Australian Councils Q2 2024 Call Centre Rankings
Introduction
In August 2023, we commenced mystery shopping calls to random Australian Councils across Australia to assess the performance of their call centre.
Using trained mystery shoppers based in Australia, we pose as real customers to rank the ACCESS (how easy it was to connect to a live agent) and the customer service/quality of the interaction using over 80 different performance metrics as defined in the Australian Contact Centre Quality Standards.
This provides real Voice of Customer (VoC) insights into the performance of the call centre channel for consumers based on live interactions, as opposed to self-reported or survey-based data.
To maintain our anonymity, we use a range of different scenarios when contacting the Councils, including waste enquiries, rates enquiries, information about upcoming local events, etc that do not require us to disclose our identity.
Customers with planning enquiries, disputes etc may have different experiences as they are often treated with a different priority and handled by completely different teams.
Every quarter, we publish a public report like this that contains summary data from just some of the over 80 metrics we assess across Australian councils, and ACXPA Members have access to additional council sector information and individual performance insights for three random councils every month and quarter.
Table of Contents:
Highest/Lowest Rankings (ACXPA Subscribers & Members Only)
The Australian Australian Councils are assessed using the Australian Contact Centre Quality Standards that have been developed and refined over 30 years to assess the moments that matter to customers.
When businesses consistently achieve high ratings in these core competencies, there is a direct correlation to improved business metrics however you measure them, such as improved Sales Conversions, NPS, Customer Effort Score, efficiency, reduced AHT, etc.
The standards apply to all contact centres and are adapted to customer service or sales calls.
- Customer Service is assessed across five core competencies and 18 call-handling behaviours that directly correlate to better customer and business outcomes: Engage, Discover, Educate, Close and Energy.
- Access is assessed using over 40 metrics, from average wait times, hold times, number of IVR options (press 1 for this, 2 for that), the time forced to listen to recording messages and so on.
- The Customer Experience score is a measure of performance on the competencies that most influence the customer experience and it’s this score used to determine the overall ranking results.
As Australia’s #1 industry resource for contact centres, we provide insights, resources, and training to help Australian Councils improve the customer experience they provide, which in turn delivers improved efficiencies and cost savings for their stakeholders.
Australian Call Centre Quality Rankings:
POOR
(<45%)
BELOW STANDARD
(45% to 60%)
MEETS STANDARDS
(61% to 75%)
EXCEEDS STANDARD
(76% to 90%)
OUTSTANDING
(>91%)
CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE RANKINGS Q2 2024 (Australian Councils)
Customer Experience Rankings
(Australian Councils)
Q2 2024
Q1 2024
Trend
The Customer Experience Rankings reflect how easy it is to connect and communicate with a live customer service agent at an Australian Council via their contact centre.
The rankings are determined by the ACCESS rankings (how easy it was to connect) and CUSTOMER SERVICE rankings (the interaction with the live agent) with weightings applied to the key drivers of customer satisfaction.
Of the six business sectors we currently assess (banks, car insurance, councils, energy retailers, internet retailers, and education), Australian Councils were ranked second best overall for customer experience, just behind the Internet Retailers.
- The Q2 2024 Customer Experience score of 60.4% was the second-best quarterly score ever recorded for Councils, up slightly from 57.6% in Q1 2024 (+2.8%).
- The Customer Experience ranking scores ranged from 46.4% (City of Casey) to 68.0% (Frankston City Council).
- Whilst the City of Casey had the lowest quarterly result of all Councils in Q2 2024, it was their best result since we commenced reporting in August 2023.
- The improved quarterly result for Councils was primarily driven by improved Access (+ 14.0%) meaning it was easier to connect a live customer service agent across Councils than it was in A1 2024. However, this was offset by a decline in the level of quality of customer service (-6.5%) compared to Q1 2024 results.
- The most accessible call centre in Q2 2024 was Frankston City Council (90.6%), just ahead of Monash Council (89.9%), with the most difficult to access the City of Casey (34.6%) who have been the most difficult council to access for the previous eight consecutive months.
- The average call centre wait time in Q2 2024 was 01:50 minutes (-02:33 minutes), the best quarterly result on record, ranging from 00:29 minutes (Launceston Council) to 07:24 (City of Casey).
- The quality of Customer Service decreased from 64.2% in Q1 2024 to 57.7% in Q2 2024 (-6.5%), the lowest recorded quarterly result for the Council sector.
- Talk times averaged 03:11 minutes across all Australian Councils in Q2 2024, up from 03:09 minutes in Q1 2024 (+00:02 minutes), ranging from 02:19 minutes (Monash Council) to 04:08 minutes (Brisbane City Council).
ACCESS Rankings Q2 2024 (Australian Councils)
Access Rankings
(Australian Councils)
Q2 2024
Q1 2024
Trend
The Call Centre Access Rankings reflect how easy it was for customers to speak with a live person with their council enquiry.
59 individual elements are assessed, capturing the entire experience before interacting with a live agent, including queue wait times, how easy it was to find the phone number, the number of menu options (e.g., press 1 for this, 2 for that), messaging times, hold music, audio quality, and lots more.
Mystery Shopping calls to Australian Councils are terminated if wait times exceed 15:00 minutes.
Access rankings across the Australian Council sector are rated as ‘Meets Standard’, and the Q2 2024 ranking of 75.1% (14.0% from 61.1% in Q1 2024) is the highest ranking for any quarter since records commenced.
- Frankston City Council was the easiest council to reach a live customer service agent in Q2 2024, with a ranking of 90.6%, marginally ahead of the City of Monash, with 89.9%.
- For Q2 2024, the City of Casey was ranked the lowest with 34.6% and, therefore, the most difficult council to connect to a live customer service agent. Whilst this was a low result, it’s the best quarterly result recorded for the City of Casey, albeit they have been the lowest Council for the previous eight consecutive months.
- Across the Council sector, 4.8% of calls were not answered within a 15-minute threshold, the best result recorded to date. All councils answered 100% of calls throughout the quarter, with the exception of the City of Casey (77.8%) and Launceston Council (88.9%).
- Australian Councils continued to have the fewest IVR options (press one for this, two for that), averaging 0.7 layers across the sector, with 42% of Councils having no IVR at all.
- With the exception of Monash Council, all Councils had recorded messages customers were required to listen to prior to joining the queue ranging from 00:09 minutes (Frankston City Council) to 00:34 minutes (City of Casey).
- Total Access Time, which captures the entire time from dialling until connecting to a live agent, ranged from 00:49 minutes (Monash Council) through to 08:14 minutes (City of Casey).
- Talk times averaged 03:11 minutes across all Australian Councils in Q2 2024, up from 03:09 minutes in Q1 2024 (00:02 minutes), ranging from 02:19 minutes (Monash Council) to 04:08 minutes (Brisbane City Council).
AVERAGE WAIT TIMES Q2 2024
- The average wait times across the council sector decreased by 02:33 minutes from 04:23 minutes to 01:50 minutes (-58.2%) with over 70% of all Councils reporting improved wait times.
- Average wait times in Q2 2024 ranged from 00:29 minutes (Launceston Council) to 07:24 minutes (City of Casey).
- Stirling Council in WA had the biggest decrease in average wait times, from 08:11 minutes in Q1 2024 to 00:49 minutes in Q2 2024, and City of Onkaparinga had the largest increase, from 00:28 minutes to 01:05 minutes.
Customer Service Rankings Q2 2024 (Australian Councils)
Customer Service Rankings
(Australian Councils)
Q2 2024
Q1 2024
Trend
Customer Service is assessed across five core competencies (Engage, Discover, Educate, Close and Energy) and 18 individual call-handling behaviours directly correlating to better customer and business outcomes.
While trying to access a live customer service agent can often be challenging, what happens during the call can still have a large influence on customer satisfaction.
Recent CX Statistics continue to highlight the importance of interacting live with a customer service employee and the preference to speak to a live agent rather than an automated chatbot/AI, etc.
The Quality of customer service across the Council sector in Q2 2024 was rated ‘Below Standard’ for the first time with a ranking score of 57.7%, down from 64.2% in Q1 2024 (-6.5%).
- The Customer Service scores ranged from 50.2% (Monash Council) to 61.5% (Stirling Council).
- Of the five Quality Competencies we assessed using the Australian Contact Centre Quality Standards, the ‘Engage’ competency was ranked the lowest at just 20.2%, down from 30.1% in Q1 2024 (-9.9%), and their lowest recorded quarter on record.
- The ‘Engage’ competency assess the ability of customer service agents to build rapport with customers, take ownership, and provide a personalised experience and scores ranged from 2.8% (Onkaparinga Council) to 38.9% (Stirling Council),
- The ‘Energy’ competency incporates behaviours and skills such as empathy, control, vibrancy and delivery and it was the highest ranked Customer Service competency for Councils in Q2 2024, with a score of 86.9% (-2.0% from Q1 2024), the best of all industry sectors. Energy scores ranged from 77.8% (Monash Council) to 94.4% (Brisbane City Council).
- Using the customer’s name during the conversation, one of the four ‘Engage’ behaviours was ranked at just 9.5%, the lowest of all industry sectors, with over 70% of Councils scoring 0%, and the best result for any council was 55.6% (Stirling Council).
- ‘Empathy’, one of the four ‘Energy’ behaviours we assess, increased across the council sector from 88.9% in Q1 2024 to 95.2% in Q2 2024 (+6.3%), with 71% of Councils scoring 100%.
- The ‘Check’ results, one of the four ‘Educate’ behaviours, is used to assess if the customer service agent consistently checks in with the customer for understanding, comfort and suitability whenever key details are provided. The Council sector ranking was 4.8% in Q2 2024, the lowest of result of all industry sectors, with 71% of contact centres scoring 0% and the highest ranking was 22.2% (Launceston Council).
