Internet Retailers Q3 2024 Call Centre Rankings
Introduction
ACXPA’s benchmarking initiative provides valuable insights into the performance of the Australian Internet Retailers call centres, offering a detailed analysis of customer experience and accessibility.
Our comprehensive evaluation is based on over 80 metrics derived from the Australian Contact Centre Quality Standards, delivering a holistic view of the sector’s performance.
The analysis focuses on new connection enquiries, simulating real-life scenarios of potential customers seeking to either purchase a new internet service or switch from an existing provider. These high-stakes interactions are pivotal in the fiercely competitive retail internet market and reveal critical opportunities for growth and improvement.
By applying realistic scenarios, our trained Australian-based mystery shoppers uncover key challenges and opportunities in these interactions, helping internet retailers identify gaps, refine processes, and enhance their ability to convert leads into loyal customers.
Importantly, ACXPA’s benchmarking initiative not only equips internet retailers with the tools to improve their individual performance, but also serves as a vital mechanism to raise standards across the retail internet sector, ultimately benefiting businesses and customers alike.
Table of Contents:
Click below to go straight to a key section.
Highest/Lowest Rankings (ACXPA Subscribers & Members Only)
Report Downloads, YTD and Lifetime Averages (ACXPA Subscribers & Members Only)
Executive Summary
The Q3 2024 public report provides a glimpse into the customer experience (CX) performance in the retail internet sector, based on key metrics: Overall CX Scores, Agent Mastery Scores, Accessibility Rankings, Average Wait Times, and Calls Answered.
Business-specific results and overall sector trends are highlighted below.
ACXPA Subscribers (free) and Members (paid) have access to additional insights and we also offer a paid benchmarking service for internet retailers that provides them with access to over 80 metrics for their contact centre and any five nominated competitors.
1. Overall CX Scores
Sector Trends
• The sector-wide Overall CX Score for Q3 2024 averaged 63.6%, a decline from 66.5% in Q2 2024 (-2.9%).
• Scores varied significantly, ranging from 56.7% (Dodo Internet) to 72.6% (iiNet), who narrowly led the sector ahead of TPG Internet at 71.7%.
Business Highlights
• iiNet climbed from second place in Q2 to lead the sector with the highest score of 72.6%, edging out TPG Internet, which followed closely at 71.7% after leading in the previous quarter.
• Dodo Internet recorded the lowest score for the second consecutive quarter at 56.7%, a modest improvement from 52.6% in Q2, reflecting ongoing challenges in agent performance and accessibility.
• Aussie Broadband ranked third but recorded its third consecutive quarter of decline, primarily due to falling Agent Mastery scores.
2. Agent Mastery Scores
Sector Trends
• The average Agent Mastery Score for Q3 2024 was 55.4%, the lowest quarterly result to date, down from 55.4% in Q2 2024.
• Scores ranged from 43.0% (Dodo Internet) to 63.7% (TPG Internet), highlighting the need for improved training in lower-performing organisations.
• Among the five Agent Mastery competencies measured, ‘ENERGY’ saw the largest decrease, dropping to 60.4% (-10.6% from Q2 2024).
• Within the ‘ENERGY’ competency, the ‘Delivery’ behaviour showed the steepest decline, decreasing by 22.2%. This behaviour assesses the use of “appropriate language, pacing, phrasing, and clarity to ensure communication is easy to hear and understand.” Scores ranged from 22.2% (iiNet) to 88.9% (Aussie Broadband).
Business Highlights
• TPG Internet led the sector for the second consecutive quarter, though their score of 63.7% represented a significant drop from 80.4% in Q2 2024.
• Dodo Internet remained the lowest performer at 43.0%, ranking last in every quarter since reporting began in August 2023, suggesting systemic issues in training and coaching on industry best practices.
• Aussie Broadband recorded their third consecutive quarter of declining results, with their score of 54.0% marking their lowest ranking to date.
3. Accessibility Rankings
Sector Trends
• The sector achieved an average Accessibility Ranking of 84.5% in Q3 2024, the highest recorded for the Internet Retailer sector to date. This performance placed the sector second across all industries, behind Education Providers, who topped the rankings in Q2 with 90.4%.
• Scores ranged from 60.9% (Telstra Internet) to 95.8% (iiNet), reflecting substantial variability in accessibility performance across the sector.
Business Highlights
• iiNet led the sector with an Accessibility Ranking of 95.8%, the third-highest result nationally across all sectors, showcasing exceptional call routing and operational efficiency.
• Telstra Internet ranked last again in Q3, continuing their streak of lowest performance since reporting began in August 2023. However, their Q3 ranking of 60.9% represents their best result to date and their fourth consecutive quarter of improvement, suggesting increased investment in accessibility for new customers.
4. Average Wait Times
Sector Trends
• The average wait time for Q3 2024 across all internet retailers was 37 seconds, marking an improvement for most businesses. This performance ranked the sector second, behind Education Providers, who averaged 30 seconds.
• Wait times ranged from 3 seconds (Dodo Internet & Optus Internet) to 155 seconds (Telstra Internet).
Business Highlights
• Dodo Internet and Optus Internet lead the sector, maintaining the shortest average wait time of 3 seconds in Q3 2024, the best result nationally across all contact centres measured.
• Dodo Internet have lead every quarter in 2024.
• Telstra Internet reported the longest wait time at 155 seconds, although this marks their best performance to date, improving from 220 seconds in Q2 2024.
• Aussie Broadband was the only business to experience increased wait times in Q3 2024, rising to 50 seconds, up from 7 seconds in Q2 2024.
5. Calls Answered
Sector Trends
• The sector-wide Calls Answered rate averaged 98.1%, reflecting strong responsiveness overall.
• Rates ranged from 88.9% (Optus Internet) to 100%, achieved by multiple providers.
Business Highlights
• Dodo Internet is the only business that has achieved a perfect 100% Calls Answered rate in every quarter since we commenced reporting in August 2023.
Conclusion
Q3 2024 showcased mixed performance in the Retail Internet sector. While accessibility and wait times improved, disparities in Agent Mastery and responsiveness persist.
Top performers like iiNet and TPG Internet set sector benchmarks, but opportunities remain for other providers to improve customer interactions and operational efficiencies.
With most providers scoring strongly in Accessibility, a stonger focus on training and coaching of employees will deliver better experiences for customers and improved revenue and market share for the internet retailers.
We’re grateful to our sponsors for their support, which allows us to share this valuable information with you at no cost.
Overall CX Rankings for Internet Retailers (Q3 2024)
Q2 2024
Q3 2024
Trend
The Overall CX Rankings reflect how easy it is to connect and communicate with a live customer service agent at an Australian Internet Retailer via their contact centre.
The rankings are determined by the Accesibility rankings (how easy it was to connect) and Agent Mastery rankings (the interaction with the live agent) with weightings applied to the key drivers of customer satisfaction.
Accessibility Rankings for Internet Retailers (Q3 2024)
Q2 2024
Q3 2024
Trend
The Call Centre Accessibility Rankings reflect how easy it was for customers to speak with a live person about a new internet connection enquiry.
59 individual elements are assessed, capturing the entire experience before interacting with a live agent, including call centre 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.
As these are calls for new internet connections, Mystery Shopping calls are terminated if wait times exceed 10:00 minutes.
*More than one business achieved the same result in this sector.
We’re grateful to our sponsors for their support, which allows us to share this valuable information with you at no cost.
Agent Mastery Rankings for Internet Retailers (Q3 2024)
Q2 2024
Q3 2024
Trend
Agent Mastery is a measure of the agent’s skill, 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.
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.
We’re grateful to our sponsors for their support, which allows us to share this valuable information with you at no cost.
HIGHEST/LOWEST RANKINGS FOR Q3 2024 (Internet Retailers)
The High/Low Rankings below provide a snapshot of the range of performance across the internet retailers for eight selected metrics—just a small preview of the 80+ metrics available in the Retail Internet CX Benchmarking reports.
Additional Averages Included:
To provide a broader context, we’ve also included:
• The Internet Retailers Sector Average, offering an overview of the sector’s overall performance.
• The Australian Call Centre Industry Average, enabling you to compare how the internet retailers stack up against other Australian contact centre industry sectors.
Report Downloads & Lifetime Averages
Benchmarking Data for Other Industry Sectors
In addition to the retail internet sector information we publish, you can also view Australian Call Centre Industry Benchmarking data for additional industry sectors – click the links below to learn more and view data.
