Using a Customer’s Name Effectively

Using a customer's name might sound like the most basic of contact centre skills — and yet ACXPA benchmarking data shows it is one of the most consistently underperformed behaviours across every sector measured. Councils score just 5.3% on use of name. Banks, insurers, and retailers aren't far ahead. For something described as call centre 101, the gap between what teams know and what agents actually do is striking.

The reason that gap exists is that most training on this topic stops at the rule — "use the name two or three times" — without ever explaining the science behind why it works. Without the why, agents have no real basis for making good judgements about when and how to use a name naturally, and the behaviour either disappears or becomes awkward and forced.

In this 12-minute session, ACXPA CEO Justin Tippett and General Manager of Benchmarking Simon Blair walk through the data, the psychology, and the practical technique. Simon draws on developmental psychology and decades of contact centre training experience to explain what is actually happening when you use a customer's name — and why getting it right is one of the fastest ways to lift both your Engage scores and the quality of every interaction that follows.