Checklist of Customer Service Quality Monitoring

Checklist of Customer Service Quality Monitoring

With increasing competition and diversifying markets, the manner in which the companies offer their services has become the main differentiating factor in any industry. And thus, customer service is at the heart of any business activity. Good customer service ensures customer retention and brand loyalty. This is where “Customer Service Quality Monitoring” comes into the picture. Establishing a well-structured and efficient Quality Monitoring (QM) Program is a must for any customer service operation. However, developing and maintaining an efficient QM program can be a confusing and hectic task. This can be made a bit easier, by using a Customer Service QM Checklist. Let us learn, what is it, why is it important, what needs to be included in a checklist, and more.

BASICS OF A CUSTOMER SERVICE QM CHECKLIST : What? A Customer Service QM Checklist is an essential tool and the first step towards establishing a strong Customer Service Quality Monitoring Program. One can design a checklist, in line with one’s goal of a QM program. The content of the checklist will also differ depending on the business activity, the strength of the customer service team, the demographic of customers, and other factors. Whom? The QM checklist will be essential at all levels of a QM program and for all stakeholders involved.

• It will be beneficial for the agents to keep in check the essentials required for carrying out their day-to-day duties.
• Customer Service Managers will benefit from a checklist by ensuring all the necessary factors in a QM program are included and nothing is left out. Hence, making management of the program efficient.
• Business owners can benefit from a QM checklist by ensuring their business ideals are represented well at the customer service end, which will finally help them in their business expansion.

Why? Customer Service in itself is a diverse area with lots of factors and metrics to cover. Therefore, it is important to design a QM program that covers all the basic items and also meets the organization’s goals. It will also help you identify gaps that need working, manage teams’ as well as customers’ expectations, and ensure best practices are followed, among others.

ITEMS IN A CUSTOMER SERVICE QM CHECKLIST : To prepare a holistic QM checklist, let us divide our requirements into broad categories. These categories are as follows: Productivity, Effectiveness, Efficiency, and Tone. Let us understand these categories individually and learn what items of the QM checklist will fall under which category.

Productivity : This category simply means how much workload a customer service agent can handle in a given shift. An agent will be called more productive if she provides satisfactory service to more customers in a given period of time. This depends on an agent’s ability to manage her time and organize her tasks effectively. The items under the Productivity Checklist of a QM program are as follows:

• Number of cases handled overall
• Number of cases resolved
• The highest number of cases handled in a go
• The average time it takes to resolve a case
• The average time it takes to respond to a case/call
• Average utilization of time in a shift

Effectiveness : This parameter identifies how successful is the customer service operation running. The main goal of any customer service operation is to satisfy the customers with whatever request or query they come up with. The items under the Effectiveness category check how satisfied the customers are. These items are as follows:

• Solved the customer’s query
• Accuracy of solution or information provided
• Helpfulness of the solution or explanation provided
• Pro-active help provided (to avoid follow-up questions)
• Followed the provided course of action for an unresolved case
• Service Ratings

Efficiency : This category stresses on striking balance between productivity and effectiveness. This will ensure how effectively and how quickly a solution is delivered to a customer. This category also reflects how easily an agent handles the entire workflow. The items under the Efficiency Checklist of a QM program are as follows:

• Concise and timely resolution
• Number of forwards to other agents
• Number of follow-ups on the same case
• Number of first-contact resolution
• First Response Time and Response Time in general
• Repetition of an issue from the same customer

Tone : This parameter checks the emotional intelligence of your agents. The items under the checklist of this category cover respect, empathy, and the positive attitude of your agents. A positive attitude and empathy provide a personal touch to customers that enhances their overall experience with the product and company. Although this category could include a large number of items, we would choose the most important ones. The items under the Tone Category Checklist of a QM program include:

• Use of a welcome greeting
• Use of positive words
• Correct use of language and grammar
• Informing the customer about the length of waiting time
• Did not cut the customer’s explanation
• No use of unnecessary technical jargon
• Provided additional support
• Expressed gratitude for taking the help of customer care service

Although the write-up included all the basic essentials of a QM program checklist, it cannot be exhaustive. As per one’s product and business requirements, there can be more items listed under each category. The whole idea behind forming a checklist is to formulate a QM program with awareness of what one actually wants.