Using Customer Insights to Target Empathy Where It Matters Most

From its inception, Percepta LLC has specialized in creating customer loyalty to its clients across the globe. Delivered in multiple channels, speaking multiple languages, we bring first-class service across each market we support.

Briefly describe the nominated organization: history and past performance (up to 1,250 characters):

Customer service organizations commonly assume empathy training improves customer outcomes when delivered broadly. Through advanced analytics, Percepta discovered this assumption does not hold universally. By analyzing empathy-related behaviors and applying targeted training to agents with the right level of skill readiness, Percepta achieved a +9.27-point increase in Net Promoter Score, a +4% lift in Overall Experience, and a 2× improvement in demonstrated empathy behaviors. These findings fundamentally changed how Percepta deploys empathy as a customer experience lever and are consistent with broader industry empathy trends later identified by its parent company, TTEC.

Percepta's Global Learning & Knowledge Services and Data Analytics teams support complex, high-stakes customer service environments across approximately 150 automotive and mobility programs. In automotive support, customers often reach out during moments of urgency, when vehicles fail, systems are inaccessible, or charging is disrupted. Because vehicles represent one of the most emotionally significant purchases customers make, how empathy is delivered during these moments directly influences trust and confidence.

Historically, empathy development relied on broad soft-skills training and subjective quality assessments. By integrating learning science, operational call-flow design, and advanced analytics through DAISY, Percepta ensures customer-first values are not aspirational, but executable at scale.

Outline the organization's achievements since July 1, 2023 that you wish to bring to the judges' attention (up to 1,500 characters):

Percepta's empathy training initiative produced a measurable +9.27-point increase in Net Promoter Score, a +4% lift in Overall Experience, and a 2× improvement in demonstrated empathy behaviors-but only for a specific segment of agents. This result was vetted through analytics and fundamentally shifted how Percepta understands the relationship between empathy training, agent capability, and customer outcomes.

The empathy training was designed by Global Learning & Knowledge Services based on industry best practices, more than 25 years of automotive customer experience, and focused on how genuine empathy is demonstrated during high-stakes service interactions. The curriculum emphasized observable behaviors aligned to a Customer Focused Call Flow, including listening to understand, acknowledging and empathizing, reframing, setting expectations, and recapping, ensuring empathy supported progress and resolution rather than scripted language.

After the training was delivered, Global Learning & Knowledge Services partnered with the Data Analytics team to evaluate its effectiveness using DAISY, our proprietary data analytics tool. An AI-driven call rubric, directly aligned to the training's learning objectives, was applied across hundreds of automotive contacts to assess behaviors. This analysis revealed that the training was highly effective for agents with mid-level proficiency, while highly proficient agents showed minimal incremental benefit. Lower-proficiency agents also received little benefit as they require coaching and remediation beyond standard training. This insight established that empathy training effectiveness is contingent on agent readiness, not volume of delivery.

Explain why the achievements you have highlighted are unique or significant. If possible compare the achievements to the performance of other players in your industry and/or to the organization's past performance (up to 1,500 characters):

The significance of this insight extends beyond performance metrics to how organizations protect the customer experience at scale. Training investments directly affect customer access, wait times, and interaction quality. When agents are removed from the phone unnecessarily for broad training interventions, customers experience longer queues and delayed resolutions during moments when support is most critical.

These modeled economics matter because they are rooted in customer insight. Analytics clarified which empathy behaviors influence customer sentiment and which interventions meaningfully change the customer experience. By targeting training to agents whose skill development would most improve customer outcomes, Percepta ensured that empathy investments strengthened the experience for customers while keeping capable agents available to support demand.

Using a tool like DAISY enables organizations to identify teams where empathy should be strengthened and where alternative support models are more appropriate, ensuring efficiency does not come at the expense of authenticity or trust. The TTEC whitepaper, "Is empathy overrated?" highlights that customer satisfaction is driven less by the amount of empathetic language used and more by whether empathy is paired with clear action, explanation, and resolution-underscoring why empathy must be measured and applied selectively rather than universally.

Reference any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 1,500 characters):

The attached supplemental material, Empathy Training Overview and Case Study, provides concise evidence of how Percepta translated customer insight into analytics-driven action. The case study summarizes the empathy training design, the Customer Focused Call Flow, and the AI-driven methodology used to analyze agent behaviors, identify skill proficiency tiers, and measure customer outcomes. It documents the controlled pilot results showing that targeted empathy training delivered measurable improvements in Net Promoter Score and Overall Experience, validating the customer insight that empathy is most effective when paired with the right level of skill readiness.

In addition, Percepta's approach aligns with findings published in TTEC's public whitepaper, Rethinking Empathy ROI in the Contact Center in the AI Age. The whitepaper highlights that customer satisfaction is driven less by the volume of empathetic language and more by whether empathy is paired with clear action, explanation, and resolution. This industry research reinforces the significance of Percepta's insight: empathy must be measured through observable behaviors and applied selectively to improve customer outcomes without sacrificing efficiency or trust.