• Login
  • Status
  • Support
  • Partners
  • Pricing
  • Careers
  • ENLanguages
    • English
    • Deutsch
    • Français
    • 日本
    • 简体中文
    • العربية
    • 한국
    • Español
Customer Experience (CX) AI Platform
  • Customer Experience (CX) AI Platform×
  • Platform

      CXone Mpower Platform

      • Platform Overview

        Complete AI platform for customer service automation

      • Purpose-built AI for CX

        Powering smarter CX with AI-driven insights and automation.

      • Cloud Architecture

        Innovative cloud-native foundation to rapidly scale extraordinary CX

      • Voice as a Service (VaaS)

        Crystal-clear, scalable voice interactions for effortless interactions

      • Dashboards & Reporting

        Gain a full operational picture of your contact center, with enhanced visualization of real-time and historical insights

      • Integrations

        Seamlessly connect your business systems with our platform

      • Trust & Compliance

        Securing your trust with every interaction

      Discover the full value of AI in customer service

      Understand the benefits and cost savings you can achieve by embracing AI, from automation to augmentation.

      Calculate your savings

    • Products
      • Explore all Products

      • Capabilities

      • Workflow Orchestration

        Workflow Orchestration

        Evolve from interaction management to workflow orchestration across the entire organization.

        Learn more

        • Omnichannel Routing

          Reduce wait times and boost conversions with smart customer-agent matching.

        • Proactive Engagement

          Generate more revenue, minimize hang-ups, and proactively connect to reduce friction.

        • Workflow Orchestrator

          Unify and optimize every customer service workflow from intent to fulfillment.

        • Agent Desktop Workspace

          Connect front and back office teams with data, conversations, and workflows together in one place.

      • Workforce Augmentation

        Workforce Augmentation

        Move beyond tools to empower employees with real-time, actionable intelligence that elevates performance.

        Learn more

        • Specialized AI Copilots

          Elevate human performance with specialized AI copilots for every role.

        • Workforce Engagement Management

          Elevate employees, adapt to flexible work, and meet expectations - without compromise.

        • Automated Summary

          Instantly summarize interactions to accelerate resolution times and efficiency.

        • Voice of the Customer

          Unlock customer insights to enhance experiences, drive loyalty, and boost business growth.

        • Interaction Analytics

          Gain AI-powered insights from 100% of interactions to drive continuous improvement.

      • Service Automation

        Service Automation

        Go beyond answering questions to fully automate customer intent through fulfillment.

        Learn more

        • Intelligent Virtual Agent

          Boost self-service satisfaction and conversion with conversational AI agents.

        • Experience Optimization (XO)

          Synthesize real customer conversations to identify your top automation opportunities.

        • AI Agents

          Instantly create no-code AI agents powered by your data—build once, deploy everywhere.

        • Proactive AI Agent

          Keep customers engaged in conversation from onboarding to installation, service, and retention.

        • Knowledge Management

          Activate AI-powered enterprise knowledge to increase self-resolution rates and loyalty.


      • Solutions

      • By Business Initiative

        By Business Initiative

        • Grow Revenue

          Boost conversions and win rates to accelerate growth

        • Engage & Empower Employees

          Create a workplace of truly engaged employees

        • Boost Customer Loyalty

          Improve customer loyalty on interactions across the journey

        • Drive Digital Transformation

          Integrate digital technology at the center of CX

        • Small and Medium Business

          Drive growth and boost revenue with smarter, cost-effective customer service built for SMBs.

        • Call Center Software

          Empower agents to provide better experiences

        • Increase Operational Efficiency

          Leverage AI and automation to increase agent retention

        • Move to the Cloud

          Elevate experiences by moving operations to the cloud

        • Improve Compliance

          Protect your consumers with pre-built compliance solutions

        • Proactive Customer Engagement

          Elevate customer satisfaction with proactive conversational AI

      • Integrations & Custom Solutions

        Integrations & Custom Solutions

        • CXexchange Marketplace

          Discover partner solutions to extend capabilities on our platform

        • Pre-Built Integrations

          Seamlessly connect your business systems with our platform

        • Developer Tools & APIs

          Endless customization options with RESTful APIs and robust SDKs

        • Partner Ecosystem

          Embark on a journey of shared success and collaboration

        91% of customers recommend NiCE as a preferred CCaaS vendor

        Gartner® named NiCE the only Customers’ Choice CCaaS vendor in its 2024 Peer Insights™ “Voice of the Customer for Contact Center as a Service” report.

        Get report


      • View All Products
    • Industries

      By Industry

        • BPO

          Business Process Outsourcers

        • Financial Services

          Customer experiences that count

        • Government

          Elevate citizen trust

        • Healthcare

          Healthy patient experiences

        • Insurance

          Secure policyholder experiences

        • Retail

          Delight customers where they shop

        • Telecom

          CX for Telecommunications

        • Travel & Hospitality

          Boost traveler and guest loyalty

        Discover the full value of AI in customer service

        Understand the benefits and cost savings you can achieve by embracing AI, from automation to augmentation.

        Calculate your savings

      • Services
        • Explore all Services

        Professional Services

        • Professional Services

          Industry-leading expertise, tools and know-how

        • Implementation Partners

          NICE-certified implementation partners

        • Business Consulting

          Your partner for successful transformation

        Training

        • Contact Center Training

          Tailored education delivered by CX experts

        Support & Assistance

        • Customer Support

          Global support you can depend on

        Make the smartest buying decision with the latest Gartner analysis

        NiCE has been named a Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ Leader for Contact Center as a Service for the 11th consecutive year and is positioned furthest on Completeness of Vision.

        Get report

      • Resources

          Knowledge Base

          • All Resources

            Whitepapers, datasheets, demos and more

          • Analyst Perspectives

            Contact center reports from third party analysis

          • Terms Glossary

            Detailed descriptions of industry-related terms

          • FAQs

            Contact center focused frequently asked questions

          • Guides

            Expert insights for superior CX

          Learning & Insights

          • On-Demand Webinars

            Browse our extensive webinar catalog

          • Interactive Product Tours

            Explore the complete platform with our self-guided demos

          • Blog

            CX industry guidance by contact center experts

          • Why NiCE? Video Series

            Step Inside The Room Where It Happened to see CX AI in action

          Community

          • Events

            Upcoming events and webinars

          • Customer Stories

            Our customer's success is paramount. Read case studies about real CX transformation

          • NiCE Clubs

            Collaborate, learn, and share best practices for customer service excellence

          Make the smartest buying decision with the latest Gartner analysis

          NiCE has been named a Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ Leader for Contact Center as a Service for the 11th consecutive year and is positioned furthest on Completeness of Vision.

          Get report

        • Company

            Company

            • About Us

              Powering seamless cloud experiences

            • Investors

              Investors relations, reports and filings

            • Global Offices

              Interactive map of locations worldwide

            • Careers

              View job openings and learn about our culture

            • NiCE Leadership

              Meet our global leadership and executive team

            News & Media

            • Events

              Upcoming events and webinars

            • Press Releases

              Find the latest updates from NiCE

            • Media Center

              Media contacts and resources

            Corporate Governance

            • NiCE Trust Center

              Securing your trust with every interaction

            • Market Leadership

              Discover why NiCE is the market leader

            • Corporate Responsibility

              In a world where you can be anything, be NiCE

            Meet NiCE Cognigy

            Together, CXone Mpower and Cognigy AI enable organizations to accelerate AI adoption and scale it seamlessly across every customer experience.

            See what’s possible

            • ENLanguages
              • English
              • Deutsch
              • Français
              • 日本
              • 简体中文
              • العربية
              • 한국
              • Español
            • Get Started
              • Login
              • Status
              • Support
              • Partners
              • Pricing
              • Careers

            Company

            • About Us
            • Careers
            • Global Leadership
            • Media Center
            • Investors
            • Awards
            • Global Office Locations
            • Contact Us
            • CCaaS
            • Customer Experience
            • NiCE Public Safety
            • NiCE Actimize
            • NiCE RPA

            Partners

            • NiCE Partners Overview
            • Developer Partners (DEVone)
            • CXone Mpower Partner Portal
            • NiCE Help Partner Portal
            • NiCE User Group

            Customer Support

            • Customer Support Overview
            • CXone Mpower Support Login
            • NiCE Customer Support
            © 2025 NiCE
            • Terms of Use
            • Site Map
            • Privacy Policy
            • Legal
            • Cookies Settings
            • Accessibility

            Stay Connected

            © 2025 NiCE
            wondering-how-to-improve-customer-experience-in-your-contact-center-try-these-10-best-practices

            Wondering how to improve customer experience in your contact center? Try these 10 best practices

            by Laura Bassett
            November 17, 2021
            Share

            Does this scenario sound familiar? Seven percent of your customer service agents call in sick with the flu on the day your marketing team is running a big promotion. Your phone and chat queues are bursting at the seams, with average wait times over thirty minutes. Police show up to question one of your agents and one of your supervisors quits without notice. And then the power goes out...

            Just another day in the life of a contact center manager.

            Contact centers are fast-paced environments that have a lot of moving parts and daily issues to resolve. Day-to-day responsibilities can distract from more strategic tasks, such as figuring out how to improve customer experience. Contact center leaders know that they need to continuously improve the quality of support interactions, but finding the time and energy to craft an approach can be daunting.

            We'll do some of the heavy lifting for you by outlining what your customers want from your contact center and providing ten best practices to jump-start your CX improvement efforts.

            Why is customer experience so important?

            Customer experience is the opinion customers have about your business based on a cumulative set of diverse interactions that can range from Facebook ads to retail experiences to contact center interactions. Because it deals with people's opinions, CX is a combination of facts and emotions.

            Because almost 90% of consumers are willing to buy more following an exceptional customer service experience and 80% are willing to switch companies due to poor customer service, CX has become the new competitive battleground. In fact, Gartner found that two-thirds of businesses compete mostly based on customer experience.

            The contact center’s role in providing satisfying customer experiences

            While the contact center isn't solely responsible for CX, it certainly plays a critical role. Other departments such as marketing, e-commerce, fulfillment, and product development also impact the customer experience. However, because contact centers interact with customers when they need help, the nature of those interactions is more sensitive and can have a bigger impact on a customer's opinion of the company. After all, for many people, customer service is the face and voice of the company.

            And the contact center’s role is expanding and becoming more important than ever. Customer service is no longer a break-fix detour on the customer journey. Instead, it’s become the front door to the business, greeting customers and coordinating resolutions with the rest of the enterprise. Additionally, contact centers are involved in many more segments of the journey, from providing pre-sales advice to prospects to delivering post-sales support to customers.

            The elevated role of the contact center and the increasing importance of CX create a business imperative for identifying how to improve customer experience.

            What do customers want from your contact center?

            Determining how to improve customer experience should be based on what your customers need and expect from your contact center. Let's take a look at several areas that impact CX. A majority of consumers want the following things:

            To be able to solve their own problems

            The first thing customers want is to bypass your call center altogether. Most people prefer to solve their own problems and most of your customers have used a search engine or visited your website before reaching out to customer service. According to an HBR article, the DIY preference is strong - 81% of consumers attempt to figure things out themselves before contacting customer service. Additionally, 84% of consumers are more willing to do business with companies that offer self-service options.

            To be able to move across channels seamlessly

            Today's consumers can choose from a multitude of channels when they need to communicate with a business, and they often use more than one during the same issue resolution journey. When they do, they expect to move from channel to channel seamlessly. This includes DIY-ers when they decide they need agent assistance. For many people, "seamless" means not being required to repeat the details of their issue. How prevalent is this expectation? Our consumer research found that 96% expect companies to make it easy to switch channels without the need to repeat information.

            High first contact resolutions (FCR)

            A Microsoft study revealed that 33% of consumers rate first contact resolution as the most important aspect of a good customer service experience, making it the top vote-getter. When your customers have an issue, they don't want it to drag out or require multiple interactions with your contact center. "One and done" is a critical factor in delivering satisfying CX.

            Low effort

            When determining how to improve customer experience, take a look at how much work a customer has to do to get an issue resolved or a question answered. Signs of high customer effort include:

            • High transfer rates
            • High hold times
            • High average speed to answer
            • Low FCR
            • Requiring customers to repeat themselves when they switch channels

            According to Gartner's research, "96% of customers with a high-effort service interaction become more disloyal compared to just 9% who have a low-effort experience." Your CX improvements should make issue resolution easy.

            Personalized interactions

            Personalization is central to providing exceptional experiences to today's consumers. The first step is recognizing your customers in every channel, which 63% of your customers expect. Next, you should tailor each customer's experience according to factors such as purchase history, past customer service interactions, communication preferences, sentiment, and more. This can be a complex undertaking, but the results are worth it; Epsilon found that "80% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase from a brand that provides personalized experiences."

            10 best practices for improving customer experience in your contact center

            Now that you know a little more about what your customers expect from your contact center, let's explore how to improve customer experience. The following are some best practices and tips to help you get started.

            1. Omnichannel experiences

            You knew this would be on here, right? With so many consumers expecting companies to make it easy to switch channels, omnichannel capabilities have become a business imperative. But silos and outdated technology within the contact center make this difficult, if not impossible, to execute.

            Delivering seamless omnichannel experiences requires a modern platform that includes omnichannel routing, integrated channels, a unified agent desktop, and more.

            2. Smart self-service

            Offering multiple self-service options just makes sense. Your customers want self-service and it's so much cheaper than agent assistance, making it a win for both customers and the business. There are so many self-service options to choose from these days, ranging from conversational IVRs to online chatbots to online search powered by sophisticated knowledge management systems. Implement the right solution for your customers and organization and watch satisfaction increase and service costs decrease.

            3. Optimized forecasting and scheduling

            Making customers wait long in queue increases frustration and customer effort, which means high ASAs are bad for CX. Optimizing forecasts and schedules with AI-infused workforce management software will help ensure you're doing your best to meet service levels with the resources you have, which is particularly important in the current tight labor market.

            4. Sophisticated routing

            Because first contact resolution is so important to so many of your customers, it's critical to route them to the most qualified agent on the first attempt to increase the likelihood of resolving their issues during one interaction. Accurate routing will also reduce internal transfers, which will decrease friction and improve CX. And if you use AI-powered, data-driven routing, you can route customers based on sentiment and preferences, and match them to agents with compatible personalities, for even more satisfying experiences.

            5. Knowledgeable agents

            The skill and knowledge of your agents will also impact first contact resolution. Ensure your agents receive ongoing training and coaching on relevant topics. Additionally, put information at their fingertips by giving them access to a well-populated and maintained knowledge base. And to kick their access to information up a notch, consider implementing automated bots that can retrieve information for agents and suggest the next best steps.

            6. Agents with strong soft skills

            In addition to being technically proficient, agents need to be empathetic and have good active listening skills. Customers want to be heard and deserve empathy when they're having problems, especially if the business caused the issue. Soft skills should be taught and coached regularly. To supplement training and coaching, consider implementing real-time interaction guidance software, which leverages artificial intelligence to listen to and analyze every voice interaction, and coach agents in real-time about soft skills that can improve the conversation. 

            guide agents in real time on critical behaviours

            7. Integrated solutions that provide agents with the right information and capabilities

            Agents are essential for providing quick, personalized, and competent CX. Given their elevated roles, they need the best technical tools. An integrated agent desktop can provide access to CRM information and other customer data sources needed to personalize each interaction. Additionally, when all the systems they use are available in one interface, agents can focus on developing relationships and resolving issues rather than navigating disparate applications.

            8. Collect and act on customer input

            Customer surveys are an effective way to gather intermittent feedback and can help you measure CX-related KPIs such as customer satisfaction scores (CSAT) and Net Promoter Scores (NPS). But you don't have to wait for survey results to know what your customers are thinking and feeling; they share that information with your agents every day. Interaction analytics software is the tool that enables you to mine these conversations for valuable, real-time insights. The software can also help you increase problem management effectiveness, which will also improve CX.

            9. Align your KPIs to the customer experience

            When identifying how to improve customer experience, don't overlook your KPIs. You may need to adjust them to better align with what's important to your customers. For example, instead of focusing heavily on average handle times (AHT), you might instead choose to prioritize metrics such as transfer rates and first contact resolution rates. Additionally, you may need to add KPIs, such as customer effort scores, to ensure you're getting a comprehensive view of CX.

            10. Formalize customer experience and journey management

            If you don't want to leave something as important as CX to chance, consider establishing a formal customer experience management (CEM) program. CEM teams coordinate across the organization and represent the voice of the customer to ensure CX is continuously optimized. A disciplined CEM program can drive change that ultimately results in increased revenue and higher customer lifetime value.

            Now that you know how to improve customer experience, let's get started!

            We've discussed some very impactful and practical ways to improve CX, and most of them require or are enhanced by technology. A unified, cloud contact center platform can help your business substantially move the needle on customer experience.

            Watch our demo video to see CXone in action and then contact us to find out more about how CXone can help you improve your business results through more satisfying customer experiences.

            About the Author

            Laura Bassett

            See All Blogs

            Follow Us

            Follow us to get the latest news from your preferred Social Network

            linkedinlinkedinlinkedinlinkedin

            Popular Posts

            October 15, 2025

            Effortless by design: Experience soars when people, tech, and process fly in sync

            Read

            October 10, 2025

            Cut through complexity: Six companies reimagining workforce management

            Read

            October 7, 2025

            Customer Service Appreciation Week 2025: Celebrating the people behind every great experience

            Read

            October 3, 2025

            Why building a connected, intelligent workforce model creates operational excellence

            Read

            September 29, 2025

            7 reasons to automate interaction summarization with AI

            Read

            More from the blog

            AI

            Effortless by design: Experience soars when people, tech, and process fly in sync

            Customer experience won’t be won in the contact center alone. Often, it will be won – or lost – in the back office.

            October 15, 2025

            Workforce Optimization

            Cut through complexity: Six companies reimagining workforce management

            In today’s world, rapid growth doesn’t just create opportunity – it creates complexity, and without workforce management, that complexity will crush even the fastest-growing companies.

            October 10, 2025

            AI

            Customer Service Appreciation Week 2025: Celebrating the people behind every great experience

            As we celebrate Customer Service Appreciation Week, one thing is clear: technology can enhance the work, but it’s people who give it meaning.

            October 7, 2025