13 Reasons Why Contact Center Agent Success Matters to Your Customer Experience

Success isn’t a one-size-fits-all concept. There’s no impact on me if you arrive at the drive-thru in time to snag an iced coffee before your meeting. But to you, maybe that’s your victory, a momentary success that powers you through the morning. The truth is what may be trivial to one might be a triumph to another, and this subjectivity of success also applies in the context of a contact center. So why does the success of a contact center agent matter so much to your customer experience?

Because agent success DOES impact your contact center customer experience. Their success is more crucial than scoring a pre-meeting iced coffee. When agents are empowered, efficient, and effective, it directly contributes to overall success.

Happy agents equipped with the right tools for success create positive customer interactions. It means agent success determines the fate of your customers’ experience. And with a $3 return on every $1 spent, customer experience greatly affects your business success, too.

Agents struggling with their duties or feeling unsuccessful can inadvertently cast a shadow over customer interactions. At crucial points in the customer journey, the quality of service provided by agents can make or break a customer’s relationship with your brand. Thus, setting up agents for success isn’t just beneficial; it’s essential.

Rather than transferring the cloud of negativity to customers during sub-par interactions, successful agents will set customers up to be successful, themselves. We’re talking through 13 reasons why agent success matters to your customers and showing you what that success looks like for your agents.

1. Positive, empowered agents create happy customer experiences.

Being successful is fulfilling and connects agents to the larger purpose behind their jobs – serving customers. When your agents are successful, they’re more likely to be positive and happy on the job. And happy, empowered agents create better customer experiences.

2. They resolve problems on the first call.

Access to the right tools and information is a significant part of contact center agents successfully fulfilling their responsibilities. Well-equipped agents can solve problems efficiently on the first call, a key indicator of success in customer service.

3. Successful agents are omnipresent.

Managing multiple channels that don’t collaborate weighs you down, making it tough to feel competent at work. A successful agent can easily handle different ways customers reach out, so they don’t have to worry about the HOW. Instead, they can focus on the WHY behind each interaction. 

They actively resolve customer issues across various communication mediums, ensuring equal care and attention in handling all customer interactions.Their sole focus is “what can I do to best help this customer?”

4. Customers don’t have to restate their problem.

Success means having customer data on hand, ready to rock n’ roll. Your customers want to feel like they’re recognized and heard.

Successful agents know Suzie is calling, and Suzie’s computer crashed last week, so she called then, too. They have the information they need to help Suzie, and they make informed decisions without asking her to relive her nightmare of an experience. This will create a positive customer experience, motivating agents to keep improving their interactions with customers.

5. Communication is easy and transparent.

Since agents have goals and metrics clearly defined, and they have regular check-ins with you, they know what it takes to effectively communicate with customers. They recap the issue for customer verification, then walk through the plan of attack to wipe out their pain point. Plus, they talk through the hard pains with ease – like predicted hold times or potential hiccups. Customers always have the right expectations up front.

6. Frictionless Customer Experiences

Omnipresent, effective communicators create friction-free experiences for customers. Agents are equipped (with insights, tools, and customer information) to make better in-the-moment decisions. So, customers don’t have to wait long for a resolution or get misinformation.

7. Successful agents solve future problems, too.

The in-line training and contextual coaching successful agents receive preps them to evaluate customer concerns and see future problems. Agents can use feedback from a previous interaction with John and recognize Suzie’s situation will unfold similarly. With the added context, agents not only address current customer concerns but also anticipate and prevent future problems.

8. Customers get the training they need to find answers themselves.

Sometimes, customers want self-service. A staggering 81% of customers who call your company for help tried self-service before placing a call to your contact center. Successful agents will be empathetic and understand that no matter the level of service they provide, some customers don’t want to be dependent on agents for help. So, successful agents guide customers towards effective self-service options, a skill that successful agents possess.

9. Successful agents don’t need to transfer the call.

Customers hate being transferred. And the more times an agent transfers a call, the more a customer disconnects with your brand because they don’t think your employees are knowledgeable enough to help. Agents with the right tools can handle most customer issues themselves, reducing call transfers and improving customer satisfaction.

10. The customer experience is EASY.

High-performing agents problem-solve to make the customer experience as easy as pie. Customers want to put in as little effort as possible to solve their problems.

Think about it: When a customer makes a purchase, they are hoping it will solve a pain point in their life, not create a new one. It makes sense that if a problem does come up, they want to resolve it as painlessly as possible. Skilled agents aim to make customer interactions as easy as possible, acknowledging that customers seek solutions with minimal hassle.

11. They listen before they problem-solve.

Even if your agent knows the answer to a customer problem right off the bat, listening to customers calms them down. When you feel frustrated, you want someone to hear you. Successful agents will have the mindfulness training needed to be fully present, ease frustrations, and genuinely connect at a human level.

12. Agents stay cool under pressure.

When the agent experience ise seamless they feel accomplished and ready to take on any new challenge. They’re less susceptible to burnout and well-prepped to handle an influx of calls like a pro– even with a few highly-frustrated customers tossed into the mix.

13. They deliver consistent overall customer experiences.

Successful agents are consistent. They deliver positive customer service experiences at every interaction, not just when you catch them on a day where they scored a free breakfast sandwich on the way to work. They squash the chance of buyer’s remorse by always delighting customers.

It’s crucial to set your agents up for success because an agent’s success directly impacts your customers’ experience. Investing in the success of your contact center agents is not just about enhancing their job satisfaction; it directly impacts the customer experience, and remember, with a $3 return on every $1 spent, the customer experience directly impacts your bottom line.

Coach your agents and invest in the right tools to make cross-company communications a breeze. That way agents have the answers they need, or the resources to find them. Then, they can focus on delivering swoon-worthy customer moments.