To Improve Your Customer Experience, Improve Your Agent Experience.
If you’re like most organizations, you measure the success of your support operations with metrics like CSAT, NPS, Average Handle Time and First Response Time. But behind all those metrics lies a significant driver to success or lack thereof: the agent experience (AX).
A well-supported, empowered and positive-minded customer service team can transform your customer interactions, drive loyalty, and boost revenue far better than a frustrated, or even just average customer support team can. If your organization hasn’t thought about agent experience, now is the time.
What Is Agent Experience?
Agent experience refers to the overall quality of a customer service team member’s day-to-day work life, encompassing many factors like:
Amount of training received
Efficiency of systems and tools
Relationship with their manager
How performance is evaluated and acknowledged
How they’re treated by customers
Whether they feel themselves at work
Salary and benefits
Work-life balance
If this sounds like employee experience, you’re not wrong, except unlike employee experience, agent experience may encompass individuals who are not your employees. They could be contact center hires, contractors, or freelancers.
Why Agent Experience Matters
Some organizations may have the perspective that how their partners manage their employees and their agent experience, is none of their business; but this is a critical mistake, especially when it comes to customer-facing team members like customer service agents who have a direct and very significant impact in how your customers perceive the brand.
As long as agents are communicating with your customers, and customers are evaluating your brand based on those interactions, the agent experience is absolutely your business.
When agents feel valued and have the tools to succeed, their satisfaction translates directly into improved customer outcomes.
Improved Customer Interactions
Happy agents provide better service. There’s no other way to say it. They’re more likely to empathize, have patience, go the extra mile, and create memorable experiences for your customers because they have the ability, capacity, and desire to do so.
Higher Agent Retention Rates
Attrition rates are already higher in customer service than most industries. Retaining quality service agents as long as you can is to your advantage. Seasoned service professionals know your business, can speak in your brand’s tone of voice, have seen most problems before, can work efficiently, and can help support new hires.
In addition to the value they bring to your brand, some studies estimate it takes on average 6 months to fully replace a customer service team member with the same competency level. Focusing on agent experience doesn’t just improve your customer experience - it controls costs.
Boosted Productivity
Empowered agents with access to the right tools and well-documented processes can work more efficiently than those who don’t have these things. It sounds obvious, but it’s not uncommon for teams to be limited in tools or access to tools. All team members want to do their job well, and when they’re given the tools they need to succeed, that improves the agent experience while helping your brand control costs.
Increased Revenue
Great customer service directly impacts customer sentiment, customer lifetime value, brand reputation, and word-of-mouth marketing, making agent experience an investment in your bottom line. Customers who are delighted by their experience will come back and will recommend their experience to others.
Strategies to Enhance Agent Experience
Improving agent experience isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach. It requires being open to feedback, putting together a strategy, collaborating with partners and vendor managers towards a single goal, and a willingness to adapt. Here are actionable steps to get started:
Gather Feedback From Support Agents
This could be formal or informal but a combination of the two is probably best. In addition to measuring your agent satisfaction score, have group and one-on-one conversations with customer service agents to learn where their painpoints are, and how they could be better empowered to achieve success. Shadowing customer service agents is another great opportunity to learn what agents don’t feel comfortable articulating, or what they don’t realize could be better.
Collaborate with Partners
In some cases, a poor agent experience is more directly related to their employment with your outsourcing partner than it is working for your program. The issues an agent has with their employer still impacts how they are showing up for your customers, so it’s important not to shy away from this type of feedback or assume it’s not your problem to solve. It’s in both yours and your partner’s best interest to have happy service agents so your BPO should be open to a conversation where you can create a win-win.
Bring your outsourcing partner into your feedback initiatives from the beginning so there’s transparency all around. As issues come up, work with your outsourcing partner to co-create solutions where able.
Provide Comprehensive Training
Equip your agents with the knowledge they need during their onboarding process, throughout their employment, and as new products and processes are launched. It’s not just about the content you share, it’s how you share it. Training needs to be offered in a way that makes it retainable, measurable, and accessible once training is complete. Ask your agents how well your training is working for them.
Invest in the Right Technology
Outdated tools and manual processes can frustrate agents, slow them down, and lead to negative CSAT scores, which can be disheartening for service professionals who are trying their best. Implement user-friendly systems that integrate seamlessly and empower agents to solve customer issues efficiently.
Foster Open Communication
Create a culture where agents feel heard. Regular one-on-ones, team feedback sessions, anonymous surveys, and the ability to contact anyone on your team at any time can uncover pain points and opportunities for improvement.
Recognize and Reward Excellence
Recognition is a big deal in the workplace. Some studies show gaining regular, personalized, and well-justified recognition is more important than the salary team members receive. Celebrate wins, big and small. In addition to things like public shoutouts and incentive programs, have a development program, specialized teams, or tiers in place so agents can grow in their careers.
Form an Alignment with Agents
Being disrespected by customers is an unfortunate reality for service professionals. Some studies show agents are verbally abused by customers as often as once a week. One mistake many brands make is to follow “the customer is always right.” While appropriate in many situations, condoning negative customer behavior towards agents sends morale into a nosedive. Know when to side with the customer and when to side with the agent. Agents who quit or have burnout typically cost the business more than a single customer’s lifetime value.
Prioritize Work-Life Balance
Manageable workloads, an appropriate amount of time off, mental health resources, and attention to agents’ lives outside of work can help agents feel supported, reduce the risk of burnout, and improve the agent experience.
Inquire About Agent Salary
While you’re unlikely to get an exact breakdown on how much of your hourly rate goes to the agent compared to the BPO organization, you may be able to get a range. Compare this range against the cost of living in your BPO country. If agents are being paid less compared to similar organizations in their region, consider offering bonus or incentive programs. Agents with financial stability are more likely to have higher attendance and better performance.
Measuring the Impact of Agent Experience
How can you measure the success of your efforts in improving the agent experience? Follow trends in CSAT, Agent Satisfaction, and Attrition Rates. Over time, you may see cost savings, an increase in word-of-mouth marketing, and additional sales.
The Ripple Effect of Agent Experience
When you invest in agent experience, you’re not just improving the lives of your team—you’re building a foundation for long-term business success. Empowered agents create happy customers, and happy customers drive loyalty and revenue.
Ready to Enhance Agent Experience in Your Organization?
At The CX Coach, we help online retail brands scale memorable customer experiences. Let’s work together to elevate your agent experience and, in turn, your customer experience.
