What are Line of Business or call centre wrap codes?

Call Centre Wrap Codes or Line of Business Codes are a list of customisable codes that are entered either during or after a call by an agent to identify the type of call to assist with detailed reporting (e.g. a sales call or service call).

The more you have the better – agents love having 100’s to choose from, NOT!

What is the maximum number of Line of Business or Wrap Codes?

The physical limit is defined by your call centre telephony platform but that’s the least of your concerns.

The more you have, the less likely they are going to be used accurately by frontline agents so the recommendation would be to keep them under 10.

It is possible to have a hierarchy of codes which can make it a bit easier for the agent to select as opposed to a long list however again, the more options you have the more likely it is that agents may not be using them correctly.

Example of a hierarchy Line of Business/call centre wrap codes

Service
- Complaints
- Refund request
- Pricing dispute
- Delivery issue
Sales
- Pool Supplies
  - Swimwear
  - Testing equipment
  - Consumables
- Camping Equipment
  - Tents
  - Solar products
  - Sleeping Bags

What do Call Centre Wrap Codes actually do?

They attach an identifier to a call that enables you to count the number of instances each code has been used.

This makes them useful for a call centre manager or business to identify the number of calls they are receiving for different issues/scenarios and use that information to help improve the call centre and the broader business.

What are the limitations of Wrap Codes?

Given call centre Wrap Codes are manually applied, they tend not to be the most reliable source of information.

And because they are so easy to implement, data-hungry management can suddenly want to measure a vast array of things so you end up with way too many codes for agents to accurately enter.

The other trap I see many call centres fall into is using them for no apparent reason.

No one everyone looks at them, frontline agents are never given any feedback on their usage of them, and the accuracy of the entry is never part of any quality check and compliance program.

So why bother?

How to improve the Line of Business Code accuracy

As I mentioned above, you can start with not having too many.

The next best thing you can do is actually provide agents with feedback on their usage of the wrap codes.

Show them the results, show them their results compared to the team average.

Find an issue? Address it with the agent and explain why they are important.

Are there alternatives to Wrap Codes?

Rather than relying on frontline call centre agents to manually log wrap codes, wouldn’t it be great if you could just analyse ALL your calls to find out what customers were calling about?

Check out Speech Analytics to learn more…

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