Did you know 74% of customers have switched brands because of poor customer service?
That’s a huge risk for any business, especially in call centers, where every interaction counts.
But here’s the good news: Quality Assurance (QA) is your safety net. It’s the secret sauce that makes sure your agents are consistently delivering top-notch service.
QA is more than just spotting mistakes. It’s about boosting performance, improving customer experience, and building long-term loyalty.
Ready to transform your call center with a killer QA process? Let’s dive into the 15 best practices you can’t afford to miss
A. What is quality assurance in a call center?
Let’s say one of your agents answers a call from a frustrated customer.
The customer has been overcharged. They’re angry. They want answers.
Now—did your agent:
- Greet the caller properly?
- Listen with empathy?
- Explain the issue clearly?
- Follow the right process?
- End the call on a positive note?
If you don’t know the answer to these questions—you’ve got a quality problem.That’s where Quality Assurance (QA) steps in.
So, what is QA really?
QA is your way of checking how well your agents handle customer conversations — whether it’s over the phone, chat, or email.
You pick random interactions.
You review them using a checklist.
You give agents feedback—what went great, what needs work.
It’s not just about catching mistakes. It’s about making your agents better—call by call.
Let’s break down the top best practices you can use to level up your call center’s QA game.
B. 13 Ways to improve quality assurance in call centers
In the quest for exceptional customer experiences, quality assurance is the key.
But where do you start?
Here are 15 best practices that will help your call center boost service quality, drive agent performance, and consistently exceed customer expectations.
1. Define clear, measurable metrics
You can’t improve what you don’t measure, right?
Start by defining clear, actionable metrics that truly matter for your call center.
Whether it’s average handle time, first-call resolution (FCR), or customer satisfaction (CSAT) scores, make sure your metrics align with your business goals.
If your goal is to improve customer loyalty, track how often agents resolve issues on the first call.
You can also focus on average handle time (AHT)—if customers are hanging up due to long waits or resolution delays, it’s a sign to improve efficiency.
If you prioritize compliance, you should measure how consistently agents stick to scripts and legal guidelines.
By having the right metrics in place, you create a clear path for agents to follow—and a benchmark to measure improvement.
Learn More: 19 Important Call Center KPIs to Track
2. Skip the cherry-picking
Scoring just a few calls per agent each week might feel manageable, but it’s far from reliable.
When you cherry-pick calls (intentionally or not), you’re only seeing a small slice of the bigger picture.
That means your feedback could be biased, incomplete, or just plain unfair.
Enter: Auto call sampling.
Modern QA tools can automatically pull a wide range of calls—across different days, shifts, customer types, and call scenarios.
This ensures you’re not just reviewing the highlights or lowlights, but getting a balanced and honest view of agent performance.
Instead of reviewing 5 handpicked calls, auto QA evaluate 100+ calls a week, showing you trends in tone, script adherence, empathy, or issue resolution—without added manual effort.
Bottom line: More calls. More context. More accurate coaching.
3. Create a standardized QA rubric
If every evaluator scores differently, you’ll end up with inconsistent feedback and confused agents.
That’s why a standardized QA rubric is a must-have.
A rubric lays out the exact criteria agents are scored on—think tone, product knowledge, script adherence, problem-solving, and empathy.
This has clear rating scales and definitions.
It ensures everyone’s on the same page, whether you’re scoring 10 calls or 10,000.
If “empathy” is part of your rubric, define what a perfect score looks like (e.g., agent acknowledges the customer’s frustration and offers reassurance). That way, evaluators aren’t just guessing or scoring based on gut feeling.
QA rubric vs QA scorecard
| QA Rubric | QA Scorecard | |
| Purpose | To define how each item should be scored | To record the actual scores for an agent’s call |
| Includes | Criteria descriptions + scoring rules | Criteria list + scores + comments |
| Focus | Guidelines for scoring (what a “5” means, etc.) | Final evaluation (score per call/agent) |
| Used By | QA team for calibration & consistency | QA team and managers for coaching & reporting |
| Format | Usually text-heavy, detailed | Often tabular, numeric, sometimes with checkboxes |
4. Define your QA scorecard
Now that you’ve established a solid rubric, it’s time to define your QA scorecard—the tool you’ll actually use to measure agent performance on every call.
A QA scorecard is a practical evaluation tool that captures scores based on your rubric.
It’s where your evaluators record the results of their scoring against the defined criteria, providing an easy-to-read snapshot of agent performance.
Learn More: Step-by-step process on building a qa scorecard
Key Elements of a Great QA Scorecard:
- Call Information: Agent name, call ID, date, customer type (e.g., new customer or returning).
- Score Sections: Include key performance areas from your rubric (e.g., empathy, problem-solving, script adherence).
- Scoring Scale: Use a simple and clear scale (1–5, Yes/No, or 0–100%).
- Actionable Feedback: Allow space for specific comments and improvement suggestions.
Download the excel template- Feedback form
5. Run weekly calibration sessions
To ensure fairness in your call evaluations, weekly calibration sessions are essential.
These sessions align scoring standards across QA analysts, supervisors, and managers.
By reviewing calls together, you ensure everyone is on the same page.
Discussing scoring discrepancies and agreeing on clear criteria ensures consistency.
Examples from calls help refine expectations and improve scoring accuracy.
Calibration sessions promote fairness, making your QA process more reliable and transparent.
Aim for 30–60 minutes weekly to keep the team aligned without overwhelming them. It’s all about creating a uniform scoring system!
With Enthu.AI you can maintain all the calibration sessions at one place.
6. Run weekly calibration sessions
Timely feedback is key to improving agent performance.
Offering feedback within 24–48 hours of the call helps agents recall specific details, making it more effective.
The quicker you address areas for improvement, the faster agents can correct mistakes before they turn into habits.
This not only boosts performance but also shows agents that their growth is a priority.
Aim to deliver feedback within a day or two to keep the momentum going and ensure the corrections are fresh in their minds.
Timely feedback equals better results!
At Enthu.AI, agents can accept or reject feedback through a shared form, giving them the opportunity to challenge and clarify if they believe something is incorrect.
7. Leverage call recordings for training
Call recordings are a goldmine for training and development.
By listening to both positive and negative calls, agents can identify their strengths and areas for improvement.
This hands-on approach allows them to learn from real-world scenarios, making it easier to internalize best practices.
Use these recordings during coaching sessions to walk agents through their calls and provide specific feedback.
It’s also helpful to compare different agents’ calls to highlight what works and what doesn’t.
Real-time examples can make training more effective and memorable.
8. Focus on coaching, not policing
Quality assurance should be about coaching, not policing.
Instead of using QA to punish or criticize agents, shift the focus to building trust and guiding them toward improvement.
Approach feedback as a collaborative process, where you work together to identify strengths and areas for growth.
Create an open environment where agents feel comfortable discussing mistakes without fear of repercussions.
This positive approach fosters better relationships, enhances performance, and ultimately improves customer service.
With Enthu.AI, coaching becomes even easier with actionable insights and a supportive platform that helps both managers and agents stay aligned in their goals.
9. Use AI to automate QA at scale
Manually reviewing every call in a call center can be incredibly time-consuming and inefficient.
This is where technologies like Auto QA, speech-to-text, and conversation intelligence come into play.
These technologies let you monitor 100% of calls.
Enthu.AI automatically evaluate each call for key metrics like compliance, sentiment, and resolution.
It helps identify improvement areas across agents without manual reviews. Ensuring every call is reviewed, reduces bias, and maintains consistency.
By automating the QA process, you save time, boost accuracy, and uphold high standards across your team.
10. Track trends, not just individual errors
Instead of focusing on isolated mistakes, look for recurring issues across your team.
Whether it’s poor greetings, missing disclaimers, or common customer complaints, identifying patterns is key.
Once these trends are spotted, you can address them at a systemic level, ensuring long-term improvements.
This approach not only resolves individual errors but also helps enhance overall call quality.
By tracking trends, you prevent problems from recurring and create a more consistent experience for customers.
AI helps highlight these trends by analyzing large volumes of calls and pinpointing recurring issues automatically.
11. Keep QA transparent
Transparency is crucial to fostering trust and engagement with your agents.
Make sure they know exactly what’s being measured, how they’re being scored, and why it matters.
For example, if your team is being evaluated on things like greeting tone, product knowledge, and compliance with scripts, explain why these elements matter to the overall customer experience.
When agents understand the criteria, they are more motivated to improve.
It’s important to explain the rationale behind your scoring system so they see it as a tool for their growth, not as a way to penalize them.
Clear communication builds a culture of accountability, where agents know what they’re working toward and how their performance impacts the team’s success.
12. Include soft skills in QA evaluation
Quality assurance shouldn’t only focus on compliance and script adherence; it should also evaluate soft skills like active listening, and tone.
These skills are just as important for creating positive customer experiences.
For example, if an agent handles a difficult customer with empathy, it can turn a negative experience into a positive one, even if the issue isn’t fully resolved.
Scoring these soft skills allows agents to understand the impact of their tone and communication style.
It also helps them improve how they engage with customers, ensuring that interactions are both professional and personable.
13. Celebrate improvement, not just high scores
Recognizing improvement can have a big impact.
In fact, research shows that employees who receive recognition for their progress are 5x more likely to stay engaged and motivated.
By celebrating steady improvements, you encourage a growth mindset.
Agents who feel supported in their development are not only more motivated to improve but are also 30% more likely to improve their performance over time.
14. Loop in cross-functional teams
Quality assurance isn’t just for the QA team—it’s valuable for cross-functional teams too.
Sharing insights with product, marketing, and training teams can help solve broader issues.
For example, if the QA team identifies a recurring issue with a product feature in customer calls, passing this info along to the product team can help resolve the issue.
This collaboration leads to more effective solutions and ensures all teams are aligned in delivering the best customer experience.
15. Use QA insights for business decisions
Don’t keep QA insights in a silo—use them to inform business decisions.
By analyzing call data, you can uncover patterns that influence the customer journey.
For example, if QA data reveals common reasons for customer churn, you can take action to address those issues, such as improving certain aspects of the product or tweaking customer communication.
Addressing recurring customer pain points identified during QA evaluations can reduce churn by up to 15%.
By using this data strategically, you can enhance customer journeys, reduce churn, and ultimately boost satisfaction and profitability.
Conclusion
QA isn’t just a checklist—it’s your game plan for success.
When done right, it powers agents to level up, strengthens customer loyalty, and helps your call center hit its goals.
So, why wait? Start mastering these best practices and turn every call into an opportunity to shine. Quality isn’t optional—it’s everything!
FAQs
1. What are the best practices for call center quality assurance?
The key is to keep things consistent and coachable. That means using a clear QA scorecard, calibrating regularly with your team, reviewing calls weekly, and using tools like Enthu.ai to track and score every interaction without the manual hassle.
2. How do you measure quality in a call center?
You can measure it in a few ways—QA scores, CSAT, NPS, sentiment analysis, and even how often a customer’s issue is resolved on the first try. Most teams also look at compliance and how well agents stick to the script.
3. Why is QA important in call centers?
QA keeps your service quality high and consistent. It helps you spot performance issues early, train smarter, and make sure your team stays compliant and focused on customer satisfaction.
4. How can AI improve QA in call centers?
AI can handle what manual QA can’t—like scoring 100% of calls. Tools like Enthu.ai pick up patterns, flag risky behavior, and help you coach agents faster by showing real call clips with issues already highlighted.
5. What should be included in a call center QA scorecard?
A solid scorecard covers things like greetings, tone of voice, product knowledge, resolution quality, empathy, and compliance. Keep it simple, clear, and aligned with what matters most to your customers and business.
