of the most popular customer service channels in the world. People like getting their questions settled fast, and they love the personal touch that those interactions carry. Even with new platforms emerging, calls are still standing strong.
However, out of all customer service channels, many agents fear phone support the most. Calls require immediate answers, which in itself can already feel stressful. It is even more so when the support rep has to deal with the caller’s emotional outbursts, too.
As these incidents pile up over time, insecurities in support reps grow. Tough phone calls can eat away agents’ confidence and lead to burnout.
Aircall, one of the top call center software out there, has figured out that one of the best cures for phone support anxiety is regular feedback. You might it find hard to believe at first, but it actually makes a lot of sense.
Read more: 9 Aircall Integrations to Take Your Voice Support to The Next Level
Objective feedback balances negativity
Leaving an agent alone with their negative emotions is one of the worst solutions in this situation. Even the most hardened people can sometimes feel down about awkward conversations with customers and need someone to help overcome these bad days.
So you should always review the troublesome conversations and provide proper feedback to the affected agents. Customers do not know your quality standards, and you should not let them be the sole judges of the quality of your service. If a case receives a negative rating, analyze it from your perspective to understand if it was handled correctly according to your quality standards.
For example, if you are using Aircall as your phone support software, you can easily integrate it with the conversation review tool Klaus. This way, you will be able to pull all recordings into the review tool and rate the interactions by different qualities that matter most to you (e.g., politeness, solution, product knowledge/).
Don’t forget to balance those negative cases by looking at the conversations that received remarkably good scores from the customers. Find the interactions that everyone in your team could learn from and give the agents the praise they deserve.
By the way, if you are not sure how to collect customer feedback for phone calls, prepare to be surprised. Companies like Nicereply have made it so easy that you will probably have the system up and running by tonight.
Conversation reviews encourage good work
Nevertheless, the benefits of doing conversation reviews do not stop there. The cases that did not receive any scores from the users deserve as much attention as those that were rated as very good or extremely bad.
The vast majority of phone calls never receive any customer feedback. Though these cases did not result in any spectacular reactions, they were still handled OK – just like they should be. Bear in mind that this reassurance can go a long way in motivating your team.
“That’s fine, continue” is excellent feedback. If you want to help your agents become confident at what they do, then systematic reviews are the way to go. For example, if you pick a random sample of your Aircall cases, most of them will probably be average and good conversations. Encourage your agents to keep up the good work and add some areas of growth to the assessment, if necessary.
Giving and receiving feedback does not have to be a negative experience. It can help your agents deal with problematic situations that can happen when providing phone support. Calls tend to be the most stressful means of support, so it is crucial to check on your agents to see how they are managing the load.
If you do not feel comfortable about giving or receiving feedback, read about the seven techniques for customer service teams. Furthermore, if you are looking for a conversation review tool that integrates with Aircall and other helpdesk solutions, give Klaus a go.
More resources on call centers
- Customer Service Quality Assurance (QA) Software Guide
- Best Customer Service Software: The Complete Toolset for CS Teams
- Fireside Chat: Life in a Contact Center
- Call Center Stories: 3 Ways to Improve FCR in Contact Centers
- The One Call Center Quality Monitoring Scorecard You Need
- Call Center Quality Assurance: Guidelines
- 10 Tips for a Successful QA Program
- CallHippo and Klaus Integration: The Perfect Cocktail to Boost Phone Support Quality