Retail giant reimagines Agent Training, Accelerates KPI Achievement by 67%

Shifting to a largely work-at-home CX business model comes with its share of challenges in preparing agents to provide effective support. Adopting a customized training approach and extended onboarding can pay dividends in terms of agent performance.

The Challenge

Our client, a North American retail giant whose bricks-and-mortar footprint is matched by an enormous e-commerce operation, shifted its support to a work-at-home model. However, the training and onboarding that worked for on-site staff did not work for remote agents, resulting in less than optimal performance.

• Inconsistent KPI achievement

• Agents ramped to proficiency too slowly

The Solution

ResultsCX analyzed performance data and identified improvement opportunities.

• The account team enhanced agent onboarding with a custom combination of training, extended nesting, and support ratio changes.

• Trainees spent more time listening to call sessions, participating in collaborative discussions of lessons learned, and discussing follow-up processes.

• Increased individual coaching was coupled with twice-daily team debriefs to close knowledge gaps.

• Required pre-production agent certification and expanded skill assessments further strengthened agent competency.

The Results

The modified training plan for work-at-home agents led to significant overall performance improvement, in turn increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty.

• 67% reduction in time required to meet AHT targets

• 50% reduction in time required to meet VOC proficiency

• 11% increase in agent work satisfaction

• 2% increase in customer likelihood to shop again with client