As well as the Call Centre Ranking results below, ACXPA Members also have access to a range of additional insights, including all the monthly reports, trend data, additional performance metrics, a downloadable spreadsheet and lots more!
Councils September 2023 Mystery Shopping Results
We welcomed the addition of another five councils into the monthly benchmarking report and for the Council’s September 2023 Mystery Shopping report, there was a noticeable improvement in the overall sector performance as compared to the August 2023 Council Sector results.
Key observations for September 2023:
- Average wait times across all Councils was 01:33 minutes, a reduction of 71% from the previous month (down from 04:05 minutes).
- City of Onkaparinga (SA) again had the lowest wait times (0:03 minutes) with City of Stirling (WA) again having the longest wait times of at 04:04 minutes, followed by Willoughby City Council (NSW) with 03:35 minutes.
- 100% of calls made to councils were answered within the 15-minute threshold, an improvement on last month when 11% of calls were not answered.
- Quality improved across all councils, increasing from 55.8% (Below Standard) to 65.2% (Met Standard) with the lead performers the City of Onkaparinga (SA) (80.4%) and Mosman (NSW) (39.2%) the lowest-rated council.
- The ‘Engage’ competency again rated the poorest of the five quality competencies at 42.4% with ‘Energy’ rated the highest at 86.4%.
- 36% of councils had no IVR making it easier for customers to connect to a live agent. City of Stirling reduced their IVR layers from two to one from the previous month, and of the councils we assessed, only one council had two layers – Sydney Council.
- Paramatta, although only having one IVR layer, took the longest on average to navigate the menu (00:59 minutes), just marginally ahead of Willoughby (00:58) and Sydney (00:57).
Councils September 2023 Key Results
The summary data for the last month Australian Councils call centre performance is below.
Overall Ranking
Average Score
Council Average
Australia
#1 Ranked Call Centre
Onkaparinga
(SA)
Lowest Ranked Call Centre
Mosman
(NSW)
Quality Score
Average Score
Council Average
Australia
Highest Score
Willoughby
(NSW)
Lowest Score
Mosman
(NSW)
Quality Summary September 2023
The quality of the customer interactions across all Councils assessed against the Australian Contact Centre Quality Standards was rated as ‘Meets Standard’ with a score of 65.2%.
- The lead performer for quality was Willoughby (NSW) (80.4%) with Mosman (NSW) the lowest (39.2%).
- Key Results across all quality metrics:
- Engage (42.4%) – The lead performer was Willoughby (NSW) with 66.7%, and the lowest rated was Mosman (NSW) (25%).
- Discover (72.7%) – The lead performer was Launceston (Tas) (100%), and the lowest rated was Northern Beaches (NSW) (33.3%)
- Educate (69.7%) – The lead performer was Onkaparinga (83.3%), and the lowest rated was Mosman and Sydney (NSW) (50.0%)
- Close (50.5%) – The lead performer was Sydney (NSW) (66.7%), and the lowest rated was Mosman (NSW) (11.1%)
- Energy (86.5%) – Four councils achieved the top result (100%) – Onkaparinga (SA), Northern Beaches (NSW), Monash (Vic) and Casey (Vic) with Sydney (NSW) the lowest rated (58.3%).
Accessibility Score
Average Score
Council Average
Australia
Highest Score
Onkaparinga
(SA)
Lowest Score
Willoughby
(NSW)
Accessibility Summary September 2023
- Councils were rated as ‘Exceeds Standards’ for Accessibility (82.0%) with City of Onkaparinga (SA) the highest rated (100%) with Willoughby NSW the lowest rated (68.9%).
- The average wait time to connect to a council was 1:33 minutes, Onkaparinga the quickest on average to answer at 00:03 minutes and City of Stirling (WA) the longest at 04:04 minutes.
- Four councils had no IVR making it easier for customers to connect directly to an agent – Brisbane City (QLD), Northern Beaches (NSW), City of Onkaparinga (SA) and Monash City (Vic).
- The most IVR layers was Sydney Council with two layers.
- 100% of all Mystery Shopping Calls were answered within a 15-minute threshold.
Average Wait Time
Average Wait Time
Council Average
Australia
Shortest Wait Time
Onkaparinga
(SA)
Longest Wait Time*
Stirling
(WA)
Average Wait Time Summary September 2023
- There was a significant reduction in the average time it took to connect to a Council, taking on average, 00:43 Minutes (down from 05:25 minutes last month).
- The quickest to answer was again the City of Onkaparinga (00:03 minutes) whilst the longest wait times was again, City of Stirling (however the actual wait time significantly reduced from 11:22 minutes last month to 04:04 this month).
*We disconnect any calls that go beyond a 15-minute wait time, so the actual wait times may be longer.
Exclusive Members-only Insights
What type of scenarios do we use to conduct the Mystery Shopping calls?
We use enquiries that are general in nature that don’t require us to disclose personal information.
How does the scoring work?
Over the past 30 years we’ve developed standards based on consumer preferences and the metrics that matter – the ones that can influence the customer experience. You can learn more about the framework we use here >
How many calls are assessed?
For the public monthly report, we include at least three calls per council – as more councils sign up for the service, more calls will be included.
When you sign up for the Contact Centre CX Benchmarking service, you will receive a minimum of six calls assessed for every council included. If you’d rather have a larger sample size, please refer to our customised Benchmarking service >
How can we improve our score?
Our Mystery Shopping program has been designed to provide Councils with the insights they need to improve performance! You’ll receive detailed information on your performance against over 48 individual elements so you know exactly where to focus, and we also include a quarterly report that provides you with personalised key recommendations on areas to focus on.
We also offer a range of training courses that can help teach your frontline employees the skills they need to deliver great customer service (Customer Service Phone ‘Essentials‘ & ‘Professional‘), as well as training courses for your Team Leaders/Managers so they know how to coach effectively using the Quality Framework to improve your performance (and scores!).
How do I get my contact centre included?
We have a fixed-price service starting from $1,297 per month that will provide you with information on your councils, as well as a benchmark of your performance against a minimum of five other councils that you can nominate. Learn more >
How do I order the service?
We have an online ordering form that makes it easy to order the service, nominate the councils you’d like to benchmark against, who you’d like the reports to be sent to etc. View the online order form >
How do I access the data for councils?
ACXPA Business Members get full access to the summary monthly data for councils (and other sectors) along with a host of other benefits which contains the data for five random councils each month.
An ACXPA Business Membership starts from just $497 per year and includes five individual memberships you can allocate to key employees who could benefit from gaining access to leading industry insights for contact centres, customer experience (CX), digital service, and in-person customer service.
If you sign your council up to the Contact Centre CX Benchmarking Service, you will gain access to ALL data from ALL councils.
Is there someone I can speak to to learn more?
Absolutely! If you’d like to speak to someone further about the Benchmarking Service, please get in touch with our General Manager of Quality Insights, Simon Blair – 0407 002 113 or [email protected]
What type of scenarios do we use to conduct the Mystery Shopping calls?
We use general enquiries that don’t require us to disclose personal information. Questions about bins, upcoming events, rates etc.
Do councils really care about the service they provide?
We’d really like to say yes! But sometimes whether it’s through a lack of resources or skills, the customer experience that is delivered is well below expectations.
When Councils focus on delivering a better customer experience, not only is it good for you, it actually makes them more efficient meaning they can invest in more services for you.
How do I get my Council included?
We encourage you to contact your local Mayor and ask them to ensure your Council is included. Just send them a link to this page!
Why does ACXPA publish results each month?
Our mission is to improve the level of customer experience in Australia so by publishing the results monthly, we’ll continue to ensure that councils are accountable for the level of customer service they are providing to their ratepayers.
What type of services does ACXPA offer?
In addition to the Mystery Shopping CX Benchmarking, we offer a range of services and resources for people working in contact centres, customer experience (CX), digital service and in-person customer service/retail. You can learn more about us here >
How to gain exclusive insights for your Council
If you’d like to gain insights specifically for your Council’s contact centre performance, and benchmark your results against other councils either in the same state or across Australia, we’ve got a new, cost-effective, fixed-price benchmarking service that makes it easy!
Starting from just $1,297 per month, by signing up for our Contact Centre CX Benchmarking Service, you’ll receive the following:
- Six Mystery Shopping calls into your call centre each month at random times and days where you’ll receive the full assessment against 48 metrics, our quality assessor’s notes, the employee’s name (where provided) and the full call recordings.
- Six Mystery Shopping calls each into five other Councils that YOU nominate in either the same state or nationally (a total of 30 calls) so you can benchmark your performance against other Councils that matter the most to you.
- Aggregate data from all the other Councils we assess providing you with Council sector-wide results to further compare your results to.
- A monthly email with data to track your performance along with the call recordings.
- A quarterly report containing insights and trends that are easy to understand, along with actionable recommendations to help improve your performance.
- An optional Quarterly Insights workshop (conducted live via Zoom) that can provide additional insights, coaching and guidance.
