Benetas tops customer service, sector stagnates
The aged care sector has failed to improve its customer service performance compared to six months ago, according to CSBA’s latest benchmarking report.
An assessment of the success, ease and sentiment of 12,852 phone interactions across 245 Australian and New Zealand contact centres has been compiled in the SenseCX Best Practice Quality Assurance Aged Care Benchmark Report, revealing a lack of progress for the sector.
Completed by customer experience specialists CSBA, the report found that while the aged care sector is still in the top half of the 10 sectors evaluated, opportunity to refine key customer service skills remains.
Aged care rankings are based on 300 assessments made of nine aged care providers between January 2024 to December 2024. The top five organisations in order of success for the year are Benetas Aged Care, Bethanie, BlueCare, Bolton Clarke and Calvary.
BlueCare has dropped in ranking from first to third this year.
Benetas chief executive officer Sandra Hills said she was pleased to see the results of CSBA’s Aged Care Industry Benchmark Report as it reflected the organisation’s broader focus on supporting older Victorians.
“Our team provides customers, their families and carers, with high quality services and environments that respect their independence and individuality,” Ms Hills told Australian Aging Agenda said.
“We work hard to ensure that everyone contacting us has a positive experience that enhances their care or the care of their loved one.”
Sentiment and success was relatively strong across the sector, but CSBA said aged care providers needed to focus on ease, which they ranked seventh place for. Ease refers to the effort required by the customer to accomplish their goals. To score well CSBA suggests that customers should be actively guided through the problem and the conversation should result in a clear resolution. The placement of the sector indicates a need to simplify processes.
CSBA account director Tony Williams said the lack of improvement in customer service quality was not surprising given the time and sustained effort it takes to see results.
Aged care providers who invest in initiatives such as regular targeted customer service training, ongoing quality monitoring of service teams and actively responding to customer feedback will be more likely see success, he said.
“Our evaluations highlight several areas where customer interactions need improving, particularly when it comes to how customer service assistants close calls,” Mr Williams told AAA.
“While all sectors struggle with this, aged care providers perform particularly poorly, which impacts customer experience. It’s important that customers receive a clear summary of the proposed solution or advice, along with a check to see that they understand and agree with a solution. Before the call ends customers should also get a chance to ask any additional questions. Unfortunately, these steps are often overlooked, especially when assistants feel under pressure to wrap up the call and move on to the next.”
The sector placed eighth in closing calls, scoring just 26 per cent, but Mr Williams said simple actions such as using the customer’s name or sharing a relevant experience or anecdote can create a more memorable experience for customers.
He told AAA that while aged care contact centre staff generally do well asking basic questions to uncover customers’ needs, the opportunity to dig deeper and understand the full picture of a customer’s situation is missed.
“By asking more specific, thoughtful questions, they can offer solutions that feel more personalised to customers,” Mr Williams said.
Comment on the story below. Follow Australian Ageing Agenda on LinkedIn, X (Twitter) and Facebook, sign up to our twice-weekly newsletter and subscribe to our premium content or AAA magazine for the complete aged care picture.
