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Tips to reduce after call work time: II

1. Use repetitive calls as an advantage for wrap time:

Repetitive calls can be advantageous for work time. Consider making a process document of common best practice call text paragraphs. These call text paragraphs can further be classified into the types of calls your agents receive. This categorized process document can then be sent to them electronically so that they can have it open on their desktop and paste across without re-writing standard advice/actions every time. Some of this text may also be useful to paste into emails which would further save their time.

 

Copy and paste call texts
Copy and paste call texts

2. Make the most out of “hold time”:

There are many instances when calls may have to be put on hold to verify some facts or to route it to another agent or to look up for a solution. This hold time can actually be leveraged to increase the efficiency. Therefore, if you train your agents properly, they may be able to utilize this time to make some entries into the call log in order to reduce the ACW load.

Hold time
On Hold 3d words for waiting for assistance, help or service with great frustration

3. Consider getting feedback:

This strategy can be highly helpful in reducing the after call work time. For this, you need to find out how useful the call text is to the people that depend upon it (other departments, levels of escalation, field operatives, etc.). You also need to know if the details that are being entered are correct or not. In case something is essential or not needed let your team know.

Feedback
Feedback

4. Review:

Lastly, review the statistics and quality of call text from a cross section of team members. Identify the good ones that could be shared as best practice. Also, make sure to identify people that continually take longer in wrap or produce poor results so as to coach them and improve their efficacy.

 

Review
Review

 

 

 

 

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Call abandonment rate and its elements

An abandoned call refers to a call or any other type of contact proposed to a call center but ends before any communication takes place. Call abandonment rate better known as “Abandon Rate” further refers to the percentage of inbound phone calls made to a call center or service desk that are abandoned by the customer before speaking to an agent.

Call abandonment
Call abandonment

Types of abandoned calls:

  • Short abandoned calls:
  • Calls abandoned in the IVR:
  • Transferred calls
Abandoned calls
Abandoned calls

Calculating abandon rate:

The mathematical formula to calculate abandon rate is as follows:

Abandonment rate % = [Number of Calls offered – Number of Calls handled] / [Number of Calls offered] * 100

There exists a revised formula for the above calculation which excludes shortly abandoned calls ( occurring due to various reasons):

Abandonment rate % = [Number of Calls offered – Number of calls abandoned in 5 seconds – Number of Calls handled] / [Number of Calls offered – Number of calls abandoned in 5 seconds] * 100

Abandon rate
Abandon rate

Common mistakes regarding abandon rate calculation:

i) Excluding short abandoned calls:

Generally, calls that abandoned in the first 5 seconds are excluded due to two reasons:

  • Customers dial the wrong number and only realize when the call is connected.
  • They dial the right number but think they may have dialled a digit incorrectly and then hang up and redial just to be sure.

ii) Failure to measure calls abandoned in the IVR:

The correct procedure of calculation is measuring the abandon rate from the telephone network side of the system and not the agent queue. But unaware of this fact, many people fail to measure calls being abandoned in the IVR. The reason being that they had chosen to only start the statistics from the moment that people left the IVR and joined the queue proper.

iii) Counting transferred calls as two different ones:

This is yet another mistake that people often make. It is not a correct method of abandon rate calculation if you count transferred calls as calls that have been handled twice.

Abandoned calls
Abandoned calls

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Top factors that cause cart abandonment: II

1. Costly products:

Extremely high cost of products is also a reason for cart abandonment. If your products are costly, people will not buy them. In other words, if you are driving up the prices, the users may look elsewhere or consider buying it for less elsewhere.

High costs
High costs

2. Discount coupons

Discount coupons may not always lead to sales because when a website has discount coupons or promotional offers, the users go in search of the coupon code and come back only if they find one.

Discount coupon
Discount coupon

3. Forced registration:

It is true that the more information you have about a client, the better you can market and deliver your products to them. moreover, registered users are more likely to visit the site again and develop loyalty. However, many commerce stores try to get this information through a forced registration. Not all are willing to register, so, the sites that do not allow the users to buy goods as guest visitors see a high rate of shopping cart abandonment.

Forced registration
Forced registration

4. High or late listed shipping prices:

In today’s era, people buy online so that they can get the goods delivered at their doorstep and also get a discount at the same time. But high shipping costs increase the price and may even drive the customers away. In many cases, websites try and get the customers interested in a product and once they have placed a product in the shopping cart, they cleverly add the shipping cost to the total cost.

High shipping prices
High shipping prices

5. Complex checkout process and lack of payment options: 

As a matter of fact, the checkout process is required to be as simple, smooth and quick as possible. Making a user fill out too many forms will make him/ her abandon the cart and leave. On the other hand, there are customers who want to buy products but are forced to abandon the carts because the e-commerce website doesn’t make provisions for their convenient method of payment.

Simple vs complex checkout process
Simple vs complex checkout process

 

 

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Tips to increase conversion rate: VI

1.Add comparison pages to your website:

This is a clever strategy for increasing your conversion rate. According to a research, people compare among providers before purchasing. So, you can benefit your site by adding product comparison pages to it. This will help increase peoples’ attention span and keep people from leaving your website. The most common way of doing this is using comparison tables. Spec based comparisons can be made using these tables or by employing other creative ideas. In case some of the specs related to your products are lower than that of your competitors’, do not hesitate to admit it. It may be possible that your support is way better or you provide personal consulting or something else. Admitting your shortcomings makes it easy for the people to trust you.

Comparison page
Comparison page

2. Slow down the persuasion process:

The biggest mistake one can make to hinder the conversion rate is asking for the sale too fast. There is a possibility that people might be just browsing and won’t be in a hurry to buy right now. So, what you need to do is, slow down. You can offer value and results in advance, way before asking for the sale. Become their trusted advisor and give them a compelling reason to sign up to your email list.

Persuasion
Persuasion

3. Strive for risk reduction:

There’s always a risk related to a transaction and if the risk seems to be big, the purchase won’t take place. In order to eliminate the risk involved in a purchase, offer guarantees to your consumers. There are a number of ways risk reduction can be achieved. 30-day money-back guarantee is one of the industry standards that you should offer. You can even offer something better than that.

Risk reduction
Close up of a yellow pencil erasing the word, ‘Risk.’ Isolated on white.

 

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Tips to increase conversion rate: IV

1. Provide proper product description:

A proper product description includes a bunch of bullet points with features along with the price. It means adding as much information about them as possible. The best kind of product descriptions includes adding pictures, videos, reviews to all of your products.

Proper product description
Proper product description

2. Ease down your process of buying from you:

An easy buying process is very crucial to increase conversion rate.  The basic idea is to make sure that people should not try to figure out how to buy from you or where to click. It should include as few clicks as possible. Always guide the user towards the action you want them to take. In case you have a lot of products, build better filters, so your prospects could identify the right one for them without spending too much time. In order to ease down the process further, ask to fill as few fields as possible and avoid asking irrelevant questions. Most importantly, do not force users to sign up in order to buy. According to the story of the “300 million dollar button” the main point for increasing conversion rate is to avoid forcing people to sign up as a user in order to buy from you. Let them check out as a guest and you will notice that it will make a world of difference.

Easy buying process
Easy buying process

3. Make the most of videos:

As a matter of fact, videos can improve conversions when used properly. But you also need to know that not all site visitors will have access to your videos as certain video players are not licensed on Apple devices, so, Flash video content won’t normally load for users with an iPhone or iPad. Moreover, depending on your industry and target demographic, the exact number of visitors could be more or less, with increased mobile use among younger consumers.

Videos
Videos

 

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Tips for growing your personal brand: II

It takes time and effort to build and grow your personal brand but it’s worth it. It’s something that can follow you throughout your career. Moreover, it lets people know who you are and what you stand for. Here are some more tips to create a strong personal brand that you can always refer to when it comes to creating materials that support your brand:

1. Strive for perfection:

Once you are done with the identification of your uniqueness and strengths, strive for perfection. Never stop learning about your area of interest, not even if you become the expert in that area. So, all you need to do is read, absorb, and teach.

Learning
Learning

1. Share your knowledge with others:

Other than carrying on the process of learning, teach it and share your knowledge. You can do this through videos, social media, and also by writing both online and offline. This not only convinces people that you know your stuff but also provides exposure to your business.

Sharing knowledge
Sharing knowledge

2. Have a clear picture of your goals:

Prioritize your goals and use your values and priorities as an asset. These priorities and values will guide you both in action and your decision-making process and ensure that you stay on track.

Setting priorities
Setting priorities

3. Design your personal brand persona:

 Your persona can be created by:

i) Identifying your emotional appeal: 

It refers to identifying your personality features and other factors due to which people are attracted to your brand.

ii) Self-description:

It indicates telling who you are and why people enjoy working with you.

iii) Identifying your specialty:

It refers to the nature of your work such as what you do and how you stand out of the crowd. Moreover, what people want you to do also matters a lot in this case.

Creating your persona
Creating your persona