How To Boost Agent Satisfaction & Why You Should?

Agent satisfaction isn’t just a metric—it’s the backbone of high-performing teams. Yet many organizations have never focused on it; they focus solely on agent productivity and performance.

What is the truth?

The truth is happy agents mean happy customers. When agents are satisfied, they’re more focused, motivated, and committed to delivering exceptional customer experiences.

You should not ignore this factor. Ignoring this critical factor can lead to burnout, high attrition, and disengaged employees, ultimately impacting your bottom line.

In this blog, you will find why agent satisfaction matters, how its direct link to customer experience, and actionable ways to improve it.

What is agent satisfaction (ASAT)?

Agent satisfaction refers to the percentage of agents in an organization who report high job satisfaction, reflecting employee engagement, motivation, and productivity. While it may seem intangible, workplace culture and resources play a crucial role.

Gallup’s research shows that only 1 in 3 employees have the necessary tools to perform well, leading to disengagement. Low agent satisfaction can increase attrition, costing organizations in hiring, onboarding, and training.

Why is agent satisfaction important, and how is customer satisfaction linked to it?

Agent satisfaction is not limited to how an agent feels when at work – it also measures the agent’s perception of the brand, which directly impacts customer service. When agents are unsure of what makes their organization different, they are unable to convey the same to their clients. They are also unable to meet their KPIs and the brand’s overall objective.

An agent satisfaction strategy is typically aligned with an organization’s goals. For instance, your overall culture may be highly customer-centric as a contact center. However, if this culture is not reflected accurately during the hiring, onboarding, and workflow processes, it is likely to not reflect in your agent’s behavior either.

Customer satisfaction relies on helpful agents who make the customers feel heard. Engaged employees are likely to perform to the best of their abilities, as they truly are motivated to meet their goals. However, when there is a lack of agent satisfaction, your agents are likely to simply do the job’, clock in their hours, and call it a day.

Glassdoor’s research shows a direct link between customer satisfaction and agent satisfaction, with the two working in tandem.

Thus, ensuring agent satisfaction isn’t just beneficial from a cultural perspective. Agent satisfaction impacts customer satisfaction, which ultimately determines how fast your organization can grow.

How to enhance agent satisfaction?

Organizations can enhance agent satisfaction by offering tools that can improve their workflow, be customized to suit an agent’s role, and offer learning and development opportunities. Implementing a knowledge base and automated CRM software can help organizations achieve the same in the following ways:

1. Connecting agents with the brand’s purpose

Each brand has its ethos, however, most employees report feeling like cogs in the wheel – working on tasks without really understanding the true purpose. Gallup’s research shows that connecting agents to the organization’s mission results in 51% lower absenteeism and a 29% increase in the quality of their work.

One of the ways a knowledge base can help connect your agents with the larger brand purpose is by integrating brand values in the customer service content in a way that makes the values implementable, rather than simply seeming like corporate buzzwords.

Additionally, Glassdoor research finds that empowering call center agents to speak with customers regularly helps boost both customer satisfaction and employee engagement, especially when the larger purpose of the brand is to give back to the customers.

2. Offer regular agent training

A lack of growth and training is one of the main reasons for high attrition. A study by Gallup revealed that the primary reason why your talent leaves your organization is to find better opportunities for growth (Figure 5). Thus, one way to ensure agent satisfaction is by ensuring growth and development.

Organizations can offer regular training (without investing in training and development each year) by implementing a knowledge base. With bite-sized modules that can be accessed anytime, a mix of mandatory and optional courses, as well as regular evaluations, organizations can help instill a sense of learning in their agents.

This goes a long way in boosting agent satisfaction, lowering attrition, and ultimately developing a workforce of talented, engaged employees who are motivated to meet your organization’s goals.

3. Empower agents by offering efficient content

Irrespective of the industry they belong to, agents must have a comprehensive understanding of the brand and its products to provide good customer service. However, many agents report that they do not have the right information to perform their jobs.

A knowledge base gives your agents access to all the information they need, along with a system that makes searching and identifying the right document simple. This not only improves customer service by reducing hold-time and ensuring faster resolutions but also by eliminating agent error to a large extent.

Typically, a knowledge base also offers agents access to call center scripts that exemplify brand values, adding to the agent’s connection with the organization. It can also contain contact center content that can be shared with clients to help them resolve their queries. By making an agent’s job easier to perform, you can boost their satisfaction levels tremendously.

An automated CRM software that makes an agent’s to-do list shorter by taking care of tasks like sending welcome emails, conducting live chats, sending text updates and so on can also improve an agent’s overall experience in the workplace. With your teams freed up to handle big-picture tasks, you can rest assured that more employees will feel engaged with their work.

In Conclusion

The onus of ensuring agent satisfaction lies with the organization and not the agent. To retain top talent, organizations must ensure their teams grow professionally, receive regular feedback, enjoy a rewards-based strategy (as a form of acknowledgment of their work), and have access to helpful tools such as a knowledge base. To implement a knowledge base for your team, get in touch today!