Tips to reduce call center shrinkage: II

1. Forecast down to appropriate intervals:

A particular number of agents is needed at different times of day to handle typical call volumes. This number is termed as “Base staff” and varies by time of day or day of the week. It is said to be a good practice to forecast down to about 15- or 30-minute intervals and to take into account variations in both volume and average handling time. This would help reduce call center shrinkage to a large extent.

Base staff
Base staff

2. Employ WFM application:

A WFM application with schedule adherence allows you to measure call center shrinkage at a granular employee level. It has the ability to track the exact time spent in planned and unplanned shrinkage. It can help manage shrinkage in a suitable manner in the season based environment. Moreover, it enables you to calculate the impact of absenteeism, late individuals etc on the service that you deliver to your customers.

WFM
WFM

 

3. Avoid flat lining or rounding off the shrinkage:

You should avoid flat lining the call center shrinkage across the year. Instead, consider analyzing the trends related to shrinkage. The reason being, categories such as sickness, training etc cannot always be the same every week or month of the year. Also, you need to make sure that you use decimal points and do not round off the figures in the respective calculations. This is because even 0.1% has the potential of adding up to a cost over the course of a year.

Shrinkage calculation
Shrinkage calculation

 

4. Consider individual calculations for different departments:

In a multi-department call center, shrinkage should be calculated individually rather than for the centre as a whole. This leads a better and more efficacious calculation.

Individual calculations of different departments
Individual calculations of different departments

5. Determine strategies that would reduce shrinkage for your business:

Based on the trends related to call center shrinkage and further calculations, base staff can be determined so as to facilitate a productive work schedule. Consider analyzing the data gleaned from monitoring the factors affecting shrinkage and discussing it with the entire team. Thereafter, you can determine and employ strategies that would work best to reduce shrinkage in your business

Strategies
Strategies

 

 

Importance of callback messaging for call centers

Callback messaging is a service that allows callers to leave personal contact information, either spoken or through the number pad so that an agent can call them back and they retain their place in the queue. This is very useful when call volume is high. This amazing feature offers the caller an alternative to either holding on the line or losing their place in the queue.

Call back
Call back

1.Shortens the call length:

Keeping your customers on hold for long intervals can cause frustration. They tend to loose patience with time and finally when the call is connected they often waste time complaining. Instead of starting off with the query that they called for, they angrily talk about their bad experience hence, increasing the length of the call. Callback messaging can help you start every conversation off smoothly, resulting in lower handle times.

Reducing call duration
Reducing call duration

2. Exempts call abandonment:

With high call volumes, call centers are left with the only option of telling their customers that  “your call matters to us, please be patient” so many times. As a result, they hang up the phone and abandon the call. With the help of a callback messaging solution, customers have an option of receiving a call whenever an agent is available. This reduces call abandonment to a large extent.

Call abandonment
Call abandonment

3. Deflates telecom costs:

As a matter of fact, a PSTN line is occupied the whole time when a caller is kept on hold. Often, a toll-free DID at a premium per-minute rate. Callback messaging facility eliminates the telecom costs associated with hold time as no PSTN line is occupied.

Cost reduction
diagram of slope on white background

4. Enhances customer experience:

When customers are kept on hold, they tend to get irritated and abandon the calls. Since their calls go unattended in these cases, so, this leads to bad experience. Replacing hold time with a callback enhances the experience you provide to customers, hence, exceeding their expectations.

Enhanced customer experience
Enhanced customer experience

5. Increases productivity:

Callback messaging helps make more efficient use of agents by smoothing out the peak periods. this aids in improving call center productivity and reducing the need to hire additional resources. It further lowers the number of repeat callers, hence, reducing spikes efficaciously.

Increases productivity
Increases productivity

 

 

 

Steps to design an effective quality monitoring process

Quality monitoring process aims at evaluating the agents in an effective manner. It is employed to identify the calls failing to meet predefined standards. Thereafter, you can make informed decisions to make the process better, faster and quicker. The following steps need to be followed when trying to design an effective quality monitoring process:

1. Determine and define the objectives:

The very first step of this process is to determine important goals. Once it’s done, these goals need to be defined along with intended results. Based on the goals and intended results, tasks should be assigned to the various individuals.

Goals and objectives
Goals and objectives

2. Educate the agents about the process’s merits:

When you decide to install a quality monitoring system, you may face resistance from the agents. You can combat this problem by explaining the merits. This would encourage them to support you.

Educating the agents about the process
Educating the agents about the process

3. Call selection:

Non-routine customer calls need to be selected for greater effectiveness of your QA program. These calls include the ones:

i) that were transferred multiple times

ii) those were either shorter or longer than usual

iii) that originated from certain geographies or customers

iv) that involved some particular activity on the PC screen of the agent

Call monitoring
Call monitoring
4. Conduct a monthly audit procedure:
Conducting a quality audit procedure can help examine the various qualities and skills like adherence to processes, product knowledge, call control, courtesy, empathy, accuracy, and clarity of voice. The scoring evaluation should be capable of reflecting the goal of a contact center. Moreover, scorecards or quality monitoring forms should be arranged by categories.

Call scoring
Call scoring

5. Make use of process maps:

Consider creating and documenting a process map for the call center’s quality monitoring system. The document should describe responsibilities of people, their roles, and the techniques/tools to be used. Calls recording should be employed and the agent must listen to his/her own calls from time to time to conduct a self-assessment.

Process map
Process map

 

Call recording and its significance: III

1.Enhances customer satisfaction:

The quality of interaction between a call center agent and a customer decides the efficiency of customer service which further affects customer satisfaction. Therefore, the agent has to communicate clearly, maintain phone etiquette, treat the customer with respect, maintain a pleasant tone throughout the conversation, and provide resolution to all their queries. As mentioned earlier, call recording helps management check whether an agent has efficiently performed in an expected manner or not. It helps managers to resolve customer complaints in an appropriate manner. Also, it enables the agent to play nice knowing that his / her call is being monitored.  Moreover, this forces the agent to be consistently professional in all the calls.

Customer satisfaction
Customer satisfaction

 

2. Improves security:

An appropriate call recording system can be highly beneficial to a company employing it. It helps reduce inappropriate calls and detect any security problems. It enables you to monitor employee interaction to reduce inappropriate conversations. Call recording exempts the chances of agents using the resources for personal use as it also helps to reduce personal phone calls. However, all the call centers are required to inform the customer beforehand that the call is getting recorded. This, in turn, causes the customers to refrain from using abusive language on the call. In other words,  a call recording system actually helps to keep the conversations professional.

Improve security
Improve security

3. Corporate liability and compliance:

As a matter of fact, even a simple miscommunication can lead to a potential lawsuit. So, almost all companies have the potential to face lawsuits.  Hence, a call recording system enables your company to diffuse many such scenarios. Moreover, new and old government regulations require all companies to be compliant with their business practices. So, call recording also helps to maintain compliance with all these regulatory groups. In other words, it exempts any chances of you being prosecuted or fined.

Corporate liability
Corporate liability

 

 

Benefits of using speech analytics: II

1.Deflates operating expenses:

Speech analytics can help deflate operating expenses by detecting cost savings and ways to avoid spending money while generating incremental revenue. In order to tune a speech analytics application for a specific site, a significant investment in time and resources is required. This highly efficacious technology then filters out and provides cost savings data across the board. This enables the call center owners to avoid counterproductive spending and enhance their reputation among businesses requiring call centers. Moreover, it improves customer experience.

Reduce costs
Golden coins and red arrow Graph falls on white background

2. Reduces customer churn:

Speech analytics can help businesses/ organizations to curb customer churn. The tools engaged in this process can be used to identify the factors responsible for customer churn. It provides an opportunity to all such businesses to make the changes necessary to keep customers coming back. This results in improved quality service which further improves customer experiences and satisfaction, giving customers less of a reason to leave. Also, the more information companies gather about existing and potential customers, the better they can take advantage of general consumer behavior.

Reduces customer churn
Reduces customer churn

3. Improves customer experience:

This amazing software can be used for audio data analysis. This data analysis includes:i)

i) detecting things like emotion and stress in a customer’s voice

ii) the reason for the call

iii) the products mentioned and more

With the help of speech analytics, organizations can quickly identify a customer’s needs, wants and expectations, and work to meet them. These days, more and more call centers are relying on call center speech analytics to enhance customer experience. Organizations depending on call centers to provide their customers with satisfying and fruitful interactions can actually leverage the power of this wonderful technology to take their business elsewhere by discovering inferior agent-customer synergy.

Customer experience
Customer experience

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Call blending and its unmatched benefits

Call blending refers to the capability to make outbound calls while also being able to receive inbound calls, all in one easy technologically created the system. It helps in the equal distribution of calls among the workstations in a call center. This means that all the agents have the same workload which further leads to increased customer satisfaction. These days, call blending is being used by a number of call centers to maximize the productivity of agents without overworking them. This process is entirely automatic as an agent finishes with an outbound call and becomes free, a tone will emit from his or her headset signaling that the line is connected to another caller.

Call blending
Call blending

There are a number of benefits of using call blending:

1. It increases customer satisfaction:

When you allow your agents to take both inbound and outbound calls at the same time, a number of incoming calls lowers down. This causes the workload to be equally distributed such that each agent receives the same number of callers. Since everyone stays busy and productive, the number of net calls accommodated in a day boosts up which further results in a higher satisfaction level from your customers.

Increased customer satisfaction
Increased customer satisfaction

2. It helps cut down on expenses:

Call blending enables your agents to take inbound and outbound calls which cut down your need to hire more employees. Thus, you can save on your payroll. With proper training, each agent can take on the responsibility of handling both inbound and outbound calls. Also, they can carry out the task without sacrificing the quality of customer service calls.

Cutting down the expenses
Cutting down the expenses

3. It helps accommodate customers’ needs efficiently:

With call blending each agent is provided with all the necessary information through utilizing a feature called screen pop. This enables all your representatives to respond more intelligently to their calls. Thus, with sufficient information on hand, an agent is able to accommodate a customer’s needs effectively.

An example of screen pop
An example of screen pop

 

 

 

Your guide to speech analytics software

Speech analytics refers to the process of analyzing recorded calls to gather customer information to improve communication and future interaction. The process is primarily used by customer contact centers to extract information regarding client interactions with an enterprise. Speech analytics is somewhat similar to automatic speech recognition, however, it can also be used for analyzing the topic being discussed, which is weighed against the emotional character of the speech and the amount and locations of speech versus non-speech during the interaction. The technology can be leveraged to know about cost drivers, trend analysis, identify strengths and weaknesses with processes and products, and help understand how the marketplace perceives offerings.

Speech analytics
Speech analytics

Speech analytics applications are capable of spotting spoken keywords or phrases, either as real-time alerts on live audio or as a post-processing step on recorded speech. It can also be used for categorization of speech in the contact center environment to identify calls from unsatisfied customers.

Spotting spoken keywords and phrases
Spotting spoken keywords and phrases

Call centers employ speech analytics software to identify things like the reason for the call, the products mentioned and the caller’s mood. Speech analytics software is capable of quickly identifying a customer’s needs, wants and expectations if used efficaciously. Moreover, it also helps in identifying areas that need improvement for agents and the business.

Speech recognition for call centers
Speech recognition for call centers

Speech analytics software can also be used to monitor and coach agents. It can further be used for assisting in managing customers and their data. In the case of call monitoring, speech analytics software can help identify selling opportunities and track script adherence and regulatory compliance. When inculcated in the training module, this software can help to improve first call resolution and shorten call times. Operational and performance issues can be found and managed effectively through customer as well as agent monitoring.

Training agents
Training agents

 

Tactics to reduce your call abandon rate: V

1. Provide your agents with the right tools:

The tools that you provide to your agents play a crucial role in deciding the quality of their service. In certain scenarios where the agents are provided with complex tools, that they are unable to use appropriately, they take much more time than expected to handle calls. This affects the quality of customer service and boosts the call abandon rates. Thus, instead of using five different tools which are for free, consider having a developer create one tool that incorporates all the five tools and is easy to use as well. This will help increase your agents’ efficiency and ultimately lower the call abandon rates.

Providing the right tools
Providing the right tools

2. Find the appropriate agents: 

Finding the right people to do work can help assure that calls would be handled quite nicely. With all the calls handled well, the time spent on one call should be short and there would be a lot less number in the queue. Thereafter assigning the respective tasks to the appropriate agents will help you be sure that work will be done well and there will be minimal or no delays. This further means that the callers will not have to wait for long time intervals and their calls will be transferred to the agents as soon as possible. Therefore, customer satisfaction would be an added bonus along with a lowered call abandon rate.

Find the right agents
Find the right agents

3. Make use of the right technology:

Though there is no harm, making use of old tools and old equipments but sometimes these can run slow and affect how agents work. This can, in turn, increase the call handling time and also increase call abandon rate. So, you need to find and use the best, fastest and most efficacious technology. An upgraded, efficient technology helps a lot, especially when you are multi-tasking.

Choose the right technology
Choose the right technology

 

 

Tactics to reduce your call abandon rate: IV

1. Know your customers:

This is one of the most important and effective strategies when trying to reduce your call abandon rate. In order to be able to provide your customers with good messages, good music, and everything else that would help you improve your call abandon rate, you need to know them thoroughly. Therefore, you need to go above and beyond to get the information that you would need to further improve your queue message, on- hold music etc.

Know your customers
Know your customers

2. Keep yourself updated with the latest trends:

In order to effectively reduce your call abandon rate, you need to keep yourself updated with new trends being used in the world of customer service. You need to be aware of the new trends in providing service. Moreover, you need to figure out those specific days of the week when there are a lot more calls as compared to other days. Once you have figured out the busiest days, take measures to lessen the burden and increase the call center’s capacity for those particular days. This would help lessen the call abandon rate and give your business more positive reviews from customers.

Keeping updated with the trends
Keeping updated with the trends

3. Train your agents appropriately:

Consistent training sessions should be held to improve the efficiency of training agents. They should be trained to handle even the worst of all customers. This would help you keep them updated with the latest trends and make them learn about the advancements in the technology. Moreover, these training sessions would help them perform better even during times when they are too pressured and stressed out. When trained appropriately, these agents can easily handle calls and provide solutions that are needed by the customers. This would effectively improve the quality of customer service and lower the call abandon rate.

Training your agents
Training your agents

Tactics to reduce your call abandon rate: III

1. Offer a callback facility:

In order to reduce the call abandon rate, you can consider replacing hold time with a callback. According to research conducted by Forrester, providing the customers with an option to hold their place in the queue and go on to do something else is highly appealing, with 75% stating a preference for it. Therefore, instead of asking your customers to wait on hold allow them to request for a callback. This will lead to the customer being immediately released from the waiting list. Thereafter, he can be given a callback as soon as an appropriate agent is available. Apart from lowering the call abandon rate it also leads to an increased first call resolution, thus benefiting the organization.

Call back facility
Call back facility

2. Employ omni- communication channel:

This is yet another tactic that can effectively reduce your call abandon rate. Omni-channel communication channel refers to various channels of support other than the phone. Employing omni-channel communication channel would definitely lower the burden and reduce call abandonment. You must consider adopting omni-channel communication to provide a consistent experience to your customers across channels.

Omni communication channel
Omni communication channel

3. Consider changing your on-hold music:

According to a research has shown that 71% of customers like to listen to music while they are on hold. Therefore, your choice of music plays a crucial role in maintaining the customers’ patience. As a matter of fact, the music played at the time of hold could be causing the callers to hang up the phone. Therefore, you need to check the analytics and see when the maximum drop-offs occur. In case it is after the music starts playing then consider replacing it with the customer’s choice of music. This can be done by asking the customers’ feedback about the on-hold music on social media sites. Based on their consensus, the required modifications can be made.

On-hold music
On-hold music

4. Change your queue message:

Customers tend to learn your queued messages when they call frequently. So, they tend to skip the instructions and directly press the required numbers as they memorize the sequence. This causes problems. Thus you can consider changing your queued messages consistently. This will help buy the agents time to finish up on earlier calls. Therefore, by the time the call goes through, there would be a lot less waiting time for the new ones.

Queued messages

Tactics to reduce your call abandon rate: II

1. Leverage CDR systems:

You can leverage CDRs i.e. call detail report systems to effectively improve the customer experience and lower your abandon rate. The call detail report systems capture information about which line a call came in on, the time it came through, how long the customer was on hold for, and which agent they eventually spoke to. It also lets you know if they hung up before being connected.

CDR
CDR

2. Manage the call queue efficiently:

Managing your call queue is a clever tactic of reducing the abandon rate. You can leverage these call detail reports to gain insight into your calls including the ones that never got answered. By knowing the KPIs such as who abandoned a call, when they called you, and how long they waited before hanging up, you can make informed decisions regarding problem resolution. Since it provides you a detailed understanding of your callers’ patience, so you can actually employ this information to improve the customer service.

KPIs
KPIs

3. Consider changing your welcome messages:

You can consider replacing the generic messages with a short welcome message which informs your customers that they are being held in a queue. As an alternative, you can also include a compliance message such as “all calls are being monitored for compliance purposes”. Also, providing them additional information will keep them on the line for longer, increasing the chance that they will get through to one of your agents.

Welcome message
Welcome message

4. Alter the frequency of queued messages:

As a matter of fact, callers would much prefer to hear music until they get through to an agent. Since in most cases, the callers get occupied with additional while they are kept on hold, every repetition of the message will draw them away from their activity, hopeful that their call has finally been answered, only to find out that they are still on hold. So, you can consider alternating between automated messages and hold music with varying intervals. As an example, you can first play the automated message and then play the hold music for 1 minute. This can be followed by another automated message and then the hold music being played for two minutes and so on.

In-queue messages
In-queue messages

 

 

 

 

 

Tactics to reduce your call abandon rate : I

As a matter of fact, callers do not like to be on hold for a long time and agents do not enjoy talking to callers who have been on hold. Bu8t these things occur quite often. According to a research, call abandonment is on the rise, as call centers are being asked to do more with less while facing increasing call volumes (growing at 20% per year). Moreover, each abandoned call reduces first call resolution (FCR) rates and leads to customer service inefficiency. This further means that a high abandon rate is a sure sign of caller frustration.

Call abandonment
Call abandonment

In order to deliver an exceptional customer service, consider lowering abandon rates as it lowers costs, improves customer satisfaction and experience. Here are a few strategies that can be employed to lower the abandon rates:

1. Consider increasing the capacity:

This is the simplest way to improve your call abandon rates. This will help in reducing or eliminating the number of customers that have to wait. Therefore, you should consider increasing the number of staff that you employ. As an alternative, you can also consider making changes to your scheduling or reducing your average handling time.

Increasing capacity
Increasing capacity

2. Be honest to your customers:

In cases where hold-times are an issue, consider preparing customers by placing a message in the interactive voice response system or automatic call distribution system. This will inhibit a sense of loyalty as you will be honestly informing them of estimated wait times. This will lower their desire to abandon the call and encourage customers to call during off-peak periods.

Estimated wait time
Estimated wait time

3. Increase your ring time:

Another useful tactic to reduce abandon rate is increasing your ring time, rather than clicking straight through to an automated message. This will help you gain vital extra seconds at a low risk. People are less likely to abandon calls at such instances because listening to the repetitive ringing sound is a familiar experience for most people and is less likely to irritate them.

Increase ring time
Increase ring time

 

 

 

Strategies to improve first call resolution stats: III

1. Avoid conflicting metrics:

Call centers make use of a number of metrics to determine quality and profitability.  Some of these metrics are business oriented and others are customer oriented. In order to boost the first call resolution stats, the metrics provided by the call center should be clear enough in order to avoid any confusion. Let’s take an example of conflicting metrics: If the focus is on reducing the time per call the call centers might find FCR rates falling as agents would be looking to wrap up the call as soon as possible, irrespective of the customer issues. Thus, the call center metrics should be exempted of all sorts of confusions.

Call center metrics
Call center metrics

2. Make use of agent feedback:

Agent feedback is yet another tactic of improving first call resolution stats. This requires instituting a system of soliciting feedback from your agents. Since they deal with customers all day long, they can provide insights on what changes can be made to improve FCR rate. These agent feedbacks can be used to ask about workflow, systems and processes that need to be tweaked or implemented to achieve higher rates.

Feedback from agents
Feedback from agents

3. Ensure the proper functioning of your IVR system:

A properly functioning IVR system is highly recommended for improving first call resolution rates. It exempts customer frustration so that do not hang up. Moreover, this improves the efficiency of the call center system.

Cloud IVR

4. Ensure proper resource access to the agents:

There are instances where given the dozens of applications agents need to deal with on each call, they aren’t able to quickly access that information. This causes customers to be transferred multiple times which further leads to customer dissatisfaction. Another common hurdle to first call resolution is that agents are not given the authority to deal with issues beyond the basic, such as dealing with returns, offering discounts, etc. and then the customer call gets forwarded. Therefore, providing proper access to resources can help your agents work efficiently and hence increase FCR stats.

Access to required resources
Access to required resources

Strategies to improve first call resolution stats: II

1. Minimize call escalations:

In order to improve first call resolution, you need to analyze your call center communications to find out the most frequently escalated calls. Once you understand the issues that prompt these calls, take steps to minimize the escalations. These steps may include more training, larger number of self service options on the website, change in business operations. This would help increase the FCR stats as customers don’t have to call too often.

Call escalation
Call escalation

2. Make use of group chats:

Group chats enable all members of the help desk to add information about issues they might be having and they can post questions about issues they might not be familiar with.  Some of the softwares that can be used for this purpose are Google Hangouts, Lotus Notes Same time and Skype. You can leverage these softwares to boost your first call resolution stats insanely.

Group chats
Group chats

 

3. Avoid miscommunication:

Miscommunication occurs when either the customers or the agents start assuming things. As a result, customers call again as they are not very sure how the matter will be resolved. This further results in a decrease of FCR stats. So, agents have to be very careful to avoid any chance of  miscommunication. For an effective communication, customers must be made aware of all the aspects of the case so that there is no need for them to call again to confirm.

Miscommunication
Miscommunication

4. Offer incentives and rewards:

Offering incentives and rewards is an enticing method to improve the FCR stats. You can have a monthly award for the highest level of FCR and special incentives for the team if they achieve their targets. You can consider instituting incentive programs among employees who hit the requisite numbers. This incentive can be tied in with other perks and can be in the form of bonuses, promotions, recognition and more.

Incentives and rewards
Incentives and rewards

 

 

 

 

What is meant by net promoter score?

Net Promoter Score refers to a management tool that can be utilized to gauge the loyalty of a firm’s customer relationships. It serves as an alternative to traditional customer satisfaction research and is correlated with revenue growth. NPS measures the loyalty that exists between a service provider and a consumer. The provider is the entity that is asking the questions on the NPS survey and consumer is the customer, employee, or respondent to an NPS survey.

Net promoter score
Net promoter score

Working of net promoter score:

The Net Promoter Score is calculated based on responses to a single question: How likely is it that you would recommend our company/product/service to a friend or colleague? The scoring for this answer is most often based on a 0 to 10 scale. Moreover the consumers are also categorized according to the score with which they respond:

i) The ones who respond with a score of 9 to 10 are called Promoters, and are considered likely to exhibit value-creating behaviors, such as buying more, remaining customers for longer etc.

ii) Those who respond with a score of 0 to 6 are labeled Detractors, and they are believed to be less likely to exhibit the value-creating behaviors.

iii) Responses of 7 and 8 are labeled Passives, and their behavior falls in the middle of Promoters and Detractors.

NPS elements
NPS elements

The Net Promoter Score is calculated by subtracting the percentage of detractors from the percentage of promoters. For calculating a net promoter score, passives count towards the total number of respondents, thus decreasing the percentage of detractors and promoters and pushing the net score towards 0.

Companies are encouraged to follow the likelihood to recommend question with an open-ended request for elaboration, soliciting the reasons for a customer’s rating of that company or product. These reasons can further be provided to front-line employees and management teams for follow-up action. Moreover, additional questions can be included to assist with understanding the perception of various products, services, and lines of business.

An example of NPS survey
An example of NPS survey

Net Promoter System also requires a process called closing the loop. It is a process by which the provider actively makes efforts to convert a detractor into a promoter.

Converting detractors to promoters 1
Converting detractors to promoters 1

Proponents of the Net Promoter approach claim that the score can be used to motivate an organization to become more focused on improving products and services for consumers. A customer is able to leave comments in the surveys sent to them which allows a company to use the VOC (Voice of Customer) to ensure that company is meeting the expectations.

Voice of the customers
Voice of the customers

 

What is customer experience management?

Customer experience management refers to the collection of processes a company utilizes to track, oversee and organize every interaction between a customer and the organization throughout the customer lifecycle. CEM aims at optimizing customer experience through gaining the loyalty of the customers in a multi-channel environment. A company needs to create a strategy that encompasses all customer interactions in order to manage the customer experience.

Customer experience management
Customer experience management

CEM depicts a business strategy designed to manage the customer experience. Moreover, it provides benefits to both retailers and customers. Customer experience management can be monitored through surveys, targeted studies, observational studies and other such methods of research. 

CEM monitoring process
CEM monitoring process

Customer experience management can be related to customer journey mapping. Journey mapping is a design tool used to track customers’ movements through different touchpoints with the business in question. It shows the track starting from the first encounters people may have with the brand continuing through all the different route people can take through the different channels or marketing. Other strategy involved in CEM is integrated marketing communications which involves sending a consistent message amongst platforms such as advertising, personal selling, public relations, direct marketing, and sales promotion.

Customer journey mapping
Customer journey mapping

CEM holds great importance in terms of research. In order to leverage CEM, development into the conceptual and theoretical aspects are needed. The reason behind the interest in CEM increasing so significantly is that businesses are looking for competitive differentiation that makes them stand out of the crowd.  Therefore, they inculcate CEM in order to be more profitable. That is why businesses want to offer a better experience to their customers and want to manage this process efficiently. Researches prove that in order to gain success as a business, customers need to be understood. Academic research along with recognizing past customer experiences can help manage future experiences.

Businesses utilizing CEM
Businesses utilizing CEM

 

 

Benefits of automatic call distribution (ACD): II

1. Shorter response time:

One of the most important benefits of ACD is short response time. This call distribution system is highly capable of identifying VIP callers who have a reputation of high-ticket transactions. Since, the ACD system filters the calls on predefined criteria, these calls get answered more readily by the agents and in cases of non- availability of agents, VIP calls are placed first in the queue. In addition to all these benefits, a caller can also opt for a call back instead of waiting in the queue that further improves call handling.

Shorter response time
Shorter response time

2. Cost reduction and resource optimization:

In ACD, the call is transferred to the most appropriate agents such that the customer can get his query resolved without transferring him to other agents or departments. This reduces the time taken to answer a call and hence reduces cost-per-call of the call center. It enables the agents to use their expertise in solving the problems of a caller rather than indulging in activities that are outside their scope. ACD acquires usage data which enables the managers to assess KPIs and optimize resources more efficiently.

Reduced costs
Reduced costs

3. Enhanced customer contentment:

Callers hate it when their call is transferred to a number of agents with none of them having the solution to his/her problem. As a solution to this problem, ACD provides an option to receive an agent call back. This facility reduces their pain of waiting in the queue. For this purpose, pre-built messages are sent to callers with estimated wait times based on the length of the queue and agent availability. Moreover, automatic call distribution system aids in delivering highly responsive customer service that channels each contact to the right queue and agent resource and creates  better business outcomes. This further leads to increased customer contentment.

Customer satisfaction
Customer satisfaction

 

 

 

Benefits of automatic call distribution (ACD): I

So far we have discussed about automatic call distribution system, its features and its integration with the IVR technology. Apart from its mind blowing features ACD offers a number of benefits that are extremely useful in increasing the efficacy of any organization. Let’s take a look at some of those benefits:

1. Deeper understanding of customers’ needs:

Automatic call distribution system is highly efficient. However, upon integration with CRM and other communication platforms such as social media and live chat, it allows the agents to have a smarter conversation with the customer by understanding their needs thoroughly. ACD enables the entire team to view all the past communications and history of the customer on a single interface which is easy to update. This further enables call conferencing and transferring to different departments with customer’s data on their tips.

Better understanding of customers' needs
Better understanding of customers’ needs

2. Impeccable call routing:

Automatic call distribution system follows an algorithmic approach that analyzes vital caller statistics such as caller ID, area code and IVR specifications to assign the call to the most appropriate agent. This enables the contact center agents to reduce the possibility of errors, call drops and call transfer to wrong agents. Thus ACD provides an impeccable call routing or skill specific routing which improves the efficiency of the entire system to a great extent.

Call routing
Call routing

3. Improved agent efficacy:

When ACD is employed, agents are directed to handle calls  for which they are trained. Since they have expertise and the required subject knowledge to handle a customer this increases their confidence in dealing with a call and also improves their productivity. Moreover ACD provides them access to the caller’s information before answering the call, which results in a meaningful discussion. This further leads to customer satisfaction, strengthens customer relationships and increases loyalty to a large extent.

Improved agent efficacy
Improved agent efficacy

 

 

Capabilities of automatic call distribution system

Automatic call distribution refers to the process of routing incoming calls to the most suitable agent who can answer the caller’s need appropriately. Moreover, it comes pre-integrated with a Computer telephony integration technology and an IVR that provides the options of self-service and helps in reaching the appropriate department directly. ACD is a highly capable technology. Some of its capabilities include:

1. Skill-Based Routing :

Skill based routing means that incoming calls can be routed to the specific agent or department based on pre-determined criteria. In other words, the call is routed to an agent with appropriate skill-set and who can address the customer’s needs properly and efficaciously.

Skill based routing
Skill based routing

2. Quick responses to VIP Callers:

Some of the callers are regarded as high value callers based on pre-determined info. With the help of ACD, such callers are immediately routed to the most appropriate agent. In cases of non- availability of agents, they are placed first in the waiting queue.

Immediate responses to high value customers
Immediate responses to high value customers

3. Meaningful and valuable conversations with the customers:

CTI stands for computer telephony integration. Upon integration with CTI and skill-based routing, ACD allows agents to view the customer’s information such as past communications history, before they answer the call. This results in a very meaningful conversation with the customer.

CTI technology
CTI technology

4. Route calls to agents at different locations:

ACD has a provision for connecting agents at multiple locations. In other words, it can easily route calls to agents sitting at remote locations. Therefore, all the agents working in different geographies can function as a single team.

Connecting agents at multiple locations
Connecting agents at multiple locations

5. Call-back Feature:

With ACD, callers can opt for call back instead of waiting in a queue. Due to this facility, the callers do not have to wait and as soon as an agent is available, he calls back immediately.

Call back service
Call back service

6. Upgrade agent coaching processes:

Call center managers can go for call monitoring, whispering and call barging with the aid of automatic call distribution system. This can help in upgrading agents’ skills by leveraging the call monitoring facility.

Utilizing call monitoring to coach agents
Utilizing call monitoring to coach agents

 

 

Incredible benefits of IVR technology: III

1.Faster problem resolution:

IVR system offers a faster problem resolution. When this efficacious system is employed, it routes the callers to the best employee to service their needs, questions are often answered and problems are resolved in the initial attempts. This further results in an improved customer support system and contented customers.

Problem resolution
Problem resolution

2. It reduces the cost of operator talk time:

IVR helps cut down on answering service talk time as well. Using front end IVR with your answering service means giving callers the opportunity to service their own needs or promptly transfer themselves to the right person which further leads to the reduction of the cost of operator talk time.

Cost reduction
Cost reduction

3. It exempts call transfers and saves time:

Since the callers are always directed to the most capable agent or most appropriate department, so the probability of instant problem resolution is high. Moreover, the agent who receives the call will be more qualified to answer the caller’s question and will be less likely to transfer the call to another agent. Hence, IVR systems prove to be real time saviors.

Time is saved
Time is saved

4. It improves the quality of customer service:

As a matter of fact, the agents working in a company that uses an IVR are more proficient at solving specific problems and meeting specific needs of the customers that they are assigned. This results in an increase in customer service efficiency.

Improved customer service
Improved customer service

5. It boosts the inbound call capacity:

With the aid of IVR, more calls can be answered simultaneously. Unlike the traditional reception, where there is  a flurry of please holds or funky hold music while customers await transfer, IVR technology encourages a speedy problem resolution. It allows for a higher call volume and eliminates the need for additional reception staff, and its low cost means a higher ROI.

Boosted inbound call capacity
Boosted inbound call capacity