How Are Contact Centres Delivering Great CX?

Customer Experience (CX) Chapter Cover 2023
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In our What Contact Centres Are Doing Right Now (2023 Edition) research – sponsored by Odigo – we polled contact centre leaders on the challenges of designing a great customer experience.

Here’s what they said…

31% of Customers Value First Call Resolution the Most

2023 Survey Graph 718px Above All, What Do Your Customers Value Most?
Customer Value Response %
First Call Resolution 31.9%
Knowledgeable Advisors 29.3%
Timely Responses 13.8%
Efficiency 9%
Effective Follow-Up 8.5%
Professionalism 7.5%

Customers Value FCR and Knowledgeable Advisors First and Foremost

Survey respondents claimed their customers valued first call resolution (FCR) (31.9%) and knowledgeable advisors (29.3%) the most – highlighting where many contact centres are focusing their customer service efforts right now.

Somewhat surprisingly, lagging were efficiency (9%), effective follow-up (8.5%), and professionalism (7.5%) – although it’s arguable that these are traits many take for granted when dealing with an organization and wouldn’t necessarily feel are notable points of value.

It is also interesting to see how the aspects of service customers value has changed over the years, as shown in the table below:

2023 Survey Graph Table 718px Above All, What Do Your Customers Value Most?

74% See Customer Feedback as Most Important in CX Design

2023 Survey Graph 718px What Is the Most Important Element in Customer Experience Design?
CX Design Element Response %
Customer Feedback 74.4%
Employee Feedback 12.8%
Marketing Strategy 6.4%
Social Changes and Attitudes 3.2%
Technology Capabilities 1.6%
Other 1.6%

Customers Placed Front and Centre of CX Design

It’s fantastic to see customers placed front and centre here, and quite rightly so, with 74.4% of survey respondents claiming that customer feedback is the most important element in customer experience design.

By comparison, employee feedback (12.8%), marketing strategy (6.4%), and social changes and attitudes (3.2%) are perceived to be less important elements in CX design.

Furthermore, of the 1.6% who said ‘other’, survey respondents also cited building visible and clear processes.

Only 6% Rely on Postal Surveys to Capture Customer Feedback

2023 Survey Graph 718px How Do You Capture Customer
Feedback?
Feedback Method Response %
Voice of Employees (Customer Feedback From Employees) 56.7%
Email Surveys 49.7%
Transactional Surveys (e.g. CSAT and NPS) 44.9%
Customer Reason Codes 37.4%
Customer Research (e.g. Survey Panels and Interviews) 37.4%
Website Surveys 25.1%
SMS / Messaging App Surveys 24.6%
Social Listening 24.1%
Speech / Text Analytics 19.3%
Postal Surveys 6.4%

Voice of Employees, Email, and Transactional Surveys Top the Leaderboard – for Now

The 2023 research findings showed that voice of employees (56.7%), email surveys (49.7%), and transactional surveys (44.9%) are the most widely used methods for capturing customer feedback right now. However, there are clear signs of change ahead.

Email Surveys Are on Their Way Out, in Growing Favour of Speech Analytics

The findings also revealed that email surveys (down from 53.9% in 2022 to 49.7% in 2023), transactional surveys (significantly down from 61.8% in 2020 to 44.9% in 2023), and customer reason codes (down from 40.1% in 2022 to 37.4% in 2023) are falling out of favour – each receiving their lowest scores since 2019.

This is in parallel with the growing popularity of voice of employee surveys (up from 51.8% in 2022 to 56.7% in 2023), SMS/messaging app surveys (up from 19.5% in 2022 to 24.6% in 2023), and social listening (up from 18.4% in 2022 to 24.1% in 2023).

Not only that, but the use of speech and text analytics is on the rise too – hitting a five-year high in our survey records, climbing from 9.6% in 2019 to 19.3% in 2023.

2023 Survey Graph Table 718px How Do You Capture Customer Feedback?

39% Believe Investment in Self-Service Offers Maximum Value

2023 Survey Graph When Improving Customer Experience, Where Do You Think Organizations Can Get Maximum Value for Money?
CX Value Area Response %
Self-Service 39%
Personalisation 19.2%
Proactivity Tools 13.4%
Website Capabilities 9.6%
Chatbots 8.6%
Diagnostic Tools 5.9%
Mobile Apps 4.3%

Self-Service a Clear Winner

More than a third (39%) of survey respondents stated that investing in self-service was where they believed their organization could see maximum value for money.

Personalization (19.2%) and productivity tools (13.4%) were also perceived to be a strong investment.

By contrast, diagnostic tools and website capabilities were thought to be worse value for money. This suggests a strong trend in contact centres investing (or soon to be investing) in self-service to help improve the customer experience.

Chatbots Are Not Giving Value for Money

Only a surprising 8.6% of respondents said that chatbots are giving the maximum value for money – perhaps reflecting customer dissatisfaction with this new technology.

14% Using AI to Support Data Capture on Customer Interactions

2023 Survey Graph 718px Which AI Application Are You Focusing on the Most in the Contact Centre to Improve CX?
AI Application Response %
Improving Self Service 36%
Interacting With Customers (i.e. Chatbots) 23.7%
Data Capture on Customer Interactions 14.5%
Routing Customer Interactions to Best Channel 10.8%
None of the Above 15%

Self-Service Key Focus for AI Application

When asked ‘Which AI application are you focusing on the most in the contact centre to improve CX?’, improving self-service took a clear lead at 36%.

A further 23.7% said interacting with customers, whilst data capture on customer interactions and routing customer interactions to best channel lagged.

This indicates that self-service is a clear priority for contact centres right now, with AI being perceived as a viable solution and means to deliver it.


Run in partnership with Sabio, Centrical, Odigo, Scorebuddy, and NICE, this survey focused on the key elements of a contact centre, including advisor experience and engagement, artificial intelligence (AI), customer experience, quality assurance, workforce management, and more!

Related Research

To download the full copies of our ‘What Contact Centres Are Doing Right Now’ survey reports, follow the links below:

For more great information, check out our other Contact Centre Research

Author: Robyn Coppell

Published On: 20th Jun 2024 - Last modified: 23rd Jul 2024
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