Cross-posted from USAgov Blog

The Contact Center team handles all calls, chats, and emails coming to USAGov from the general public, for help navigating government services and information. We provide a multi-channel shared service platform to serve those who have questions ranging from housing assistance to how to file taxes.
Each month, our team offers what we named Call Center Listening Sessions. These sessions are part of USAGov's broader program efforts to constantly improve how we interact with our ultimate customers: the public.

What is a Call Center Listening Session?

The call center listening sessions, which are offered in English and Spanish, let our staff hear from our nationwide audience in real-time. We dial into the USAGov listening telephone line, where we can hear information specialists take live calls from the public. We usually host three 30-minute sessions each month.

Each session also offers writers, designers, UX experts and other collaborators on our staff the opportunity to talk about what they're hearing.

Why We Host Listening Sessions

Our sessions provide staff the opportunity to learn more about the public's struggles, challenges and victories with government information and programs. Leveraging the Contact Center makes us better equipped to understand a variety of user stories and improve the overall customer experience. The sessions assist with content improvements on the website and quality assurance evaluations that help us meet and surpass our service level targets. Each listening session:

• Improves customer experience through direct insight into the voice of the customer
• Promotes discussion within teams
• Provides insight into our contact center operations
• Facilitates program-level changes based on customer needs

Since the addition of Spanish-language sessions, the USAGov team has also been able to pick up on subtle differences in communication styles, and how culture plays a role.

Our "call-in" listeners note that they love these sessions and that the experience provides them an opportunity to stay connected to customers, promotes awareness about contact center operations and allows them to make changes based on customer needs. We look forward to continuing to provide the best possible service to everyone.

Learn more about our USAGov contact center.

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