Call Monitoring: The Secrets of High-Quality Service

In the era of messaging and AI-powered chatbots, 86% of consumers still prefer communicating with real people, making human presence in any service essential. More than half of the interviewees in another survey stated that they prefer to deal with urgent matters by phone. However, having a call center is not enough to satisfy customers; you must also offer excellent service quality. That's where call monitoring helps.

The monitoring of phone calls serves to evaluate call center performance. It is an effective method to check efficiency, detect problems, and set areas for future improvement. As an expert in customer service outsourcing industry, Simply Contact will help you discover the secrets of successful monitoring, its benefits, challenges, and best practices.

What Is Call Monitoring?

Monitoring calls is listening to live and recorded calls and recording and deep phone call analysis for various purposes. This practice is applied in many industries, including finance, law enforcement, health care, and many others where direct communication with customers occurs. 

It is a common practice for customer service and sales departments, considering that many customers prefer to contact brands via phone. You can achieve higher quality and ensure that processes comply with company regulations thanks to regular monitoring.

Monitoring can also help define the main reasons customers ask for assistance. With the help of monitoring, you can find out the issues with the product or call center performance. It's an effective way to eliminate basic problems, provide training sessions for agents who do not match quality standards, and improve preparation for new employees. 

Benefits of call center monitoring

The obvious benefit is that the monitoring process can improve the efficiency and operation quality for the team, and enhance overall performance for the entire call center. Monitoring can serve as a motivational push for employees by making them aware that their work may be reviewed at any time. But monitoring can give you much more, so let's review what else the monitoring practice can offer for your business.

Quality We are sure your company has quality standards and an image of the experience you want to deliver for your customers. Monitoring shows how close agents are to your goal and how productive their work is.	Training and team development Once you see inefficiencies, you can use recorded calls as educational material. It will be a useful example of operation processes for your new employees and existing team members.
Performance evaluation During call monitoring, your company's supervisors can provide individual agents with performance evaluations. It will help to analyze the operator's work, offer targeted feedback, and identify the top performers.	Insights into customers' pain Monitoring can reveal weaknesses in your products and services, as well as common customer concerns and needs. It is an effective method to collect feedback and provide necessary improvements.
Better customer experience In case of issues during the interaction, the manager can join the call and help to solve them even without the customer's knowing. Combined efforts help to provide excellent experience and improve resolution rates.	Operation efficiency Analyzing phone calls helps to detect the issues that make agents work harder. They show errors with software and inefficient workflow parts and hint where you need to update your usual process.

Challenges of call center monitoring

The benefits speak for themselves and show how much you can gain from monitoring implementation, but to make it successful, you will need to consider the challenges too. 

Privacy concerns For some employees, monitoring can be a source of stress and dissatisfaction because of the feeling that their privacy is compromised.  To prevent reduced morale within your team, ensure clear communication about monitoring practices. Let your team understand that the main goal is improvement, not criticism or a lack of trust.	Legal issues You need to keep in mind that different jurisdictions may also have different regulations and laws related to phone call monitoring and recordings. To avoid any law-type problems, ensure your company's monitoring processes comply with all necessary regulations for your region. For example, in some places, you need clear consent to record.
A large amount of calls When your call center receives hundreds of calls daily, monitoring each one can be challenging, and selecting specific calls for review is equally difficult. You can implement automated monitoring tools empowered with AI. It can flag the calls for future review based on provided criteria (negative sentiment, waiting time, etc.). Apply random sampling as well.	Quality vs quantity A lower amount of processed calls does not mean low productivity due to various complexity. So, how do we evaluate the performance in this case? Establish a clear metric system for evaluation, prioritizing quality over quantity. You can use various score points to highlight key performance indicators.
Changing expectations Although monitoring shows excellent results, customer satisfaction may still seem low due to changing needs. Analyze your customers' expectations and needs to provide high-quality services. Implement the feedback from the agents and customers to see the trends. Provide regular updates of monitoring criteria.	Resistance to change Employees may react negatively to new monitoring practices or feedback that could affect their performance. Involve agents in the process of monitoring practice development. Discuss benefits and demonstrate the possibilities for personal and professional growth with the help of monitoring.

Types of Call Center Quality Monitoring

When we talk about call center quality monitoring, first of all, call monitoring comes to mind, but it is not the only way to control call center quality. Quality checks can be performed in many ways, but today, we will review the most efficient types based on our experience. We know how to create a working customer service strategy and want to share a few tips with you.

Call monitoring

This type is the first and especially essential for call centers, as calls are their usual routine. As we mentioned before, call monitoring helps to evaluate the efficiency of help and check performance and compliance with the company's scripts. Monitoring phone calls is a basic way to evaluate customer satisfaction and the main factors that affect it.

Screen monitoring

Screen monitoring is primarily used in call centers where the agents often interact with software and systems. It may be performed by real-time observation or recording review. Such monitoring can show the efficiency of the current workflow in general and software tools, the simplicity of the navigation system, and the need for upgrades.

Customer feedback monitoring

One of the main goals of any call center is to achieve high customer satisfaction, so feedback monitoring is essential for successful evaluation. You can monitor the post-interaction satisfaction level to see how helpful and positive the conversation went and if your customers received all they expected from the call.

Performance Analytics

Analytics tools can evaluate the performance more effectively than human experts due to their capability to analyze large data sets. You can set specific metrics like call resolution rate, response time, handle time, and others for control. Data-driven reports help identify weak areas in operational processes.

You can combine various types of call center monitoring to provide all-covering quality control. A combined approach can help you develop a working operation strategy based on agents' personal growth and enhanced customer satisfaction.

Features of Call Monitoring Software

The mission of the software in the call center is to make the agents' work easier and more productive, streamline the basic processes, and empower the team's capabilities. You need to choose user-friendly software that is easy to use, convenient, and effective for various tasks and has enough flexibility. 

What kind of software will be useful for call center monitoring?

Software for call recording

You need a high-quality recording tool to record calls without any struggle in the process. The recordings will be the source of training materials and insights into customers' needs.

Speech analysis software

Analytic tools for speech analysis are an accurate source of insights into customers' reactions and operators' performance during the call. They can analyze customer's intentions, emotions, and sentiments.

Scoring software

The automated scoring program serves for operator evaluation. You can set specific targets for scoring, like level of empathy, accuracy, efficiency, compliance with company scripts and regulations, etc.

Workflow management tools

This software helps to transform collected insights into future scheduling and workforce planning. You can arrange the work process, apply the required training, and share insights with your agents for performance improvements.

AI-powered solutions

Artificial intelligence is an easy chance to simplify and streamline your working processes. AI can support agents with virtual assistants or automate tasks that do not require direct human attention.

Best Practices for Call Center Call Monitoring

At Simply Contact, we studied various aspects of managing the call center and believe that one of the secrets to success is to choose the most effective practices for your business. So, today, we are going to present you with a short list of the best call center practices for monitoring. Let's look closely at each of them, their features, and their benefits. 

Silent monitoring or listening

Silent phone call monitoring is the method for agent evaluation when a supervisor is listening to the conversation without notification. In this case, the agent and customer are not informed that the call is actively listened to. Silent monitoring helps to form real-time feedback or switch to whispering if agents need assistance or guidance through the call. As an alternative, the call can be recorded for later evaluation.

The main benefits: 

• The possibility of instant guidance
• Immediate feedback after a conversation
• Improved performance after getting guidance tips from supervisor
• Reduced stress level due to the absence of pressure common for direct observation
• Challenges and performance evaluation
• Recording materials for further training sessions

This practice will work best if you arrange clear communication about your monitoring practice with the agent to build a reliable ground of trust and understanding. The transparency will lower the risk of corrupted morale and stress due to monitoring. Make sure your supervisors have training on how to provide constructive feedback. 

Whisper monitoring

Whisper monitoring or whispering is often used when a new agent responds to the call. The whispering method allows a manager or supervisor to join the call without the customer’s awareness. This method helps to provide real-time assistance, coaching, and guidance to call center operators who need assistance during the phone call. The agents will get help, and the customer will get a solved issue without transferring the call.

The main benefits: 

• Instant coaching and help with tricky situations
• Enhanced performance empowered by valuable advice
• Agent's skill development right in the process
• Quality assurance
• Solved problem within the first response without any transfers

You need to provide thoughtful training for coaches to be prepared for quiet assistance without taking over the call if it is not required. They need to provide constructive and helpful feedback aimed at improvement more than criticism. Like silent monitoring, you need to develop a culture of trust during the practices and use it for skills development. Encourage agents to provide feedback about their experience of whisper monitoring. 

Barge in monitoring or three-way conversation

Barge in monitoring is a call center practice when a supervisor or manager actively joins the call between an agent and a customer. In this case, both the customer and agent are aware of the presence of the third person. A supervisor can actively participate in a conversation or keep silent, taking part only when assistance is required. The presence of the third person can change the call dynamic, especially in arguing situations.

The main benefits:

• Real-time support and instant assistance when required
• Improved customer experience
• The possibility to smooth sharp edges during customer's arguing
• Training opportunity for the agent
• Transparency for the customer and the agent about the supervisor's presence
• Quality assurance

The knowledge that the supervisor can join the conversation may be a source of stress for a new agent, so they need to know that during the burge-in the agent will get full support. You need to clarify when the supervisor can join the call during the monitoring to ensure it is provided constructively and without the agent's overshadowing. Pay attention to supervisors' and agents' feedback from this practice to see the strong and weak sides.

Takeover

We consider takeover more like a last resort than an often-used option. Takeover means that the manager or supervisor takes full control over the phone call and situation. This approach provides direct communication between the supervisor and customer for assistance or complete interaction handling. Such a decision can be made if the agent can't handle the issue or makes a mistake that requires removing the agent from the conversation.

The main benefits:

• Fast conflict resolution if it takes place
• Quick address to customer's concerns in complex situations
• Smooth transfer of communication by supervisor introduction
• Customers may feel especially valued when a more experienced person steps in
• Agents can learn from their supervisor's work

Once more, you need very clear and transparent rules about the situations when the supervisor can take over the conversation. You need to encourage and allow your agents to handle the situation themselves with intervention only when necessary. Such an approach helps to develop their confidence in the process and skill set. Consider feedback from the supervisor and agent to see how efficient the resolution was.

Call monitoring recording

Monitoring through call recording means analysis of the recorded income and outcome calls. Besides quality assurance, the recorded calls can be used for training, compliance, and performance evaluation. You need the software to arrange automated recording and a secure database for keeping, retrieval, and playback of records. Customers receive the notification that the call is recorded to inform them of the process.

The main benefits:

• Quality assurance through the recording analysis
• Material for agents' education and training
• Performance evaluation without the need for real-time supervisor's presence
• Check for compliance with company regulations

First, you must develop an obvious notification system to ensure the agent and customer know the call may be recorded. You may need a schedule for reviewing the recorded calls to ensure they receive an accurate evaluation and feedback. Consider recording the tool for skill development and constructive feedback from trainers. 

Conclusion

A call center monitoring system can upgrade and improve the operation and performance of your call center. It can help evaluate your agents' skills and efficiency and detect what needs improvement. It is the source of training materials and essential help in skills development. 

Call center monitoring improves the quality of phone assistance, enhances the customer experience, and identifies why customers may seek help.

Now that you know the answer to the question "What is call monitoring?" you can use this practice to improve your company's standards and make your teams more productive or choose the outsourcing option.