Every call has revenue potential, each interaction is a valuable opportunity to develop positive brand awareness and provide the best customer service. If the company handles their customer calls in a good manner, the company has an opportunity to create an emotional impact and a long-lasting memory. One of the major problems faced by customers when contacting a customer service center is a long holding time. When customers require assistance, instead of being able to solve their problems immediately, they feel frustrated and unhappy due to the long waiting time. That’s not all. When your agents have to face these unhappy customers, this will also affect the agent’s performance as they might not be able to handle the tight dialogue professionally. Poor service can make a significant impact on the business and we all know word of mouth travels fast – one negative review travels like wildfire. One angry tweet or bad review about poor service can lose you a lot of customers. Hence, it’s important in handling this long handling time immediately.
Offering customers a call-back instead of sitting on hold is one of the most effective strategies to prevent abandonment. This strategy, sometimes known as "virtual queuing," is comparable to the take-a-number system you usually see in banks, post offices, fast food restaurants etc. Instead of having to wait on the phone, an automatic system will hold your place in line. For example, the IVR should sound something like:
“Press 1 to get a call-back from the agent”.
You’re giving back what customers value most: their time, by replacing hold time with a call-back function. This will eventually increase customer loyalty, greater net promoter scores (NPS) and general quality.
With this call-back function, the abandon rate will be lower as customers will not simply hang up on the call. This shows every call coming from the customer matters. Another tip in reducing abandon rate calls is by informing the customers of the estimated waiting time or the current queue number. This minimises customers' frustration and their urge to hang up the phone. Customers are also more likely to call during off-peak hours as a result of this strategy.
Abandonment results in more repeat calls, which affects First Call Resolution (FCR) and of course, customer happiness. Callers are more likely to hang up the longer they are on hold. Abandonment rates are a major issue for many call centers. Adding agents until the rate falls below the intended level is one approach to address this issue. However, additional staffing funding is not always economical. You’ll have a lot of excess agent capacity at other times if you staff to the peak volume. Using call-back technology is much more cost-efficient and effective in increasing the FCR rate as the most skilled agent can call up the consumer to make the encounter even more pleasant. Both of these factors work together to reduce handle time and increase agent morale and productivity.
The standard for customer service has never been greater. These heightened expectations in the call center frequently result in call abandonment. Customers, simply expressed, do not want to be put on hold. Call centers lose money on abandoned calls since they result in more return calls and dissatisfied customers. Fortunately, adopting call-back technology in your call center is a simple solution to the problem that will allow you to stay ahead of your competitors.
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