Happy Friday! We’re bringing you the latest roundup of industry news. This week, we’re looking at the call centre industry, the metaverse, and the next e-commerce rush.
Key news
- According to new analysis from the Qualtrics XM Institute, companies with the best customer experience (CX) doubled their lead over laggards as the impact of CX grew
- Medallia announced it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire Mindful, the leader in callback automation. Follow the link to learn how this partnership will leverage the customer experience Medallia is already creating for its clients.
- Sabio Group has enhanced its contact centre agent wellbeing offering following its acquisition of leading workplace mental health platform provider, People Matter.
The call centre industry is facing a concentration crisis
A survey of UK and US call centre agents, conducted by IRIS Clarity, has revealed that the industry is facing a major concentration crisis with over 89% of respondents saying that background noise has a negative effect on customer calls.
- 85% say noise results in agents and customers wasting time repeating themselves
- 69% feel noise has a negative effect on their mental health and wellbeing
- The biggest challenge for contact centre based agents is the noise around the agent (52%)
85% noted that noise results in agents and customers needlessly repeating themselves, which costs the business money. 69% say noise has a negative effect on their mental health — a key factor in an industry with staff churn of 30-45%.
Whether agents are working from an office or remotely, background noise poses a problem. Noise around the agent (52%) and the customer (37%) were the biggest challenges identified by agents in an office. They were also in the top three challenges (39% and 27%, respectively) for agents working from home.
56% of call centre agents say customers are now more difficult when compared to pre-pandemic. Reducing repetition and misunderstandings can go a long way towards reducing Average Handling Time, increasing Customer Satisfaction, and relieving agent stress.
The metaverse and Web 3.0 are essential to success
85% of eCommerce, marketing and IT business leaders say that cutting-edge technology like the metaverse (85%) and Web 3.0 (87%) will be essential to their businesses in the next two years. It will help to unlock new revenue streams and future-proof their companies.
Artificial intelligence trumps both metaverse and Web 3.0 as 9.1% of leaders view AI as crucial to their company’s success
- 67% of leaders believed they would benefit from working with specialists to implement each of the disruptive technologies
- In particular, half (51%) of small businesses feel unsure about the benefits of Web 3.0
- While the metaverse remains an exciting development, two-thirds (65%) view it entirely as hype
Despite high levels of confidence in adopting technology, on average, two-thirds (67%) of leaders still believed they would benefit from working with specialists to implement each of the disruptive technologies. Over a third (37%) are still struggling to find the right strategic partner.
New worries about retailers struggling to cope with the next e-commerce rush
Last week we saw the annual Amazon Prime Day – extravagantly huge deals swoop the online shop for 24 hours. Each year, customer service and customer delivery experience challenges are set to increase.
44% of retail leaders say they don’t have enough staff to support the upcoming peak season, and need to staff up. That’s according to new data from Delivery Experience Platform Sorted, which found that retail customer service and operations managers believe they are understaffed for the upcoming ecommerce rush. 52% are fearing service levels will drop as a result.
- 52% of retail leaders fear service levels will drop because of being understaffed
- Fulfilling orders reported as a top concern, followed by internal budget constraints hampering the customer experience
- 37% of respondents think peak season will be busier than any other
Drops in customer satisfaction, a rise in WISMO (where is my order) enquiries and coping with an influx of returns were also identified. Unsurprisingly, three quarters of respondents expect WISMO to increase during peak season by more than 10%. Over half think it’ll increase by more than 20%.
Global leader in CX education launches CX fellowship programme
The CX Academy, the largest Customer Experience education provider in the world, has announced details of a new CX Fellowship Programme. This will promote CX as a professional discipline. The CX Academy (TCXA) says the fellowships will be conferred on a select group of distinguished customer champions who have excelled in their passion for customers and staff and have strengthened the CX profession globally.
- Julian Douglas, Chair of the CX Industry Advisory Council, said CX is now the fastest growing business discipline in the world. The Fellowship Programme would help raise its profile and status to the same level as other professions and job titles.
- “This is a first for the CX industry anywhere in the world. It is the highest professional accolade which can be bestowed on CX professionals. Our Industry Advisory Council, made up of leading practitioners from champion CX companies takes this very seriously indeed.” – Michelle Killeen, Chair of the CX Academy.
Thanks for tuning into CXM’s weekly roundup of industry news. Check back next Friday for the latest updates of the week!