What is conversation analytics? Everything you need to know

Artificial intelligence. Machine learning. Conversation analytics. The world is changing, and we’re all being thrust into a new kind of existence, where computers can do a whole lot of tasks we’re used to relying on our brain-meats to perform. Conversation analytics is the amalgam of a whole lot of those fancy new technologies, combining machine learning, AI, and insights from your customer conversations. 

But what does that actually mean? What is conversation analytics, anyway? 

The short-but-complicated answer is that conversation analytics is the science of analyzing your customer conversation data through the power of machine learning. 

But since that’s not a super illuminating answer, let’s unpack that a little bit. 

What is customer conversation data?

If you’re a company doing business, you have relationships with either consumers or other businesses. 

You talk to those consumers or businesses in order to make sales, deliver products or services, and assist customers after the initial sale. Those conversations take place over the phone, in email, or in chat format, and together form your customer conversation data. 

Often, this involves using speech analytics, voice recognition, and chat analytics. These technologies transform your conversations into data. 

So, you’ve got all this information about what your customers want and need–but what do you do with all that? What’s the action item, what’s the takeaway?

That’s where conversation analytics comes in. It can shape your customer experience strategy so that your support agents have touch points to measure the quality of customer service. On top of CX strategy, it can also influence sales teams and business operations.

How does conversation analytics work?

Conversation analytics is the secret sauce that takes your call center data from a pile of data in the metaphorical closet of your company, and like Marie Kondo, transforms it into nice, neat rows. Essentially, it’s a tool that analyzes your unstructured customer conversation data and spits out analysis. 

You can find out which call center agents perform the best, which sales reps have the highest-converting pitches, and even which calls have the highest customer effort. Never wonder what’s going on in your contact center or sales team again. 

With a conversation analytics platform, you can just see what’s going on in every conversation. It’s not limited to customer support representatives on the phone, either. Chat-based customer support teams are part of the analysis.

What are the benefits of conversation analytics?

All of the above is just theory if we can’t put it into practice and prove why these types of analytics are valuable. With this in mind, let’s look at some practical examples of how this type of analysis can benefit your business. 

1. Improve customer loyalty

We all want our customers to stick around. One of the great benefits of a conversation analytics platform is that it allows you to see why your customers are becoming disloyal and why they’re churning. With insight into the full range of the customer’s experience with your company, you can see at scale what’s causing customer churn–and use that information to solve the problem. 

When you eliminate sources of friction and churn your customers face, they are far less likely to leave. In fact, they may even be inclined to repurchase and recommend you to their friends. 

And yes, it IS just that simple. 

2. Boost sales conversions

Everyone wants to close more sales. With a fully-fledged conversation analytics platform, you can see into your sales conversations, too, just like the customer support center. 

With that same information, you can make the changes you need to improve your sales, too. Analyze the top performers, take notes on the most successful pitches, and then have all your agents use those in order to scientifically improve your close rate.

Don’t believe us? When we ran the data, we found that if you implement  behaviors observed in top-performing sales reps in all of your calls, your close rate jumps to 70-75%.

If you go from utilizing none of the behaviors observed in top-performing sales reps to all of them, your close rate jumps to 70-75%.

We’d never have known that if we hadn’t plugged all those customer and prospect conversations into our very own conversation analytics platform. Now that’s power.

3. Reduce operating costs 

Want to make it cost less to operate your business every day? A conversation analytics solution can help with that, too. By eliminating inefficiencies and bolstering your strongest agents and processes, you can actually make your business more cost-efficient. Not all conversation analytics solutions offer the same level of robust analysis that makes this level of intelligence possible—but we do. (Check out the CostRx accelerator pack to learn more!) 

These are just a few of the business benefits that a good conversation intelligence platform can provide. 

(Want to learn more about why this is true? Check out this whole write-up we did on how next-level technology is changing the customer experience game.) 

What is conversation analytics?

This brings us back to the original question: What is conversation analytics? As we’ve unpacked today, we can say with confidence: Conversation analytics is a technology that breaks down your customer conversation data into information you can actually use. At its most simple, it’s a tool to help you do your job better by giving you insights into the conversations you’re already having with your customers. 

Want to learn more about the science behind conversation analytics + how it can work for your business? Check out our Buyer’s Guide to Voice Analytics.