Monitoring the customer experience in the call center
Is is possible for a call center to measure customer experiences in real time, as call center agents are taking calls?

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Measuring the customer experience in real time is impossible and only inturrupts the actual experience delivery. It is the equivalent of measuring an actor during a performance. It will not result in better, but rather worse, customer experiences. The customer experience should be measured solely based on customer actions. Key customer actions will illustrate whether the customer viewed the experience as positive or negative. Customer experience indicators include customer referrals (or inquiries about referral programs), cross-sales or up-sales, contract upgrades and extensions in the duration of the relationship. Additionally, customer "thank you's," high scores in post-call surveys, or compliments to a supervisor about the performance of the call center agent are all measurable indicators of a positive customer experience.

Alternatively, there are some obvious indicators of when customers are not receiving high-quality customer experiences. Customers requesting to speak to supervisors (call escalation), customers being transferred from department to department (not getting first call resolution) or those customers repeatedly using foul language are clearly unhappy.

This was first published in March 2008