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The Case for the Anti-Script: A Multifactor Analysis of Script Adherence

Though scripts are a cornerstone of contact centers, they have not advanced at the same pace as other industry technologies. This presents pain points for managers and agents alike as companies have to pay for enforcement tools, perform ongoing training, and coach agents on a tool that may not lend itself to optimal results in terms of agent satisfaction and retention.

What is the goal of a script? Is it a prescriptive talk track that places success within predefined parameters of compliance? Or is it a foundation, a jumping-off point for agent improvisation? 

We talked to over 560 agents, and here’s what we found: 

• Agents don’t go off script because they forget what to say, they go off script because they want to — and that’s a good thing.
• The more involved agents are in writing their scripts, the more they’ll follow them, and the happier they’ll be overall.
• Agents at larger contact centers follow their scripts the least.
• Script adherence is heavily influenced by an agent’s trust in their manager and beliefs about their coworkers’ work ethics.
• The agent experience is universal. Factors like age, gender, tenure, industry, and more had no statistically significant effect on script adherence.

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