Daily ticket reviews, weekly agent feedback, or monthly support QA sessions? That ain’t the question anymore.
Our brilliant data guy Daniel pulled the facts and figures out of the dark and into the sunlight to uncover the answers to one of the most frequently asked questions: should we set customer service Quality Assurance goals daily, weekly, or monthly? Do you need a specific target in the first place?
On the one hand, we know that most teams want to make the most out of support QA and review as many conversations as they can, as often as possible. On the other hand, a large number of support folks need to divide the time spent on agent feedback with other duties like answering customer calls and emails (if they’re doing peer reviews).
Let’s make it clear once and for all. Here are the most effective support QA goal setting strategies based on the average review volume per user on the support QA platform Klaus.
45 reviews per person per month with daily support QA goals
The stats are pretty clear on this one: daily ticket review goals bring in the biggest review volumes. More feedback means more improvements in agent performance, so aim for daily targets whenever possible.
Pros: In addition to being the most productive goal-setting strategy, reviewing one or two conversations every day helps keep the entire team’s focus on quality. Constant feedback helps agents improve their performance continuously and doesn’t make them wait for the next round of evaluations.
Cons: When you’ve committed to delivering daily feedback, you have to find time for conversation reviews even in your busiest days. Consider hiring dedicated QA staff if you experience higher support volumes for a longer period of time to break the habit of providing feedback.
15% fewer reviews by switching from daily to weekly ticket review goals
Some teams leave it up for the reviewers to decide whether they do, for example, 2 reviews per day or 10 per week (e.g., like Geckoboard). Our stats show that if you want to push your reviewers to provide feedback on more tickets, stick to daily goals.
Pros: Weekly QA goals provide more flexibility for the reviewers. For example, if your team is doing peer reviews, you might find it (almost) impossible to push your agents to score tickets while they are struggling to handle a sudden increase in incoming requests. Leaving the QA tasks for another day would make days like this a little less stressful.
Cons: Reviewers who do quality checks once a week have to provide feedback on 9-10 conversations at once. The more quality criteria you have on your scorecard and the more tickets they have to evaluate, the more likely your reviewers are to rush through the process and, potentially, provide more superficial feedback.
Monthly goals are as bad as having no goals at all
Some customer service teams use Klaus without making use of the conversation review goals feature that allows them to define how many interactions each reviewer has to evaluate in a set timeframe. Based on our anonymized user data, teams who use monthly goals deliver slightly less feedback than those working without any specific goals.
Pros: Monthly QA sessions help you tie feedback into 1:1 meetings and spend dedicated face time going through agents’ performance in the previous period. It gives a more generalized overview of the team’s progress and areas of improvement.
Cons: Agents receive feedback on a smaller number of conversations, meaning they will get less advice on how to become better at their jobs. Moreover, support reps will only get to improve their performance on a month-to-month basis and will always receive feedback with a delay.
Hooray and a round of appaws for Daniel for taking the time to investigate the real impact that specific review targets can have on your quality program. As Klaus’s anonymized user data clearly indicates, your team will win the most from having daily QA goals:
- Reviewers analyze 2.4 more tickets with daily review goals than monthly targets,
- Doing 1-2 reviews per reviewer per day keeps your team focused on quality at all times,
- Working on only a couple of tickets at once allows reviewers to provide more profound feedback on the tickets;
- Feedback is delivered while it’s still relevant and agents can improve their performance on a daily basis.
How often do you conduct conversation reviews in your customer service team? Do you agree that daily QA goals are the most efficient way to organize your support quality program? Share your thoughts and experiences in our online CX community Quality Tribe.