Look up “Call center best practices” on the web. Thousands of articles tell you precisely the same things – determining goals, hiring the right people, training and motivating them, understanding the metrics, etc. All these are very important. However, there is also another perspective on determining best practices.
Let us put it this way: all we do in a call center is interact with our clients and potential customers. So, shouldn’t their perspective be taken into consideration? Do contact center managers listen to the customers’ needs, wants, and thoughts?
Marketing guru Martha Rogers has summed up customer expectations beautifully in one line-
“People want what they want when they want it.”
Being the lifeline of a business, your customers should be the first one you should think of when considering best practices. A benchmark research report by ForeSee states the impact customer satisfaction has on the success of a call center.
- Delighted consumers are 174% more likely to contact again than less satisfied customers.
- They are 154% more likely to purchase next time
- 238% more likely to recommend the company to friends and family members
So, a call center is more likely to succeed if they exceed customer expectations. And how exactly can they do it? Let’s find out:
Top 3 Customer-Inspired Best Practices for the Contact Center
1. Share Information:
Customers get irritated when information given to the IVR (such as -account number, name, etc.) is lost once their call is transferred to an agent. And they have to repeat the information. This issue also takes place in the case of a multichannel call center.
When a customer switches communication channels, the information provided to the previous channel does not get carried to the new channel, and they must give it again. Now, that is undoubtedly frustrating.
Thankfully, with more and more call centers turning to Omni-channel, this problem will soon be a thing of the past. In the case of an Omni-channel call center, the information provided to a channel will seamlessly transfer to another channel along with other related data when a customer switches the channel.
2. Better IVR Experience:
Is your IVR system so complicated that customers must shoot arrows in the dark to reach a live agent? If yes, then you are doing it wrong. A complicated IVR is not the right way to treat your customers. It frustrates the callers and minimizes the customers’ chances of finding a quick solution to their problems.
If the customer calls using a smartphone app or web widget, a business can always allow them to use visual IVR. This will enable the customers to navigate at their own pace, find out what they want, and then contact the relevant department.
3. Eliminate Hold Time:
Long hold time is often detrimental to customer satisfaction. It makes the customer feel that their time is not respected. This upsets them. And when they reach an agent, they are already cranky and irritable. So, even a minor issue can trigger an outburst at that time.
Giving customers the option to get a call back can be a possible solution to the problem. Virtual queuing gives them the option of a scheduled call-back and allows callers to select a time that works best for them. This way, you can eliminate hold time and make customers happy.
These are possible solutions to some of the most crucial call center issues from the customers’ perspective. Thankfully, these issues can be avoided with a bit of change in how call centers deal with each customer.
