Australian Education Providers Q2 2024 Call Centre Rankings
Introduction
In August 2023, we commenced mystery shopping calls to random Australian Education Providers 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 Education Providers regarding new business opportunities: customers seeking course information, campus enquiries, etc.
Customers with specific curriculum enquiries, payment enquiries, etc, may have different experiences as they are often treated with a different priority and/or handled by different teams.
Table of Contents:
Highest/Lowest Rankings (ACXPA Members Only)
The Australian Education Providers 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, 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.
As Australia’s leading industry association for contact centres, we provide insights, resources, and training to help Australian education providers improve the customer experience they provide, which in turn delivers improved efficiencies and cost savings for their business/institution.
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 Education Providers)
The Customer Experience Rankings reflect how easy it is to connect and communicate with a live customer service agent at an Australian Education Provider via their contact centre.
The customer experience 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.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Of the six business sectors we assessed in Q2 2024 (banks, car insurance, Education Providers, Education Providers, internet retailers, and education), Australian Education Providers were ranked third best overall.
- The Q2 2024 Customer Experience score of 59.1% increased slightly from 56.8% in Q1 2024 (+2.3%).
- The Customer Experience ranking scores ranged from 41.0% (TAFE QLD) to 75.0% (Holmesglen TAFE).
- Access rankings increased by 5.3% from 76.5% in Q1 2024 to 81.8% in Q2 2024, the best customer experience quarterly result on record for Education Providers and the best result of all industry sectors in Q2 2024.
- The most accessible call centre in Q2 2024 was TasTAFE (94.1%) with the most difficult TAFE to access TAFE QLD (56.7%) who have been the most difficult Education Provider to access for the past four consecutive months.
- The average call centre wait time in Q2 2024 was 01:42 minutes (-00:09 minutes), the best quarterly result on record, ranging from 00:28 minutes (Holmesglen TAFE) to 05:11 (TAFE QLD).
- The quality of Customer Service decreased from 53.1% in Q1 2024 to 51.0% in Q2 2024, the lowest recorded quarterly result for the Education Providers sector.
- Talk times averaged 05:16 minutes across all Australian Education Providers in Q2 2024, up from 04:53 minutes in Q1 2024, ranging from 02:42 minutes (TasTAFE) to 07:46 minutes (Holmesglen TAFE).
ACCESS Rankings Q2 2024 (Australian Education Providers)
The Call Centre Access Rankings reflect how easy it was for customers to speak with a live person with their Education Providers 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 Education Providers are terminated if wait times exceed 10:00 minutes.
Access rankings across the Australian Education sector was rated as ‘Exceeds Standard’ and the Q2 2024 ranking is the highest recorded for any quarter since records commenced, and the best result of all industry sectors in Q2 2024.
- For Q2 2024, TAFE QLD was ranked the lowest and, therefore, the most difficult Education Provider to connect to a live customer service agent, with a ranking score of 56.7%. TAFE QLD has been the lowest-ranked Education Provider for the past four consecutive months.
- Across the Education Providers sector, 3.7% of calls were not answered within a 10-minute threshold, which is the best result recorded quarterly result to date. Only one education provider, TAFE QLD, did not answer 100% of all calls made.
- Australian Education Providers averaged 1.6 layers of IVR options (press one for this, two for that), the second-lowest of all industry sectors, with TasTAFE the only education provider having no IVR, through to TAFE NSW and TAFE QLD with 3.0 layers.
- All Education Providers had recorded messages customers were required to listen to prior to joining the queue ranging from 00:05 minutes (TasTAFE) to 00:35 minutes (TAFE QLD).
- Total Access Time, which captures the entire time from dialling until connecting to a live agent, ranged from 00:51 minutes (TasTAFE) through to 06:19 minutes (TAFE QLD).
- Talk times averaged 05:16 minutes across all Australian Education Providers in Q2 2024, up from 04:53 minutes in Q1 2024, ranging from 02:42 minutes (TasTAFE) to 07:46 minutes (Holmesglen TAFE).
AVERAGE WAIT TIMES Q2 2024
- The average wait times across the Education Provider sector decreased by 00:11 minutes (-9.7%) from 01:53 minutes to 01:42 minutes.
- Average wait times in Q2 2024 ranged from 00:28 minutes (Homesglen TAFE) to 05:11 minutes (TAFE QLD).
- TAFE SA had the largest decrease in average wait times, from 03:58 minutes in Q1 2024 to 00:54 minutes in Q2 2024 (-03:04 minutes)
- TAFE NSW has the largest increase in average wait times, from 00:14 minutes in Q1 2024 to 01:03 minutes in Q2 2024 (+0:49 minutes)
Customer Service Rankings Q2 2024 (Australian Education Providers)
Customer Service is assessed across five core competencies (Engage, Discover, Educate, Close, Energy) and 18 individual call-handling behaviours directly correlating to better customer and business outcomes.
Whilst trying to access a live customer service agent can often be challenging due to complicated IVRs, wait times, etc., 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 Education Provider sector in Q2 2024 was rated ‘Below Standard’ with a ranking score of 51.0%, down from 53.1% in Q1 2024.
- The Customer Service scores ranged from 38.4% (TAFE WA) to 70.0% (Holmesglen TAFE).
- TAFE NSW had the largest increase in customer service quality during Q2 2024 (+5.4%) with TAFE QLD the largest decrease (-11.2%).
- Of the five Quality Competencies we assessed using the Australian Contact Centre Quality Standards, the ‘Engage’ competency was rated lowest at 30.1%, up slightly from 27.3% in Q1 2024.
- The ‘Engage’ competency scores ranged from 0% (TAFE WA) to 75.0% (Holmesglen TAFE), with Australian Education Providers often failing to build rapport with customers, take ownership, and provide a personalised experience.
- The ‘Educate’ competency was the highest Customer Service competency in Q2 2024, with a score of 66.4%. Educate scores ranged from 48.6% (TAFE QLD) to 90.3% (Holmesglen TAFE).
- Using the customer’s name during the conversation, one of the four ‘Engage’ behaviours was ranked at 27.8%, ranging from 0% (TAFE QLD, TAFE WA & TasTAFE) to 100% (Holmesglen TAFE).
- ‘Empathy’, one of the four ‘Energy’ behaviours we assess, decreased across the Education Provider sector to their lowest-ever quarterly result of 71.3%, a significant decline from 90.7% in Q1 2024, with TAFE QLD the most notable decline (-44.4%).
- 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 Education Provider sector ranking was 17.6% in Q2 2024, down from 25.0% in Q1 2024 with Holmesglen TAFE the highest-ranked with 72.2%.
