In the retail industry, excellent customer service can help build a loyal consumer base. And store associates, call center agents and other service reps are the backbone of a successful customer service strategy.
To ensure customer service success, retailers agree that they need to keep their agents engaged and empowered. Up to 85% of contact center leaders agree that agent loyalty is an important priority to their brand, according to a report from the International Customer Management Institute (ICMI) in partnership with Five9.
Despite this understanding, 87% of contact center leaders have acknowledged that they know their agents are experiencing moderate to high levels of stress, and are becoming unattached to their jobs. However, these respondents don’t take steps to rectify the situation.
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ICMI and Five9 issued the survey report, titled: The Modern Agent: Understanding Performance, Productivity, And Positive Results, to 404 contact center leaders in early 2015 to discover the state of contact center agent engagement and productivity, and how they ensure success.
Customer service agents are dealing with more stress on the job, and are taking on more responsibilities than ever before. Almost half (48%) of contact center agents support multiple customer channels, with 75% of contact center leaders planning on increasing the number of channels agents handle.
Although agents are acquiring more responsibility, they do not have access to the tools they need to do their jobs effectively. In fact, 92% of contact center leaders said their agent-facing applications could be more effective. For example, 71% of respondents recognized that the difficulties with their system and inefficiency of their tools served as the top contributor to agents’ everyday stress. These systems and technologies are so complicated that the average agent receives approximately 90 hours of training specifically focused on the tools and technologies that they need to do their job.
Click here to access the full report.
