How MetTel uses Tethr to measure and improve the customer experience

MetTel is a holistic IT communications and digital transformation telecommunications solution provider for businesses and government agencies nationwide, as well as a Leader of the 2020 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Managed Network Services. MetTel provides integrated voice, data, network, cloud, and mobility IT solutions—as well as cross-carrier, managed services for wireless. As a leader in their field, MetTel is committed to pursuing excellence in customer service utilizing the most advanced technology at hand.

For a high-growth telecom business like MetTel, ensuring a seamless customer experience (CX) throughout the contact center was a necessary (but time-intensive) process that involved a lot of spot-checking. As the business grew and diversified, however, the need to create a uniform experience became more and more pressing—as well as the need to expand the data set while maintaining efficiency. Were care representatives using the same messaging style during every Customer Support call? Were support teams contributing at a consistent level during every conversation? Were customers really getting the help they needed?

These measurements were difficult to accurately track. Implementation of surveys and basic call recording quickly proved insufficient. There simply wasn’t enough information to provide a full picture of what went on in the contact center. As the contact center at MetTel grew, uniformity became imperative and there was an increased need for greater quality assurance.

MetTel came to Tethr with one goal: To measure and improve the quality of calls in their contact center, in order to create a uniform customer experience.

“What gets measured, gets improved.” – Bryan Phelps, Executive Director of Client Experience at MetTel

The solution: Tethr’s research-backed platform provides essential guidance.

In the beginning, MetTel chose Tethr’s conversation intelligence platform based on the robustness of the solution and analytics depth. The need to have both a bird’s eye view and a down-to-the-details look at the call center data was a big part of the initial decision to implement, and Tethr’s versatile dashboards and digests certainly fit the bill. The research-backed approach and cloud capabilities solidified Tethr’s place at the forefront of the conversation intelligence space, making the selection a no-brainer.

For managers at MetTel, Tethr became a valuable tool from day one. “As a manager,” says Renee Gonzalez, Customer Care Manager at MetTel, “I receive a checklist with certain items that must be completed by the reps and if any item is missing, I am alerted. The potential is just unreal. Tethr is such a mind-boggling solution.” Tethr’s effort categories and insights not only provide data on what reps are doing, but shine a light on what they should be doing.

And the support teams are fans, too. Unlike many invasive conversation analytics solutions, Tethr provides MetTel reps with the ability to self-reflect and self-educate. “Tethr is a really neat tool for going back and reviewing your own calls,” says Wendy Bueno, Client Experience (CX) Representative at MetTel. “You become conscious of, ‘What am I actually saying on this call?’ And if there’s stuff you don’t remember on a call, you can always go back and look it up.”

Tethr’s conversation intelligence capabilities provide a robust quality assurance framework for MetTel, as well as the call recording and analysis technology necessary to back it up.

“I was pleasantly surprised. One of the first campaigns we did was the Advocacy campaign, and we had very quick success with that. Not only were our scores higher than we anticipated to start with, but we were also up over 60% of calls showing displays of advocacy within a month.” – Renee Gonzalez, Customer Care Manager, MetTel

The Results: An intelligent quality assurance process for the contact center

Today, MetTel uses Tethr to manage and monitor rep behavior across the contact center. Managers like Renee can use Tethr’s dashboards to review which support representatives have seen an increase in desirable language that month—and these days, it’s almost all of them—and determine who will win the monthly challenge award.

What’s the monthly challenge? Each month, MetTel’s support center focuses on one key area of improvement and offers a prize to the rep who has the most occurrences of that behavior on their calls. It’s a great strategy for practicing the right language and call behaviors, and with Tethr’s accountability tools, it has made a huge difference in call quality. In fact, in the time since implementation, MetTel’s care team has seen a 35% decrease in escalated calls, as well as a 28% decrease in repeat calls.

And the benefits don’t stop at the call center. At an operational level, the benefits are clear, too. Since implementation, MetTel has seen an estimated 11% savings in departmental operational costs, which more than covers the cost of their Tethr license. With Tethr, it’s easier than ever before to track, measure, and improve the customer experience—and save money doing it.

“I’ve never used a Customer Care tool that is as robust as Tethr, with as much pliability, recognition, and cross-departmental use. It’s such a good way to allow teaching moments and improvement.” – Renee Gonzalez, Customer Care Manager, MetTel