After-Call Surveys: Weighing the Pros and Cons
By Genevieve Carrenard
You may have heard this at the end of a recent customer service interaction: “Please remain on the line for a brief survey.” After-call surveys are widely used in call centers, offering a range of benefits that can positively enhance service and patient satisfaction. However, call center managers must be aware of their potential drawbacks and manage them effectively. Let’s first look at how after-call surveys can play an essential role in your contact center.
The Benefits of After-Call Surveys
1. Provide Immediate Feedback
After-call surveys provide immediate patient feedback, helping call centers gauge satisfaction levels right after interactions. This real-time insight allows managers to address issues quickly, improving overall patient satisfaction and retention.
2. Strengthen Agent Performance
Survey responses highlight strengths and areas for improvement in agent performance. This feedback is invaluable for tailoring training programs and enhancing service delivery, ensuring that staff members are well-equipped to meet patient needs effectively. Positive feedback from surveys can also boost morale, while constructive criticism offers opportunities for professional growth. Managers can use survey insights to provide adequate coaching and foster confidence in their employees.
3. Data-Driven Decision Making
Asking the right questions in After-Call surveys provides data that can help managers make informed decisions about their operations. They can evaluate their agents’ progress on an ongoing basis while assessing how well the call center meets patient expectations. The data may also help identify trends and recurring issues. Managers will be empowered to make improvements, allocate resources, and make policy adjustments that lead to an overall more efficient call center.
4. Boost Patient Retention
Call centers that offer consistent, high-quality service will have greater patient loyalty. By addressing issues and enhancing service based on survey feedback, call centers can improve patient retention and foster positive word-of-mouth referrals.
5. Proactive Issue Resolution
The immediate feedback provided by After-Call surveys allows call centers to address problems proactively. Quick follow-ups based on survey results can resolve issues before they escalate, enhancing patient satisfaction and preventing complaints.
Post-call surveys provide a wealth of information that can be used to increase customer satisfaction, but there is reason to pause and look at some of the cons of these short surveys.
The Drawbacks of After-Call Surveys
1. Survey Fatigue
More and more companies and institutions are asking their customers and patients for feedback through surveys. Frequent surveys can lead to fatigue, thus reducing response rates and the reliability of data. To mitigate this issue, managers must monitor survey frequency and relevance.
2. Inaccurate Feedback
Patients may provide biased or inaccurate feedback based on recent emotions or misunderstandings. This can skew results, so it’s important to interpret survey data in context and corroborate with other available performance metrics.
3. Time Consumption
Administering and analyzing surveys requires time and resources. For high-volume call centers, this can be a burden, potentially diverting resources from other critical tasks.
4. Impact on Call Length
Survey administration might increase the overall time spent per call, which could lead to longer wait times for other patients. Balancing survey duration and integration is key to minimizing this impact.
5. Limited Scope
After-call surveys are relatively brief and only reflect feedback from recent interactions. They may not capture the full scope of the patient’s experience. Combining survey data with other feedback sources can provide a more comprehensive view.
Conclusion
For medical call center managers, implementing after-call surveys is a strategic move that delivers numerous benefits. These surveys provide immediate, actionable insights that can enhance patient satisfaction, improve service quality, and assist in informed decision-making. By leveraging the feedback from after-call surveys, managers can refine operations, boost staff performance, and maintain high standards of patient care. However, balancing their benefits with the potential drawbacks is crucial for effective implementation. By addressing challenges such as survey fatigue, inaccurate feedback, and resource allocation, managers can maximize the value of after-call surveys and drive continuous improvement in patient care and operational efficiency.
Genevieve Carrenard is the business manager at Medical Call Center News. She has a decade of call center experience in the US and Canada. She is committed to helping clients meet their advertising and marketing needs. Contact her at genevieve@virtualteam.ai
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A Thought for Today
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