A Sponsored Article by Mattersight
Thanks to advancements in technology and data analysis, Behavioral Analytics is now a mainstream reality. Top companies are using Behavioral Analytics to determine a caller’s personality and communication preferences based on the way they interact with a contact center agent. This information can then be leveraged to analyze how employees perform with customers, and to improve the customer experience, improve operational efficiencies and reduce costs.
The cornerstone of Behavioral Analytics is a language-based personality model developed by Taibi Kahler, Ph.D., an award-winning clinical psychologist who has served as an advisor to Fortune 500 companies, NASA and other government agencies, and several successful presidential and senatorial campaigns. This model has been used globally to improve communication and interactions in a number of facets, including the contact center.
Here’s how the model works for improving customer interactions: Each person has different behavioral characteristics that define his or her “human operating system.” These differences in personality drive how we interact with others. If we can understand the personality and communication style of each customer, we can more effectively communicate with them and increase the likelihood of a positive business outcome.
By listening to a number of customer service calls about a common problem—for example, calls about account statement changes—you can easily identify a number of the common personality styles and how they are expressed in different language patterns. Common examples might include:
“This account information is so confusing… I just don’t understand it.”
“This is the third time I have called about this issue. This is so frustrating.”
“Man, all this paperwork is such a hassle.”
“What kind of company would keep making the same mistakes on their statements?”
Each of these language “choices” comes from a different personality style, but they show a common level of customer dissatisfaction regarding account statement information. These statements also give meaningful insights into each customer’s individual “human operating system,” which can be leveraged to more effectively communicate.
Innovative companies with some of the most successful customer experience programs have already begun to capture, analyze and act upon personality and communication styles, and other behavioral characteristics. A government healthcare benefits manager who has been repeatedly recognized by J.D. Power and Associates for exceptional customer service has been using behavioral analytics for years, and has seen consistent improvements year after year. The manager’s team uses behavioral analytics to identify member personality types and communication preferences, as well as employee strengths dealing with different caller types. This information is then used to route callers to the best available agent for handling the personality type for each specific caller. As a result, they:
- Reduced average talk time (ATT) for calls by 16%;
- Improved beneficiary satisfaction levels and improved first-contact resolution (FCR); and
- Met service levels during a very challenging period when new government mandates were being implemented.
Each individual customer has different expectations and behaviors. Similarly, each individual employee has different strengths and weaknesses handling different types of calls. Behavioral analytics can help you to better understand your customers and improve your interactions with those customers. To learn more about behavioral analytics and the power of personality, visit www.mattersight.com/blog.
*About the Author*
Melissa Moore, Chief People Officer, Mattersight
As Mattersight’s Sr. Behavioral Model expert, Melissa has spent the past decade working with clients to operationalize the behavioral model and customer data through performance coaching and manager, supervisor and agent training. She has 15-plus years in call center operations and consulting, including five contact center start-ups in Canada and the United States, inbound/outbound sales and service environments in various industries.