Is a contact centre simply a cost centre, or can it become a growth engine for the business?
During this week’s World of CX Breakfast Conversation, we explored how contact centres can move beyond handling interactions to become meaningful contributors to customer relationships, retention, revenue and business growth.
Here are 10 lessons from the conversation:
- 🌟 See the contact centre as a business-building function. The contact centre should not be viewed only through the lens of cost and efficiency. Its contribution to customer relationships, retention, brand experience and business growth also needs to be recognised.
- 🌟 Move beyond measuring activity to measuring value. Calls handled, service levels and efficiency metrics tell us what the contact centre is doing. The bigger question is: what are those activities creating for customers and the business?
- 🌟 Connect contact centre performance to business outcomes. Look beyond operational performance and understand how the contact centre contributes to outcomes such as customer retention, revenue and stronger customer relationships.
- 🌟 Turn customer conversations into insights for the business. Every customer interaction can reveal what customers are experiencing and where the business may need to improve.
- 🌟 Recognise the power of the first interaction. The hospitality example shared during the conversation showed how a contact centre can shape a customer’s perception before they even arrive. A great first interaction can influence how customers experience and remember the brand.
- 🌟 Give frontline teams a view of the whole business. When contact centre employees understand what happens across different departments, they are better equipped to give customers informed responses and represent the experience the organisation wants to deliver.
- 🌟 Make the connection between customer experience and revenue visible. If a customer interaction helps retain a customer, influences a purchase or protects business value, that contribution should be identified and communicated in business terms.
- 🌟 Build stronger connections with the rest of the business. The contact centre cannot operate in isolation. Working with other functions helps connect customer experience to the wider business and its priorities.
- 🌟 Invest in the people delivering the experience. Contact centre employees are often on the frontline, absorbing customer frustrations and pressure. Supporting, recognising and empowering them is essential to creating sustainable customer experiences.
- 🌟 Change the conversation from cost to contribution. The opportunity is to stop asking only how much the contact centre costs and start asking how much value it creates. When that contribution becomes visible, the contact centre can be recognised as a growth engine rather than simply a cost centre.
