ANN ARBOR, Mich., May 02, 2019 – CFI Group’s 2019 Government Contact Center Satisfaction Index (GCCSI) fell to 63, as measured on a 0-100 scale, down 7% from 2018. According to the new report, understanding the interplay between an agency’s website and the contact center may provide some explanation for this dip.

The report shows that 75% of customers who reach out to a government contact center first try to resolve their issue online. Simple questions are being handled by customers on the agency website, saving the complicated, frustrating questions for contact center agents.

“Customers are increasingly trying to resolve their issues online before reaching out to the contact center for help,” says Kelly Stallard, Program Director at CFI Group. “So, it’s critical that agencies assess the contact center’s role with the customer service experience within the context of the whole customer service journey, which includes customer interaction with the agency website. Measuring the customer experience across the journey’s touchpoints enables an agency to identify and focus on those high-impact areas that, when improved, will have the greatest influence on customer satisfaction with the entire customer service experience.”

According to the study, agent effectiveness and empowerment are the two primary factors that drive overall government contact center satisfaction. When customers reach the agency contact center, they are looking for skilled, professional agents who can effectively address their issue and help them find the information they need to complete their transaction. To facilitate this customer support, agencies need to hire and train talented agents, and empower those agents with flexible policies and a degree of authority to offer customers a tailored solution.

The study shows that when agents are empowered, they can deliver effective first agent resolution, first call resolution, and low call handle time, three factors that help ensure a great contact center experience.

First Call Resolution

GCCSI is 28% higher when the issue is resolved on the first call instead of two or more calls.

Call Handle Time

GCCSI is 18% higher when the issue is resolved in under 15 minutes instead of over 15 minutes.

First Agent Resolution

GCCSI is 3% higher when the issue is resolved by one agent instead of two or more agents.

To deliver an excellent customer service journey experience, agencies must implement the systems and processes needed to provide online self-serve tools to customers, while also ensuring that customers can easily reach an effective and empowered agent when needed.