Call centers respond quicker and better in 2021 as demand surges

However driving customer satisfaction has been challenging through 2021

Call centers respond quicker and better in 2021 as demand surges-CIO&Leader

E-commerce shines in various parameters like Pick up time, Queue Time and Abandonment Rates, stated study undertaken by Ozonetel. The report dwells on some of the areas where call center excelled this year as well as some areas where they struggled.

Some of the parameters that call centers excelled this year are in outbound calling; a lot of calls dial to busy lines, or go unanswered. Average connection rates inform us how many calls get connected to a contact. The average connection rate this year saw a drastic uptick, i.e., 47% as compared to 38% in 2020.

Another area is the average time a call center agent takes to answer inbound calls. This includes the duration for which the agent’s phone rings but does not include the time the caller spends in the IVR or waiting in queue. The average agent speed of answer in 2021 has been reported at 8 seconds, the same as in 2020.

Furthermore the talk time- which in 2021 is 3.7 minutes, which is nearly the same as of 2020 , wrap time-which typically affects how fast call center agents can attend to the next call which affects queue wait time and productivity. There has been a decrease in the time taken for After Call Work, from 45 seconds in 2020 to 41 seconds in 2021. Lastlty, hold time-which indicates the average time an agent puts a customer on hold either to route it to other agent or check on the queries. In 2021, the average hold time has decreased to 11 seconds as compared to 13 seconds in 2020.

The study is an analysis of a sample set of 24 million calls made on Ozonetel’s Cloud Agent platform by nearly 61914 active agents in 2021. The analysis covers both in-bound and outbound calls made on Ozonetel’s platform across various verticals including ecommerce-groceries, ecommerce D2C, restaurants, insurance, fintech, & financial services, banking & broking, healthcare & pharma and real estate call centers.

Some of the parameters, where call centers struggled to ensure highest customer satisfaction, this year are the amount of time callers have to wait in queue before they are connected to representatives. This is an important customer experience metric as the longer customers wait; the less satisfied they are likely to be. Report reveals that on an average a caller waited 46 seconds to get connected to a live agent as opposed to 37 seconds in 2020 and the abandoned calls either unanswered by agents or callers disconnected in queue itself. On an average 28% calls were disconnected before being routed to an agent in 2021 as compared to 15% in 2020.

2021 has turned out to be a challenging year for the call center industry under some parameters. However, sectors like Restaurants, e-commerce has kept their service standards high. Whereas sectors like, banking, real estate have struggled to keep up.

 “Given the challenging atmosphere of 2021, brands had to work really hard to ensure client satisfaction. The sectors that are doing well under different parameters are the ones adapting to technological advancements quickly and creating omnichannel touchpoints. We have been doing this study annually and every year it uncovers many interesting insights and learnings for us and our customers.” Said Chaitanya Chokkareddy, Chief Innovation Officer, Ozonetel


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