High agent turnover has always been an issue for call centers, especially among customer service teams. Though the industry standard for call center agent turnover is around 30 to 40%, it can actually be as high as over 200%, according to SQM’s CX research. And while there are many ways to reduce agent turnover and improve employee retention in customer service, implementing AI-powered voice bots is one of the most effective strategies you can employ to address the high turnover rate among your customer service reps.
What are the Reasons for High Agent Turnover in Customer Service?
Why is the agent turnover rate so high among CX teams? Here are some of the most common reasons for high agent turnover and low job satisfaction in customer service:
- Fast-paced working environment and poor work-life balance
- Having to deal with frustrated (often rude) customers on a regular basis
- Monotonous work, repetitive tasks, and undesirable schedule
- Poor management practices and ineffective leadership
- Not feeling appreciated, recognized, and valued enough
- Having to use outdated call center technology and systems
- Insufficient onboarding, poor training, and lack of ongoing support
- Low pay for job responsibilities and limited benefits
- Limited skill development and lack of career advancement opportunities
What are AI Voice Bots?
AI voice bots (also known as AI voice agents or AI virtual agents) are software systems powered by Artificial Intelligence, speech recognition, Natural Language Processing (NLP), and Machine Learning (ML) technologies to simulate human-like conversations through voice interactions.
Similarly to an AI chatbot, an AI voice bot can deliver information about your products or services, answer your customers’ questions, and help your customers resolve basic issues independently without having to interact with your human agents. No wonder AI voice bots are becoming incredibly popular and seeing increased adoption in call centers within customer service teams. As customer service evolves, businesses are also offering opportunities to chat with AI characters, providing more dynamic and engaging support options that complement traditional voice bots.
How Can AI Voice Bots Reduce Agent Turnover in Customer Service?
Let’s face it, addressing customer service agent turnover requires a holistic approach as many factors come into play, as we’ve mentioned above – and leveraging AI-driven solutions like chatbots and voice bots is only one piece of a larger puzzle. But it can still have a significant impact. Let’s take a closer look at how implementing AI voice bots can help reduce agent turnover in customer service:
Reduce the number of human-assisted interactions
According to a report from Calabrio, 1 in 3 call center agents says having to handle too many customer calls is the biggest challenge they face in the workplace, contributing to their overall stress level. Moreover, the report also revealed that 96% of call center reps are feeling acutely stressed at least once per week. Implementing AI-powered voice bots can help you reduce the number of customer service interactions that require human assistance. For your customer service team, it means fewer calls that agents need to handle and reduced burnout.
VoiceSpin AI voice bot is an excellent example of what these solutions are capable of. It can answer inbound calls, provide relevant information about your products or services, and answer your customers’ questions independently – without getting your customer service reps involved along the way. And if the bot isn’t able to provide a satisfactory answer or the customer demands an escalation to a human agent, the bot can seamlessly transfer the call to a human rep while preserving the context of the conversation.
Automate a significant portion of customer service interactions
AI-driven voice bots can handle repetitive inbound inquiries, such as answering FAQs, checking account balances, sharing order status updates, and so much more, with no need to escalate to a human agent. That can help you reduce the load on your customer service team. And what’s more, when integrated with your CRM, database, and other backend tools, AI voice bots can instantly retrieve customer information and other data to provide highly personalized answers. Just take a look at a few examples of questions AI voice bots can easily answer on their own:
- Where is your nearest branch?
- What are your store’s operating hours?
- Where is my order?
- How can I change my delivery address?
- What is your return policy?
- How do I reset my password?
- What is my current account balance?
- How do I renew my subscription?
What’s even better, in addition to simply answering customers’ questions, some of the most advanced AI voice bots can actually perform specific actions, like automatically scheduling appointments, canceling orders, processing returns and refunds, activating services, and more.
Free up agents to handle higher-value tasks that bring more satisfaction
Answering repetitive questions over and over again might be daunting for customer service reps, adding to the job fatigue. Since AI voice bots can answer recurring questions from customers and prospects independently, your reps get much more time to focus on more engaging tasks, which helps reduce burnout and make their work feel a lot more meaningful. That may include handling more complex inquiries that require a deeper level of personalization, following up on previous interactions, handling support requests from digital channels, building relationships with customers, creating new workflows, and so much more.
And when your reps are engaged in higher-value activities, that eventually increases job satisfaction, prevents burnout, and ultimately helps you reduce employee turnover.
Key Takeaways
The challenge is real. High customer service agent turnover is a true source of concern for many businesses, especially considering the average cost of replacing a customer service employee, which can be a significant expense for businesses. Not to mention the fact that when turnover happens, that may lead to disruptions in your customer service operations and lower morale among the remaining team members.
Fortunately, AI-driven technology comes to the rescue. AI voice bots can independently handle a significant number of your inbound support requests, reducing the load on your customer service team while also helping you improve job satisfaction and address the high turnover issue effectively.
