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What happens when “call center solutions” don’t solve anything?
What happens when “call center solutions” don’t solve anything?
Call center solutions are designed to help improve how businesses provide phone service. But not all tools are equally effective. And they sometimes cause more problems than they solve.
A classic example of this is a badly set up IVR. This frustrates more customers than it helps. Ineffective routing, queuing, and poor data sharing can also cause problems.
This article will look at four common issues that occur when your call center solution doesn’t work as planned. We’ve also included information about how good solutions solve these issues.
Long hold times
This is news to no one, but people hate waiting on hold. Long wait times are frequently cited as the worst part of the customer experience.
But this also points to an opportunity: cutting hold times is an easy way to stand out and improve CX.
And call center software makes it surprisingly easy to reduce the time customers wait.
Call center solutions cut hold time without you having to increase staffing. And they do this in many ways.
For example, efficiency improvements cut the time agents spend on each call, enabling them to answer calls faster.
Meanwhile, self-service allows customers to get answers without speaking to an agent. This benefits these callers, who don’t have to wait, and other callers, who get help faster due to the reduction in call volume.
Virtual queuing also cuts hold time. These systems place callers in a virtual queue during busy times. Instead of waiting on hold, the caller hangs up and receives an automated call back when they reach the front of the line.
Customers repeating information
Customers dislike explaining their problems to multiple agents. This is frustrating for a similar reason to long hold time; namely, the call takes longer than it would otherwise.
Call center solutions help by reducing the need for call transfers. They route calls to the agents most suited to handle the call.
These tools also enable better data sharing across your entire system. All agents on all channels have access to the same customer information.
Here’s an example of how this helps:
Imagine the customer outlines their problem in an email before calling your business for an update.
The agent who answers the call can see the email in the customer profile—there’s no need for the customer to repeat themselves.
Likewise, if the agent transfers the customer to another department, the new agent can see the email and any further data collected by the first rep.
The result is that customers don’t have to repeat themselves, even when they speak to multiple people.
More call transfers
Enduring call transfers is frustrating for customers. And it’s easy to see why. After waiting on hold to get through to an agent, the last thing a customer wants is to repeat the process.
A call center solution helps by improving call routing. Callers are more likely to get through to an agent who can solve their problem the first time around.
Call routing happens automatically before the customer speaks to an agent. There are many ways it can work.
The system can:
Use the caller’s location to send them to the closest office
Match their number to a country and send them to a rep that speaks the right language
Match the incoming number to a number in a customer profile and route the call based on relevant data, such as account value
The best call center solutions allow you to configure your routing rules to the needs of the specific business.
Frustrating IVR navigation
Frustrating IVR navigation is another common issue that occurs due to ineffective call center solutions.
IVR is the automated system that answers your call and asks you to provide information about your problem, usually by dialing numbers.
Customers frequently complain about issues like their call reason not being listed, long menus, and having to listen to irrelevant options.
IVR systems are undergoing a big transformation.
Conversational AI-powered tools are replacing the old dialer-based systems. These listen to and process natural speech similarly to virtual assistants like Alexa or Siri.
This streamlines the IVR process. Instead of listening to a list of options, customers simply state their problems. The system takes action based on their answer.
Technology has moved to the point where it’s possible to solve many common call center issues using just software.
If your business has any of these problems, the problem could be the tech you use. Consider looking at your solution and either improving how you use it or look for ways to upgrade.
Doing this can have a significant positive impact on CX.
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