Voice is still the preferred channel for customer service inquiries despite the popularity of digital channels continuing to grow. As a result, any company with a contact center must set up the necessary tools to make sure this priceless data can be mined and used to boost brand value. With ease, speech analytics transforms unstructured voice data into useful information.

In order to gain a clear understanding of the customer’s voice, speech analytics software analyzes information gleaned from customer and call center agent communications.

Without having to manually evaluate calls, these tools let managers and employees of contact centers thoroughly examine each and every call that comes in and provide real-time data for quality assurance.

Here are some particular advantages of integrating speech analytics into your contact center.

Speech Analytics

Utilizing technology, speech analytics listens to and examines conversations. Large amounts of unstructured data can be easily analyzed by AI rather than by humans.

Speech analytics recognizes words and examines audio patterns to identify emotions, track agent performance, and rate call quality.

Text analytics can be performed using similar technology, and the combination of speech and text analytics enables organizations to derive deep, actionable insights that can be used to enhance current interactions or have a positive effect on 1-2-1 customer interactions in real time.

Types Of Speech Analytics

Speech analytics come in two flavors: post-call and real-time. Although businesses can use each separately, combining the two can increase efficiency and customer experience.

Post-call analytics performs analysis on interactions that have already occurred. It can look for particular patterns and trends by analyzing specific details of a single call or a group of calls.

For example, post-call analytics may analyze a large volume of calls and listen for the use of specific keywords, such as, “I cannot connect,” which may help identify the root cause of a product/service issue.

Real-time analytics performs analysis on interactions as the call is happening. This technology listens for certain words and phrases as well as particular voice inflections and tones. Additionally, businesses typically employ this type of speech analytics less frequently than the post-call variant.

Businesses can use real-time analytics software to identify calls where a customer uses specific keywords — such as, “This is the third time I am calling regarding this issue” — or has a voice inflection that identifies they are frustrated with the interaction. The call can then be proactively transferred to a person who might be better qualified to address the client’s issue.

Benefits Of Speech Analytics For Contact Centers

Improves Quality Assurance Measures

Speech analytics software can evaluate all communications in a contact center in real-time, allowing supervisors to keep a close eye on agent-customer interactions and more closely monitor agent effectiveness.

Speech analytics can also enhance the results of initial calls and lessen operational and performance problems that occasionally arise in contact centers. Paying attention to speech analytics helps agents “get on the same page” as customers, which ultimately increases the resolution rate of first calls and thereby reduces overall call volume.

The result is that agents are happier and customers are more satisfied with their interactions with the contact center, which can reduce the stress that overworked agents may experience, especially during peak call times.

Improves All Aspects Of Crucial Metrics

Optimizing the customer experience by cutting down on repeat calls and average call times is a top priority for contact centers. Supervisors of contact centers who use speech analytics have access to information about the causes of frequent calls to their centers. For a contact center to operate more efficiently, it is essential to pinpoint the root of various problems.

Contact center managers can identify what is and isn’t working by having access to this information, and they can then make adjustments and improvements as necessary.

Identifies Opportunities For Upselling

Speech analytics may help contact centers find upsell and cross-sell opportunities to increase revenue. The type of responses that particular customer demographics give when being marketed to may also be identified by this software, allowing for any necessary adjustments or enhancements.

Agents and managers can develop specialized upsell or cross-sell strategies that are tailored to the needs of each customer with the aid of contact center speech analytics.

Reduce Risk Of Noncompliance

Although laws have been put in place to prevent agents from violating customers’ privacy, breaches may still happen as agents carry out their duties.

With the aid of speech analytics, agents can receive real-time information to help them stay on course and refrain from saying or asking anything that might be construed as going outside the bounds of regulatory compliance. The program can monitor all calls and notify agents when they stray too far from the plan.

An agent will receive a warning from real-time speech analytics, for instance, if a specific word or phrase is said that might violate compliance guidelines. Agents can immediately correct themselves in turn.

Contact centers can avoid the severe fines that could result from failing to follow industry regulations by preventing non-compliance.

To further reduce the need for overstaffing, unnecessary callbacks can be avoided and some processes can be automated. One more tool to help contact centers operate more affordably and sustainably is speech analytics.

Help Supervisors Avoid Micromanaging

Without having to spend a lot of time manually guiding each call, speech analytics can ensure that managers are more productive at work. Instead, they can evaluate how calls are handled on a more general level.

Supervisors can locate areas on the call floor where assistance is required by using the automated assessments provided by speech analytics without having to spend a lot of time with each individual agent.

Provide Real-time Vs. Post-time Analytics

Every contact center must measure call quality and customer experience. Nothing beats real-time data and assessment, even though gathering this information and evaluating it after the fact is undoubtedly beneficial.

Real-time speech analytics can be applied while a call is being handled to provide agents with the information they need to immediately improve the interaction.

Speech analytics software is the latest addition to the wide range of digital tools that contact centers can use to enhance customer service, maintain agent engagement in their jobs, increase business revenue, and minimize operational costs.

Digital technology has evolved into a necessity in the contact center industry, where streamlining operations is essential to competing as an efficient and profitable contact center.