3 quick wins for speech analytics

Jason Napierski from Callminer shares his thoughts on improving customer experience with speech analytics.

While there are many ways to leverage insights from speech analytics to improve the customer experience, there are several “easy wins” every company can achieve within a few weeks of going live.

1)    Quickly uncover and solve problems that create inefficient calls

No customer likes to be put on hold for long periods of time while trying to get a problem resolved. Excessive silence on calls could mean any number of things but, with random call sampling, the root cause of the issue may never be found. Almost any speech analytics system has the ability to identify and categorise calls with large blocks of silence. With some basic investigation, the cause of the issue can typically be identified very quickly.

Perhaps it is a technology problem like a slow computer system or an outdated piece of CRM software that is causing the delay. Or maybe it’s a process issue that is wasting an agent’s time. Sometimes agents put customers on hold simply because they need a break. Speech analytics is able to uncover these root causes and organisations can take action to prevent them from cropping up again.

2)    Find out why customers are unhappy

It’s difficult to improve customer experience if you don’t understand what your customer’s pain points are. Speech analytics can identify all calls containing “dissatisfaction” language or acoustics, including complaints, raised voices, and customer over talk. Segmenting these calls and analysing common words and phrases around dissatisfaction language can quickly reveal why customers are upset.

In addition, the ability to search transcripts for specific words and phrases around dissatisfaction allows companies to close out customer issues in a matter of days, not months. Similar techniques can be used to analyse large spikes in call volume and can often catch problems before they spiral out of control.

3)    Better target offers

Speech analytics can reveal insights into customer behaviours and purchasing trends for different products. Because data is being gathered from 100% of calls, the information is a much more representative sample of customer tendencies. For example, one company discovered that customers were more likely to pay for an annual support plan for their new smartphone or tablet than for a less expensive MP3 player. This knowledge was used by the marketing team to help fine-tune advertising strategies and deliver more relevant offers to their customers, which led to an increase in warranty up-sells.

It’s important to remember that implementing a speech analytics solution will not automatically improve customer experience. Ensuring organisational buy-in and building trust in the tool are major factors in realising quick returns on investment. A strategic plan that highlights priorities and establishes goals, along with open communication across all levels of the organisation, promotes credibility and allows for a more fluid adoption of the changes and insights provided by speech analytics.