View the Q2 2024 Australian Call Centre Industry Rankings containing benchmarking data from over 80 metrics across six industry sectors.
Welcome to Australia’s Premier Call Centre Benchmarking Resource
At ACXPA, we’re setting the standard for excellence in the Australian call centre industry.
Since August 2023, we’ve been conducting live mystery shopping calls across six key sectors—Banks, Car Insurance Providers, Councils, Energy Retailers, Internet Retailers, and TAFEs/Education Providers—to capture genuine, actionable insights into real-world performance.
Unlike traditional surveys, our data is based on authentic customer interactions, delivered by trained Australian mystery shoppers posing as real customers.
This approach provides unparalleled Voice of Customer (VoC) insights, helping you understand how call centres are performing when it matters most.
Access Benchmarking Data That Drives Results
Whether you’re just exploring or fully invested in improving your call centre’s performance, we have something for everyone:
• Free Data: Gain a snapshot of industry performance through quarterly reports featuring summary benchmarking insights.
• Subscriber and Member Benefits: Unlock deeper, more detailed monthly reports with exclusive data and analysis across sectors.
• Competitor Benchmarking Service: Dive even deeper with our tailored service, comparing your call centre’s performance across 80+ metrics with up to five competitors of your choice.
Why Choose ACXPA?
As Australia’s leading industry association for contact centres, we’re more than just rankings.
We provide the tools, resources, and expertise needed to elevate your customer experience, improve operational efficiencies, and cut costs.
Here’s what you’ll find at ACXPA:
• Detailed benchmarking insights to identify areas of strength and opportunity.
• Self-paced and live training courses to upskill your team.
• Expert resources, including a growing video library and downloadable templates.
• Industry roundtables and networking events to connect with peers.
• Australia’s most comprehensive member and supplier directories to help you grow.
With ACXPA, you’re not just accessing data—you’re gaining a partner committed to driving the success of your business and the industry at large.
Ready to go deeper? Explore our free data, subscribe for advanced insights, or get started with our competitor benchmarking service today.
Australian Call Centre Quality Standards
The Australian Call Centres are assessed using the Australian Call Centre Quality Standards that we have developed and refined for 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.
Agent Mastery reflects the skill and effectiveness of agents in their interactions with customers. It is assessed across five core competencies—Engage, Discover, Educate, Close, and Energy—and 18 call-handling behaviours. These metrics are designed to correlate directly with improved customer satisfaction and better business outcomes.
Accessibility measures how easy it was to connect to a live agent 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 recorded messages, etc.
The Overall CX rankings are a culmination of the Agent Mastery and Accessibility scores, which use weightings applied to key metrics and behaviours that significantly influence the overall customer experience.
The Average Wait Time captures the time customers are placed in the queue until a live agent answers the call.
To maintain our anonymity, we use a range of different scenarios when mystery shopping the call centres, typically related to new business opportunities as many call centres require existing customers to provide account details, serial numbers, ID requirements, etc. for more detailed enquiries.
This can mean that customers with billing enquiries, technical enquiries, complaints, etc, may have different experiences as they are often treated with a different priority and/or handled by completely different teams.
How ACXPA is driving Australia's Contact Centre industry forward
The contact centre is a vital part of Australia’s economy and customer service landscape.
While over 1.4 million Australians work in customer service roles, contact centres represent a significant proportion of this workforce and often serve as the first step in a rewarding career.
With over 75% of contact centre managers starting their careers on the phone, and senior roles offering salaries exceeding $200k, it’s a sector with immense opportunity.
Today, as businesses shift to digital-only models and automation continues to grow, the role of live call centre agents remains crucial.
Real conversations still have a profound impact on customer satisfaction, loyalty, and business outcomes.
At ACXPA, we’re committed to:
• Empowering contact centre professionals with the tools, skills, and insights to deliver exceptional customer experiences.
• Advocating for greater investment in contact centres by helping senior executives understand the link between great CX and better business outcomes, like higher efficiency and profitability.
• Promoting transparency and excellence, giving unbiased recognition to top-performing call centres while driving accountability for improvement.
By providing free and exclusive data, benchmarking tools, and resources, we’re helping contact centres across Australia achieve optimal outcomes for customers, employees, and businesses alike.
The Truth About Call Centre Mystery Shopping
Mystery shopping replicates a real customer experience. And to be blunt, customers don’t know—or care—if they:
• Called during an unusually busy time.
• Were connected to a new agent on their first day.
• Spoke to an agent having an off day.
• Called while there were system issues.
• Encountered higher-than-scheduled sick leave.
• Reached out during a seasonal peak.
Real customers don’t think about sample sizes or the thousands of other calls your call centre handles daily. They only care about their call—and will make all their judgments and decisions based on that single experience.
That’s what our Call Centre Rankings reports capture: what a random, real customer can and does experience.
All calls are conducted by our Australian-based assessors and independently reviewed by three separate evaluators. To ensure a fair snapshot of customer experiences, we contact each business at various times and on different days.
To maintain the integrity and anonymity of the process, we focus on scenarios that don’t require sensitive details like account or serial numbers. The majority of our assessments involve new business enquiries about a company’s products or services.
While we don’t claim to reflect every customer’s experience, our results provide an authentic assessment of the calls we made, measured against what we believe to be industry best-practice standards.
Leading Call Centres in Australia
Below are the Australian Call Centre Industry Leaderboards displaying the top three and lowest-ranked call centres in Australia across four key metrics for the most recent quarter.
This data highlights the disparity between the lowest—and highest-performing contact centres in Australia when assessed against the same Australian Contact Centre Quality Standards, using the same mystery shopping scenarios.
Australian Call Centre Quality Rankings:
POOR
(<45%)
BELOW STANDARD
(45% to 60%)
MEETS STANDARDS
(61% to 75%)
EXCEEDS STANDARD
(76% to 90%)
OUTSTANDING
(>91%)
Overall CX Leaderboard
Best in Australia - Q3 2024
1st:Holmesglen TAFE (TAFE/Education)75.9%
2nd:iiNET (Internet Retailers)72.6%
3rd:TPG Internet (Internet Retailers)71.7%
Lowest:ING (Banks)17.4%
Industry Average53.0%
Accessibility Leaderboard
Best in Australia - Q3 2024
1st:TasTAFE (TAFE/Education)97.7%
2nd:Monash Council (Councils)96.9%
3rd:iiNET (Internet Retailers)95.8%
Lowest:RACV Insurance (Car Insurance)4.4%
Industry Average67.4%
Agent Mastery Leaderboard
Best in Australia - Q3 2024
1st:Holmesglen TAFE (TAFE/Education)70.1%
2nd:Energy Australia (Energy Retailers)68.2%
3rd:ENGIE (Energy Retailers)67.7%
Lowest:Great Southern (Banks)37.4%
Industry Average51.1%
Wait Times Leaderboard
Best in Australia - Q3 2024
1st:Optus Internet* (Internet Retailers)00:02
2nd:Dodo Internet* (Internet Retailers)00:02
3rd:TPG Internet* (Internet Retailers)00:05
Longest:ING (Banks)06:44
Industry Average01:50
*More than one business achieved the same result in this sector.
Australian Industry Sector Leaderboards
Below you can view the leaderboards by Industry Sector for the most recent quarter, showing the different experiences currently experienced by consumers when attempting contact with businesses from various industry sectors.
Overall CX Leaderboard
By Sector - Q3 2024
1. TAFE/Education64.5%
2. Internet Retailers63.6%
3. Councils60.0%
4. Energy Retailers54.7%
5. Car Insurance44.3%
6. Banks38.6%
Industry Average53.0%
Accessibility Leaderboard
By Sector - Q3 2024
1. TAFE/Education90.4%
2. Internet Retailers84.5%
3. Councils78.1%
4. Energy Retailers64.1%
5. Car Insurance54.3%
6. Banks44.6%
Industry Average67.4%
Agent Mastery Leaderboard
By Sector - Q3 2024
1. Internet Retailers55.4%
2. Councils54.4%
3. TAFE/Education53.5%
4. Energy Retailers53.0%
5. Banks47.6%
6. Car Insurance44.7%
Industry Average51.1%
Wait Time Leaderboard
By Sector - Q3 2024
1. TAFE/Education00:30
2. Internet Retailers00:37
3. Energy Retailers01:33
4. Car Insurance01:40
5. Councils02:10
6. Banks03:37
Industry Average01:50
Australian Industry Sector Trends
Below you can view the trends by Industry Sector, showing the different experiences currently experienced by consumers when attempting contact with businesses from various industry sectors.
Average Wait Times (by Sector)
The average time a customer waited after being placed in the queue waiting to speak to a live agent (after making menu selections and listening to any recorded messages).
Calls Answered Percentage (by Sector)
The percentage of mystery shopping calls not answered by a live agent within 10 minutes (sales scenarios) or 15 minutes (service scenarios).
Average Talk Times (by Sector)
The average time spent talking to a customer (including any time if they were placed on hold).
Average Message Time (by Sector)
The average time customers spend listening to recorded messages before being placed in the queue.
Australian Contact Centre Rankings Quarterly Reports
Each quarter, we publish a free national report that provides an overall summary of the Australian Contact Centre industry performance, containing the leaderboards for each sector along with information on wait times etc.
Australian Call Centre Industry Rankings Q1 2024
View the mystery shopping results of the Australian Call Centre Industry Rankings Q1 2024 containing benchmarking data from over 80 metrics.
Australian Call Centre Industry Rankings Q4 2023
View the results of the Australian Call Centre Rankings Q4 2023 for the Banks, Car Insurance, Energy & Internet Providers, Councils and TAFE Sectors.
How to gain exclusive Voice of the Customer (Voc) insights for your Call Centre & Industry Sector
Purchase our Contact Centre CX Benchmarking Service, and you’ll receive the following:
- Six Mystery Shopping calls into your call centre each month. Each call is assessed against over 80 different metrics and you'll receive the quality assessor’s notes, the employee’s name (where provided) and the full call recording.
- Benchmarking data for any five competitors that you nominate so you can compare your performance against other call centres in the same sector that matter to you.
- Aggregate (sector) data for all the other call centres we assess to provide you with sector-wide results to further compare your results.
- A monthly email with data to track your performance.
- A quarterly report containing insights and trends that are easy to understand, along with personalised, actionable recommendations to help improve your performance.
- An optional Quarterly Insights workshop for your team (conducted live via Zoom) that can provide additional insights, coaching and guidance.
- Access to best-practice training that will deliver improved results for both your customers and your business.
View Call Centre Rankings by Industry Sector
In addition to the overall industry rankings on this page, we also publish sector-specific reports that can be accessed directly below.
Click on a sector below, or you can also read the industry ranking reports for each quarter.
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