Organizations know high-quality customer service is essential because 61% of consumers say they would change brands if they had a negative customer service interaction. However, improving service quality is often easier said than done.
Companies have increased their investment in customer service but are still not meeting customers’ expectations. A recent study showed that more than 50% of consumers have not noticed any improvement in customer service, and 23% have said it has gotten worse.
Recruiting good customer service representatives is difficult because representatives need a wide variety of talents. They need to have excellent verbal and written communication skills, good time management abilities, and have the ability to understand the products and services their company sells. They also need to be friendly and understanding and be able to manage difficult (and often rude) callers without getting rattled or angry.
This is why organizations partner with a leading assessment solution provider such as eSkill. HR teams need the ability to develop customer service skills tests so they can quickly identify candidates who have the required knowledge and experience, and the eSkill Talent Assessment PlatformTM enables them to test customer service skills effectively.
Why Customer Service Skills Tests Are Essential
HR professionals know it is no longer possible to rely on traditional applicant screening techniques such as reading resumes and scheduling interviews. The information is often inaccurate because more than 77% of applicants exaggerate their qualifications and experience.
This means a call center customer representative whose resume looked perfect and sounded great during interviews could fail miserably because they lack the required skills and experience.
Customer service skills tests minimize the chances of this happening because assessments clearly show which applicants are best qualified. With skill tests, HR teams can eliminate applicants who lack the required skills and experience.
Testing customer service skills also minimizes the chance of unconscious bias influencing hiring decisions. This helps businesses avoid legal challenges and ensure compliance with fair hiring practices.
How Businesses Test Customer Service Skills
eSkill offers validated customer service skills tests that measure essential skills such as communication, listening, empathy, adaptability, and problem-solving using questions in formats such as multiple-choice, simple select, select all that apply, and true/false.
Recruiters can use pre-prepared assessments but can also build customized skills tests by choosing questions from multiple skills tests. For example, if their customer service representatives are primarily responsible for inputting and checking orders, they can use questions from the Customer Service Skills Test and include questions from the Form-Fill Data Entry Typing and Attention to Detail skills tests.
If the job entails answering customer inquiries and problem resolution, they can build a customer service skills test using questions that measure listening, empathy, and problem-solving abilities and include questions from the Emotional Intelligence Skills Test.
When candidates complete and submit customer service skills tests, HR professionals can identify top candidates and eliminate the ones who do not meet their requirements.
Which Customer Service Skills Tests Do You Need?
eSkill clients have access to an assessment library that contains hundreds of validated job- and subject-related skills tests. Some specifically pertain to customer service, and others can be used to evaluate other essential abilities. These are some assessments you can use to test customer service skills.
HR leaders know that a surefire way to verify candidates can do a job is to ask them to complete tasks they will perform if hired. So, many include the following simulations in customer service skills tests.
HR professionals also use video response questions if a job requires extensive phone interaction, foreign language, or other skills that cannot be assessed with written customer service skills tests. Video response questions prompt applicants to record and upload their responses so hiring teams can evaluate and rate their answers.
Get Started with Customer Service Skills Tests
Customer service skills tests help you avoid costly hiring mistakes by helping you identify top applicants with a high probability of success in a job and at your company. When you hire better-qualified candidates, you improve the quality of customer service you provide, which leads to better customer retention and improved profitability.
Do you want to learn how customer service skills tests can help you improve hiring outcomes? Contact us to request a demo.