The Ozonetel report reveals that on an average a caller waited 37 seconds to get connected to a live agent. This is a drastic improvement of 53 percent against the 2019 average of 79 seconds
A study undertaken by Ozonetel, India’s leading provider of cloud telephony solutions provider, has unveiled interesting insights pertaining to the call-centre industry in the backdrop of lockdown enforced due to COVID-19. The report reveals that on an average a caller waited 37 seconds to get connected to a live agent. This is a drastic improvement of 53 percent against the 2019 average of 79 seconds. During the lockdown in AMJ quarter 2020, real estate, food delivery and healthcare reported lowest queue time with an average 25.6 seconds. On the other hand, sectors such as e-commerce, Ed-tech and insurance reported highest queue time of average 51.6 seconds. Interestingly, in the new normal, during OND quarter, commerce improved on this parameter and along with healthcare and food delivery reported lowest wait time for customers with an average 25.6 seconds.
“While COVID-19 is still at large, customer experience has never been more important. Needless to say, the year was incredibly difficult for call centers, but as they say, the show must go on, COVID or no-COVID. We’re happy that we were able to promptly assist call center agents to work from home thereby ensuring business continuity for them. In this study, we’ve analysed various parameters and compared the same with last year. We’ve also analysed data from before, during and after the lockdown to understand the various trends in customer experience as well as agent efficiency. We believe this report will be useful to all stakeholders of the call-centre industry”, Chaitanya Chokkareddy, Chief Innovation Officer, Ozonetel.
Also, the average speed of answer in 2020 has been reported at 8 seconds against the 2019 average of 3.5 seconds. During the lockdown in April to June quarter, real estate, food delivery and Ed-tech sector reported quickest response from agents with an average 18.6 sec. However, sectors such as e-commerce, healthcare and insurance reported slowest response from agents with an average 47.6 seconds. Noticeably, in the new normal during October to December quarter-commerce regained its customer satisfaction score under this parameter and joined real estate and food delivery to report an average of 18.3 seconds. However, this year many agents were forced to switch to work from home, and some in countries like India had to use their PSTN lines to answer calls. This means that they could not use the auto answer facility that otherwise speeds up answer rates.
In this study, we’ve analysed various parameters and compared the same with last year. We’ve also analysed data from before, during and after the lockdown to understand the various trends in customer experience as well as agent efficiency. We believe this report will be useful to all stakeholders of the call-centre industry.
Chaitanya Chokkareddy
Chief Innovation Officer
Ozonetel
The study also suggest that customers have turned more impatient – over 15 percent is the average percentage of calls that callers disconnected before being routed to an agent in 2020 as compared to 12 percent in 2019. During lockdown period of AMJ, real estate, food delivery and insurance sector reported lowest abandonment rate of average 35 percent. Sectors such as Ed-tech, e-commerce and healthcare, on the other hand, reported highest abandonment rate of average 65 percent. In a turn of events, during OND, food delivery and real estate improved and along with e-commerce reported lowest abandonment rate of average 26 percent.
While, the average talk-time in 2020 remains at 4 minutes as compared to 4.3 minutes in 2019. During lockdown in AMJ quarter, insurance, food delivery and Ed-tech sector reported the highest average talk time of average 4.6 minutes. Sectors such as e-commerce, healthcare and real estate reported the lowest average talk time of average 3.4 minutes. During the OND quarter also, insurance, Ed-tech and food delivery reported the highest average talk time of 4.5 minutes.
The study finds out that the average answer rate this year saw a decline of 38 percent as compared to 46 percent in 2019. During lockdown in April to June, real estate, healthcare and e-commerce sector reported highest answer rate of average 42%. However, Ed-tech, food delivery and insurance reported lowest answer rate of average 20 percent. Interestingly, during this current quarter OND food delivery along with healthcare and real estate reported highest answer rate of average 50 percent.
This study is an analysis of a sample set of 150 million calls made on Ozonetel’s CloudAgent platform by nearly 76,659 active agents in 2020. The analysis covers both in-bound and out-bound calls made on Ozonetel’s platform across verticals including ecommerce, food, healthcare, insurance, Ed-tech & real estate call centers. The study also includes how COVID-19 affected customer experience and call-centre performance.
Qaisar
