How to Improve CSAT Scores in Your Call Center: 9 Ways to Explore

Customer service drives every business — it’s the force behind improving relationships with the target audience, boosting brand loyalty, and growing revenue. CSAT, or Customer Satisfaction Score, is one of the most accessible and objective ways to determine and measure how well your call center assistance is faring in your customers’ eyes. Here’s an impressive number: 94% of customers reported being more willing to purchase a product from a company that has provided them with a positive customer experience. 

CSAT score is just a tool, but it’s a powerful one. Businesses that need to keep tabs on their image and call center efficiency should master regular assessments and strategies to improve their CSAT score. 

Want to learn how to improve CSAT scores for your call center? This article will give in-depth insights into CSAT benefits and actionable ways to boost its rating. 

CSAT and Its Importance

So, what is CSAT? As we mentioned above, it’s one of the key call center performance metrics — though it can be applied anywhere. It measures the business’ customer satisfaction rating; in our case, it’s the efficiency of the call center’s performance, its communication strategies, and the ability to solve pressing requests. 

What is a good CSAT score? Let’s start with the basics first.

A CSAT score is evaluated in percentages, from 0% to 100%; the average result a company can expect is 60%-80%. A team maintaining a 70-80% CSAT score can be confident in its good performance. However, a competitive business should always seek options to improve, and there’s a lot to be done. 

Companies measure a CSAT score using surveys and asking clients to rate their service satisfaction from 1 to 10. Some ramp up their creativity and use emojis, colorful bars, or anything else to achieve a higher survey completion rate. The score is then converted into a percentage to give a clearer picture. 

You might want to know why CSAT is important, though. Here are just a few reasons: 

Stronger brand reputation. A call center handles a high number of customer interactions daily, serving as a showpiece for its communication efficiency and overall attitude to the audience. A high CSAT score indicates the company’s readiness to pay attention to customers’ needs and their positive experience. Since clients share reviews via various channels, their happiness with the support contributes to the company’s reputation. 

Customer retention & loyalty. The more you improve support CSAT, the more likely customers will return. Research shows that ease of resolution, agent knowledge, and ease of contact, all vital aspects of CSAT score assessment, directly impact customer satisfaction with CX services: 

“In 2018, 70.7 percent of organizations worldwide revealed that ease of resolution is the most important customer experience (CX) service factor enhancing customer satisfaction. During the survey, 87.2 percent of organizations stated that improving CX capability leads to an increased customer loyalty and value.”

A high CSAT score helps reduce customer churn by ensuring customers feel valued and heard.

Facilitated operational efficiency. Those who receive support from your call center will likely pinpoint the potential errors you might have overlooked before (e.g. slow response rate, difficult first-rate resolutions, poor ethics). No matter how much you evaluate your team’s efficiency, there are new perspectives only customers can have. Agents who regularly receive high CSAT scores demonstrate integrity and adherence to a company’s values. 

Steadier revenue growth. A business’s revenue correlates with satisfied customers as they return and purchase on upsells, new services, or personalized products. When you increase CSAT, you facilitate your reputation and communicative efficiency. 

9 Proven Ways to Improve CSAT Scores

How to improve csat scores in call center? There’s no universal response. 

The phenomenon of customer satisfaction isn’t something simple — it requires a long-term focus on strategic call center facilitation. But we have outlined the main ones you can use regardless of your industry. We’ve compiled a list of practical and action-focused steps to improving your call center’s CSAT scores. 

1. Assess Performance and Set Realistic CSAT Objectives

We know making changes from the start might sound appealing, but you need to grasp what you need to change. You already know how CSAT score is calculated, so go ahead! Ask the questions that matter. Expand your survey questions beyond “How satisfied are you with this interaction?” and ask for more details (e.g., resolution time, waiting time, agents’ responsiveness). Develop customer satisfaction KPIs for your team based on the results and business specifics. Once you identify your current CSAT score, you can start planning. Instead of hoping to achieve a 100% satisfaction rate, go for something possible to achieve — a 5% increase for specified criteria is good enough. Make sure to re-evaluate your score and make adjustments as you go regularly. 

2. Identify Common Customer Pain Points

Collect the data you have accumulated and examine it. If there’s too much to explore, use natural language processing (NLP) to study the received customer feedback, especially if there are detailed reviews. Most of such feedback has recurring themes of customer dissatisfaction. These could include:

• Long hold times before reaching an agent
• Repeating the same information multiple times
• Agents lacking product/service knowledge
• Difficulty navigating the website or other contact channels.

Once managers identify the existing themes, they can target them specifically. 

3. Engage With Low-Scoring Customers for Deeper Insights

The next step in our action plan to improve csat scores is doing some dirty work. Your dissatisfied customers can give the most information about what to improve. Don’t treat negative reviews as a setback; they are the goldmine for a better understanding what you can do. Make a list of these individuals and write open-ended questions in advance. For example, ask, “What was the most frustrating part of the call?” or “What could we have done differently to make the experience better for you?” Allow your customers to talk and guide them with pointed clarifications if needed. Express an earnest willingness to improve and explain why you are reaching out. One of the unexpected advantages of doing so can be a reputational improvement and a transformation of the previous impression.

4. Strengthen Agents’ Key Training Areas

Regular coaching and training are vital for all customer service areas, but it’s also one of our top CSAT improvement ideas. After you’re done with the aforementioned strategies, you will have much information to put toward your training plan. Be also ready to implement ongoing training that doesn’t overwhelm the team but still presents opportunities for improvement — for instance, once a week. Research shows that reskilling and upskilling lead to high satisfaction for 27% of professionals and general satisfaction for 44%.

The potential areas where your call center agents might need training include: 

• Empathy and emotional intelligence. These can be particularly valuable for crisis situations and when dealing with unhappy clients. 
• Product knowledge and troubleshooting. Continuous education about new products will make your team aware of possible client questions and help them provide better service. 
• Performance standards. Even the best specialists can be too engrossed in the routine of easier or repeatable calls and forget some nuances of overall team efficiency.
• Policies and ethics. Agents should be aware of ethical and legal guidelines affecting their responsibilities. Although such training sessions are not required regularly, they are a must if something changes or has been a weak spot recently. 

Important: if you feel your current resources (time included) aren’t enough to improve your team without external help, consider hiring a call center outsourcing company to support your in-house agents. 

5. Leverage Automation & Focus on Complex Calls

Instead of requiring your team to spend an equal amount of time on routine calls and those calling for closer attention, use automation to your advantage. It can enhance customer service by dealing with repetitive calls and tasks, allowing agents to dedicate their efforts to more complex inquiries. Implementing an effective FAQ section on the website or even via phone can eliminate some calls. But managers can also use small call routing, directing customers to agents with specific skills faster. However, this also leads us to another strategy.

6. Create a Balance Between Human and Tech

Although using technology to achieve faster and better results is helpful, it can backfire in the call center when it comes to communication with customers directly. Using AI assistants in call centers is a popular trend, but relying on them too much can lead to customer frustration. Many individuals find themselves trying in vain to reach human agents who can provide better and more individualized service to them, only to be turned back to AI. 

To strike the right balance, use AI for simple tasks like checking order status or resetting passwords — these don’t require human intervention and can be easily streamlined. Always allow your customers to escalate the call to a human agent if AI can’t handle that. A good option here is to suggest a callback for the customers if your agents are busy. A hybrid approach ensures that customers get the best of both worlds: speedy AI assistance for the basics and empathetic human support for more complex issues.

7. Recognize and Reward Agents for Engagement Boost

Agents are directly responsible for high CSAT scores, and their contribution shouldn’t just concentrate on limitations or regulations — there’s a place for reward and positive reinforcement in there, too. Many managers forget that their teams are more motivated by positives, not negatives; they are guided by more than a simple unwillingness to be punished. If you have cultivated a trusting work environment, your agents want to be a part of the larger collective and feel valued. In 2023, professionals commented on the impactful work environment being the most decisive criterion for job satisfaction (45%), with career advancement, ethics, and compensation close by. As you see, there’s more to it than just money.

Here are the strategies that can facilitate your team’s engagement and motivation to reach your objectives:

• Performance-based incentives. To motivate top-performing agents and encourage others to seek improvement, consider adding performance-based incentives. These can be anything from financial bonuses or career growth opportunities to public acknowledgment and on-the-job privileges. 
• Supportive environment. The professional atmosphere can be enhanced by creating a flexible schedule, addressing high workloads, or giving a few extra mental health days. This will strengthen the belief that each professional is regarded as an individual outside of their direct responsibilities. Be there for your agents while they’re exploring their career journey.
• Regular feedback and communication opportunities. Everyone needs direct communication, but we’ve already focused on this above. In this case, connecting with people from different positions and departments becomes the reward. You can offer top-performing agents specific meetings with specialists in the field/department they are interested in or give them the power to initiate informal meet-ups with their colleagues or managers. 

8. Personalize Customer Interactions

You know the saying, “Business is business,” right? In reality, it’s hardly the case for most buyers worldwide: they want to feel special and seen. And who doesn’t? Forbes reported that poor customer service and lack of personalization are some of the most painful blows to customer loyalty. 

People may not always remember great service and average service is inherently forgettable. But bad customer service can actively drive customers away.

No one wants to feel like another number. 

Use customer relationship management (CRM) tools to provide agents with insights into past interactions, recent purchases, and common issues. This way, your specialists will already know who is calling before answering. The simplest ways to enhance personalization include:

• Addressing customers by name and referencing past interactions
• Offering relevant solutions based on customer history
• Asking whether their prior inquiries have been solved or bother them. 

These require handling customer data and giving agents time to skim information before responding, but it pays off. 

9. Integrate With Broader Customer Service Strategies

Each department and place you use to communicate with your customers is an opportunity to improve your reputation and audience loyalty. Your call center doesn’t operate in a vacuum — it’s directly linked with other communication channels and an even broader system. Think about how your call center depends on other factors: for example, something in your social media responses could be confusing and send more customers to rely on calling you instead. Ensure all your teams align in their CSAT score goals and allow this unification to make the customer experience seamless from all touchpoints. 

Honing Your Customer Satisfaction

Your CSAT score is one of the most realistic and trustworthy determinants of your call center’s success. It reveals how satisfied your customers are with the service provided, how well you operate on a team level, and how you connect with the audience. 

Implementing CSAT scoring has undeniable benefits: it’s good for your revenue, reputation, customer retention, and performance. But it’s more than that: it’s a way to measure your agents’ and managers’ ability to fulfill their responsibilities and know when to hit a pause button and re-assess your strategies. 

Every call center and company is different; it depends on business specifics, team size, and budget. We’ve listed the main strategies above, but you may be limited in what you can do immediately, so plan with the long-term perspective in mind. Start by evaluating your CSAT score right now and setting goals — and go ahead, toward a more responsive team and engaged customers.

FAQ 

Why CSAT Is Important?

This metric helps a company understand how well it meets customer expectations. A high CSAT score indicates that customers are happy with the service they received, but it’s more than that — it shows how the team performs and what the brand image might be. Although it cannot show all the factors in play, it gives valuable insights into one of the critical metrics and helps managers recalibrate their objectives and performance if needed. Those working on their CSAT score are more likely to generate more revenue and build a loyal audience base.

How CSAT Score Is Calculated?

CSAT is typically measured through post-interaction surveys, where customers rate their experience on a scale of 1 to 5 or 1 to 10. These scores are then converted into a percentage to determine the overall average. 

What Is a Good CSAT Score?

Everyone has their own view of what a good score is, especially based on past results. However, most industries consider 70-80% as a generally strong CSAT score. Higher than 85% is an indicator of an excellent one, and the ones below 60% have room for improvement. But it’s all relative: a company that had a 90% CSAT score and sees its results dropping to 75% might view it as a failure, and so on.

❤︎ Like it? — Share: Share on LinkedIn or Share on Facebook