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Strategies for Call Center Efficiency Improvement

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Nicklas Klemm
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Call centers are facing growing pressures that require sustainable solutions for long-term success. In an age where customers expect immediate answers, long wait times and frustrating interactions can harm your business. The challenge is clear: how do you manage increasing call volumes without exploding costs and sacrificing customer experience?

This is where Artificial Intelligence steps in. According to a global survey from McKinsey, around 65% of organizations are already using gen AI, indicating a widespread adoption of AI to solve business problems. 

For call centers, that gen AI tool is an intelligent call management platform called Synthflow. Synthflow’s platform uses advanced AI voice agents to not just resolve FAQs but also intelligently identify the caller’s intent to know if they need more specialized assistance or not. The same AI agents can perform administrative tasks like appointment scheduling and follow-up reminders while simultaneously picking up 100+ concurrent calls to reduce customer wait times.

This isn’t to say that traditional methods are obsolete. In fact, this guide will also go over skill-based routing, in-depth training, and clear KPIs as strategies for call center efficiency improvement.

Best Strategy: Leverage AI Voice Agents to Drive Call Center Efficiency

AI voice agents are the number one solution for improving call center efficiency overnight. In fact, 114 telco companies are already reducing costs in their customer service department using AI

Source

With that in mind, here are some ways you can leverage AI Voice Agents to Improve Call Center Efficiency.

AI Can Automate Repetitive, Manual Tasks

Synthflow’s AI voice agents can intelligently answer basic FAQs, using natural language processing to understand complex questions and instantly provide personalized responses. Plus, AI voice agents even handle follow-ups and ask for feedback post-call, expanding the essential support most chatbots can provide.

According to IBM, some call centers are getting 70% of all inbound calls answered with just AI and not any human interaction. That means the future of answering FAQs and common inquiries is already here, and some call centers are already reaping the rewards of integrating AI into their systems.

AI Can Do Smart Routing for Faster and Better Handling

AI can quickly assess a caller’s needs based on their responses and pre-call information pulled directly from your CRM. Using this data, Synthflow’s smart routing instantly connects the caller to the most appropriate human agent, reducing transfer times and ensuring a higher first-call resolution rate.

This means customers don’t need to navigate phone trees themselves, which leads to happier interactions and faster handling.

AI is Available 24/7 

As much as 71% of customers expect personalized interactions from brands in 2024. So if your call center puts customers on hold for too long or isn’t available 24/7, you can’t just redirect these customers to a support thread or ask them to fill a support ticket. You need a personal approach, like AI agents, that can cover night shifts.

These AI voice agents can also schedule appointments on your existing calendar system and do basic troubleshooting, resolving simple issues or automatically opening tickets for a customer if it needs an agent’s attention. So, anyone who calls beyond office hours can still book a meeting for the next day. 

AI Offers Real-world Success Case Studies 

Industries like real estate, hospitals, and hotels already use AI agents to improve their call center and customer service efficiency. Here’s a case study with Medbelle, a healthcare provider who had trouble managing patient appointments. Before Synthflow, patients often waited 1-2 days for an answer from Medbelle. 

But, with Synthflow’s AI voice agent, Medbelle immediately got a:

  • 60% increase in scheduling efficiency through Synthflow's automated appointment scheduling with AI.
  • 2.5x more qualified appointments due to Synthflow's intelligent pre-call question filters.
  • 30% reduction on no-show rates due to Synthflow's automated appointment reminders.
  • 25% improved patient satisfaction from a more seamless experience.

Traditional IVR systems with pre-recorded voice prompts are frustrating to hear when you’re calling a hospital. When you’re sick or calling on behalf of a loved one, a repeating voice recording is the last thing you want to hear. 

What Are the Proven Strategies to Optimize Call Center Operations

Optimizing call center operations is all about improving and tracking your metrics. You need to track metrics and KPIs, have better agent training, review calls for agent feedback, and more. 

The good news is we will teach you how to do each step.

Share Performance Metrics and KPIs to Boost Productivity

Sometimes, the best strategy is just letting your agents know what metrics and KPIs you track. Teach them KPIs like Average Talk Time (ATT), Average Handle Time (AHT), etc., and what each KPI means (we’ll go through what specific KPIs to track later in this article).

Laying everything down makes it even and transparent for your agents to track their progress. This is part of the fairness factor, and it’s crucial in creating a performance-management system that’s 60% effective for managing teams successfully long-term.

Relate the metrics and KPIs to the company goals so they understand what you’re tracking and why. When your agents understand your KPIs, they’ll know what to improve and how to be better.

Review Calls and Create Personal Training Points

Agents who go through simulation training reduce call duration by at least 13%. You can have a supervisor analyze every agent's best and worst customer interactions and simulate those same interactions as training. Then, identify one key area for improvement for the whole week. 

This focused approach allows for:

  • Targeted Improvement: Addressing one specific weakness is easier to track and improve.
  • Increased Agent Engagement: Personalized feedback shows you’re investing in your agents, motivating them to improve.
  • Reduced Overwhelm: Focusing on one area of improvement at a time prevents agents from feeling overwhelmed and lets them focus better.

Why this is better than just enrolling your agents in a paid course:

Courses cover a broad range of topics, diluting their impact on individual needs. In contrast, personalized feedback pinpoints the exact areas where agents struggle the most. By focusing on big weaknesses, agents have more room to improve.

Guided Workflows for Routine Issues or FAQs

You can cut a lot of video tutorials with your agents when you have the right SOPs for routine issues or FAQs. Proper documentation with tools like Scribe can reduce training time by up to 70%, so you can minimize agent downtime from training. 

Standard operating procedures (SOPs) keep all agents on the same page, reducing errors. This gives agents confidence when helping a customer with a routine issue. Customers also feel that confidence coming from the support agent and end up feeling calmer throughout the call.

The easiest way to create a workflow is with Scribehow.com. You record your screen, do the step-by-step task, and stop the recording. Scribe then creates a step-by-step guide with pictures and instructions on that workflow. 

This workflow is easier to scan compared to a Loom or YouTube video.

Skill-Based Call Routing

This call center strategy directs incoming calls to the most qualified agent based on the caller's needs and the agent's expertise. Call routing ensures customers connect with the best agent to handle their specific issues. This strategy alone can improve FCR and Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) by up to 5%

Skill-based routing means that callers who are asking about a billing issue immediately get routed to a billing specialist, reducing resolution time and improving customer satisfaction. 

Synthflow's smart routing feature ensures callers are immediately connected to the best agent for their specific needs. For example, repeat callers are redirected to their original agent, and complex issues are escalated to a senior agent for specialized help.

Implement Omni Channel Support

Omnichannel support lets your customers seamlessly contact you across all channels. This means your agents can help multiple customers at once instead of focusing on one every phone call. Employee productivity improves from 20% to 50% after integrating an omnichannel framework into the business. 

The key to omnichannel support is not to do everything at once. Instead, start with a unified platform like Synthflow. Synthflow allows you to connect your chatbots to your live calls and use insights from other channels, such as text and email, to give your call center agents a holistic understanding of the customer’s journey.

Synthflow supports multiple communication channels, like phone calls, text messages, and so on. Synthflow’s AI voice agents can also use this information to directly address or predict a customer’s needs.

Boost Employee Engagement with Huddles and Incentives

Call centers have notoriously high turnover rates, and it costs a lot of money and work to train new recruits. A survey with 320 respondents found that 62% of customer agents are somewhat satisfied or dissatisfied with their jobs. Stating that they were likely to leave their positions within the current year or the following year. 

The dissatisfaction came from a lack of job security, promotion opportunities, and a missing connection to the community and the company’s mission. The same survey with 320 respondents also found that 70% of agents had huddles only once a week or even less. 14% had no regular huddles or meetings whatsoever. 

If your call center has the same high turnover rate, take a look at your employee’s opportunities in the company, their connection to your mission, and their team. 

Enhancing Agent Well-Being

Beyond simple huddles, improving agent well-being is also about improving your systems to make their work easier. Here are some steps that can help enhance agent well-being without encouraging more huddles and extra-curricular activities:

  1. Actively Assigning Breaks: Agents on several back-to-back calls should be actively given breaks by their supervisors. Encouraging these agents to stand up, stretch, or decompress after being on call for hours reduces burnout and will make your agents a lot happier.
  2. Mental Health Resources: Provide access or allowance for counseling, stress management programs, or other mental health resources to support agents' emotional well-being.
  3. Reducing Workload with Automation: By automating routine tasks with tools like Synthflow, you can significantly reduce the agent workload. Even small changes like adding live chat or email support mean agents can help customers without having to be on a call all the time.

By prioritizing agent well-being, you create a better work environment that leads to improved employee retention and a better customer experience.

Metrics to Measure Call Center Efficiency

Metrics are standalone measurements or raw data about performance. Meanwhile, KPIs are calculated using existing metrics. KPIs assess the business’s progress towards its set objectives. 

That means you need great metrics to calculate accurate KPIs.

Metrics for Call Centers

Here are nine call center metrics to track that will get you better KPIs and analytics.

  1. Total Calls Handled: the total number of calls your agents answer and engage with during a specific period.
  2. Total Inquiries Handled: the total number of unique inquiries your agents answer and engage with during a specific period.
  3. Hold time: The time a customer spends waiting on a call for an agent to become available. Happens when traditional IVR or AI agents ask customers to hold while rerouting them to the right departments. The average industry hold time for a phone call is under 60 seconds.
  4. Call Abandon Rate: The abandon rate is the percentage of calls where customers hang up before connecting with an agent. High abandon rates either indicate long wait times, poor call routing, or understaffing. The average industry call abandonment rate is below 5%.
  5. First Response Time (FRT): How long it takes for a call center agent to respond to a customer inquiry, whether it's a phone call or another communication channel like email. For a phone call, you can get immediate FRT with AI voice agents like Synthflow. However, for emails and support tickets, aim to reply within 24 hours.
  6. Handle Time: The total duration of customer interaction from start to end, meaning talk time, hold time, and any post-call work.
  7. Total Talk Time: The sum duration of all the calls between an agent and a customer. Generally, calls should last around 5 minutes on average.
  8. Wrap-up Time: The time an agent spends after a call completing tasks like updating systems, setting appointments, or taking notes.
  9. Repeat Call Rate (RCR): This amount of times a customer has called to address the same issue. Showing either poor handling, inadequate communication, or an error from the agent’s training.

KPIs for Call Centers

With those nine metrics, we can get key performance indicators (KPIs) that paint a bigger picture:

1. First Call Resolution Rate (FCR): FCR measures the percentage of customer calls resolved during the first interaction without requiring a follow-up. A high FCR rate indicates productive agents, a good routing process, and satisfied customers. The industry standard for FCR is 70 to 75%.

  • FCR calculation = (No. of Inquiries Resolved on First Interaction / Total Inquiries Handled) X 100

2. Average Handle Time (AHT): AHT is the average time an agent takes to complete a customer interaction, starting from the first response all the way to the resolution. The industry AHT rate depends on your niche, but aim for 20 minutes for routine issues.

  • AHT calculation =  Total Handle Time of all Calls / Total Calls Handled

3. Average Talk Time (ATT): ATT measures explicitly the time an agent spends talking to a customer during a call. ATT works with AHT to determine whether an agent rushes calls or not. It’s a great KPI for performance when paired with other KPIs. Again, ATT generally depends on your industry, but 5 minutes per call is a good benchmark for simple issues.

  • ATT calculation = Sum of Total Talk Time / Total Calls Handled

4. Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT): Considering that 86% of customers are willing to pay more for great customer service, a high CSAT score is a must. It's usually measured through surveys asking customers to rate their satisfaction on a scale. Include in your surveys the likelihood of that customer recommending you to their friends. This also lets you track your Net Promoter Score (NPS).

You should also compare your CSAT scores against the current Call Abandon Rate, Hold Time, First Response Time, and Average Talk Time. This way, you can tell which metric improves your CSAT the most, and you can focus on that. For CSAT, the industry standard is 80% customer satisfaction or higher. 

The last step is using these KPIs to set up SMART goals for your contact center. For example: 

  • Increase FCR by 5% within the next quarter by improving agent training and knowledge base resources.
  • Reduce AHT by 1 minute within the next two months by improving call routing and agent scripts.
  • Achieve a CSAT score of 4.5 out of 5 by the end of the next six months by identifying and addressing common customer pain points from CSAT surveys.

Calculating the ROI of Call Center Efficiency Improvements

Investing in call center efficiency isn't just about improving customer experience; it's also about improving your bottom line for long-term success. By implementing strategic improvements and using tools like Synthflow, you can see a significant return on your investment. Here's how:

Cost Savings

Bouygues Telecom saved over $5 million in pre- and post-call operations by using AI to summarize call transcripts and update the telco CRM with customer data from the call. 

You can cut down the pre- and post-call tasks of your agents by automating these processes to save manpower, making agents immediately available after a call instead of processing post-call summaries or notes.

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

Improved customer satisfaction directly contributes to customer loyalty, repeat business, and increased revenue. Track referrals and repeat customers, then calculate the Customer Lifetime Value (CLV). You do that by multiplying the average purchase value, average purchase frequency, and average customer lifespan of all your customers.

Notice how increasing the purchase frequency or lengthening the customer lifespan can significantly increase the CLV of your customers without changing your product purchase value. 

Employee Retention

Reducing agent turnover saves significant costs from recruitment, training, and lost productivity when capable agents leave. McKinsey estimates as much as $10,000 to $20,000 is lost per agent turnover.

If you’re managing 100 agents and getting the standard industry turnover rate of 30% to 45%, then that’s around 30 to 45 agents leaving the company per year. Around $300,000 to $450,000 in attrition costs. By investing in strategies that enhance the agent's experience and well-being, you’re inadvertently saving money in the long run. 

You can calculate your turnover rate with this formula:
Turnover Rate = (Number of Separations / Average Number of Employees) x 100

Practical Steps to Implement Call Center Efficiency Strategies

Integrating AI into your call center requires careful planning and preparation. This involves getting both your workforce and your infrastructure ready for the change.

Workforce Preparation and Agent Performance

Bringing AI to your workforce is more about the employees than it is about the AI tools you’re bringing in. You need to train and give your employees the acumen to use AI to support their work

You can start by:

Step 1: Introducing the problem that the call center is facing. Tell or show your employees the problem (that the AI tool is solving). 

E.g. Too many inbound calls with concerns that could be solved with an FAQ or automated appointment scheduling.

Step 2: Highlight the challenges and effects of that problem. Why is it difficult to solve? How is that problem affecting the call center, specifically your employees? 

E.g. Excessive calls mean more customers are on hold, and that creates a bad customer experience. Agents are also busy answering FAQs instead of solving more complex issues for customers in desperate need.

Step 3: Introduce the solution. Tell your agents how you plan on solving this problem and what the benefits of solving this issue are. 

E.g. Automatically answer simple inbound calls with AI and filter the more complicated problems for human agents. 

Step 4: Introduce Synthflow AI to your employees. Teach them how it works, specifically the smart routing, 24/7 availability, and Synthflow’s ability to forward or answer inbound calls, depending on the context.

Unlike other AI tools that require extensive training, Synthflow’s no-code platform allows your employees to use the system without needing in-depth training. The intuitive drag-and-drop interface means your backend team can deploy Synthflow over just a day.

Infrastructure Preparation

Check if your current phone system, CRM, and other relevant technologies are compatible with the AI solution you've chosen. Additionally, you need to guarantee that the AI tools you’re using are secure from data breaches and malpractice and comply with relevant regulations.

For example, Synthflow complies with three major regulations:

  • GDPR Compliance: GDPR compliance means strict data protection and privacy regulations for users within the European Union and beyond. This ensures that personal data is collected, used, and stored securely and transparently. For example, Synthflow provides users with the tools to manage consent, data access, and deletion requests.
  • HIPAA Compliance: HIPAA has rigorous standards for protecting sensitive patient information. This includes features like data encryption, access controls, and audit trails. For example, all patient call recordings are encrypted at rest and in transit, and access to these records is strictly controlled based on employee roles.
  • SOC 2 Compliance: Synthflow is also SOC 2 compliant, which is a rigorous auditing standard. SOC 2 is a regular audit of how Synthflow handles sensitive information, ensuring the highest standards of security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy controls.

Finally, your infrastructure and AI solutions must be scalable as your call center expands and your needs evolve. In this case, Synthflow has pricing plans that handle 10 concurrent calls all the way to 100+ calls for enterprises, so there’s a pricing plan for every size call center.

Key Actions:

  • System compatibility assessment
  • Infrastructure upgrades (if needed)
  • Data security and privacy measures (certificates and compliances)
  • Scalability planning

Tool Recommendations for Improving Call Center Efficiency

Improving the efficiency of a call center means revolutionizing the bottom line. If you’re still using traditional IVR systems with pre-recorded messages, you need to upgrade to an AI solution.

Synthflow: AI for Phone Calls and Workforce Management

For call centers with traditional infrastructure, hassle-free integration is the number one priority. Synthflow's no-code platform allows even non-technical users to deploy AI agents within minutes, meaning you can quickly transform your call center without a major infrastructure overhaul.

Aside from the easy accessibility, Synthflow specializes in answering FAQs and scheduling appointments for your customers while providing personalized conversations with gen AI. Meanwhile, your human agents can receive customers who have more complicated issues. 

Synthflow comes packed with AI features to transform your call center operations:

  • Automated voice calls, no code needed
  • 11labs integration – clone voices and automatically schedule appointments into your calendar
  • Advanced call sorting, logging, and transferring
  • CRM Integrations – Highlevel, HubSpot
  • Top models (GPT4 & GPTo) included in all tiers of pricing
  • 24/7 call answering
  • Mid & post-call actions (e.g., follow-ups)
  • Zero latency with call analytics
  • Code-free customizable workflows
  • Voice personalization and cloning
  • 130+ integrations

Synthflow uses a simple drag-and-drop interface to create voice agents, unlike other platforms. That means the learning curve isn’t steep, and you can quickly launch your AI agents into your call center operations.

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CRM Software

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) programs track and store valuable customer information. This includes demographics, purchase history, and satisfaction levels. 

CRMs allow agents to remember the personal details of repeat callers and loyal customers. Mentioning their previous tickets or details shows your customers that you value them and make them happy. 

This is where Synthflow’s 130+ integrations come in handy. Synthflow can connect to CRM platforms to access customer data, creating a more personal call with every customer.

1. Salesforce Service Cloud:

This is one of the most popular and comprehensive CRM solutions available, particularly for customer service and support.

  • Benefits of Integration: Get a 360-degree view of the customer journey across all touchpoints. Leverage Salesforce's advanced case management and self-service portals. And use Salesforce’s reporting to analyze call center performance in the context of broader customer interactions.

2. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service:

This CRM is a strong choice for businesses already using Microsoft products.

  • Benefits of Integration: Leverage Dynamics 365's AI-powered insights to anticipate customer needs before they call. Personalize your scripts and offers based on customer history. And seamlessly connect phone interactions with other communication channels managed within Dynamics 365.

3. Zendesk:

Known for its user-friendly interface and focus on customer experience, Zendesk offers a suite of tools to manage customer interactions.

  • Benefits of Integration: Provide a seamless transition between phone calls (managed by Synthflow) and other channels like live chat and email (managed by Zendesk). Use Zendesk's knowledge base to empower customers with self-service options and reduce call volume.

Continuous Improvement Plan: Gathering and Implementing Feedback

You’re not expected to implement these strategies and get it right on your first try. That’s why you need a continuous improvement plan, which involves getting feedback from both your agents and customers.

Agent Feedback

To gather valuable feedback from your individual agents, consider these methods:

  • Regular surveys: Conduct surveys to gather feedback on tools, processes, and overall job satisfaction.
  • Team meetings and focus groups: Facilitate open discussions to encourage agents to share their ideas and concerns.
  • Suggestion boxes and online forums: Provide anonymous channels for agents to submit feedback without fear of reprisal.

Customer Feedback

Collecting customer feedback is equally important. Utilize these methods:

  • Post-call surveys: Automate surveys to gather immediate feedback after customer interactions.
  • Feedback forms on your website or in your app: Make it easy for customers to provide feedback online at their convenience.
  • Social media monitoring: Track mentions of your company on social media and respond to comments and reviews in a timely manner.

Implementing Feedback

Once you've gathered feedback, it’s time to assess, prioritize, and make changes.

  • Analyze feedback data: Identify trends and patterns in the feedback to understand areas that need improvement.
  • Prioritize action items: Focus on addressing the most critical issues and those with the biggest potential impact on efficiency and customer satisfaction.
  • Make changes to processes, training, or tools: Implement changes based on the feedback received.
  • Communicate changes to agents and customers: Let them know you're listening to their feedback and taking action to address their concerns.
  • Track the impact of changes: Monitor key metrics to see if the changes have the desired effect on efficiency and customer satisfaction.

Building a continuous feedback loop keeps a call center efficient and customer-centric. By regularly getting and analyzing feedback, you can prevent problems before they get worse.

Conclusion

Sharing your KPIs with your agents, having regular call reviews, and personalized training sessions are all great ways to improve your call center. You can also set up guided workflows for routine issues. Or implement skill-based call routing and enhance customer satisfaction. 

However, if you want the most improvement with the least effort, then focus on your bottom line. Synthflow can work as a 24/7 receptionist, managing incoming calls and smart routing them to your appropriate agents. The AI voice agents can even handle basic FAQs without human intervention to free up your agents. 

Ready to revolutionize your call center? Don't wait to experience the power of AI. Sign up for your personalized demo of Synthflow today and see firsthand how we can transform your customer experience while boosting your bottom line.

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Effortless Human-Like AI Phone Calls

Build a no-code AI phone system with our AI voice Assistants: stop missing calls and start converting more leads