Customer responsiveness refers to the ability of a business to identify and respond to changing customer needs. Responsiveness is to provide the information required by the customers in the shortest possible time so that they can take a step forward in their buying process. Ignoring customer enquiries and failing to meet deadlines can lead to customer dissatisfaction and prompt them to switch to your competitor’s service.
According to a report by Walker, by the year 2020, customer experience will overtake price and product as the key brand differentiator. Therefore, it is imperative for companies to emphasize on being responsive. Adapting to advanced technology solutions to cater to the customer’s demands and training the employees to deliver the highest standards of customer service are the two key factors for companies focussing on upgrading customer responsiveness.
Below are 6 points that elaborate how cloud telephony can improve customer responsiveness-
Respond to your Customers Properly with Intelligent Call Routing
A caller who just wants to ask a simple question gets annoyed when made to go through numerous menus before being able to speak to a representative. There is a need for companies to prioritize calls based on the customer’s importance. They must ensure that the customer is redirected to the most capable and knowledgeable member.
Repeat calls can be drastically reduced by connecting customers to the right agent. High priority clients who require very personalized services can be routed to subject matter experts. This leads to first call resolution and reduces escalations.
Allow the Customers to Call Anytime Anywhere
A customer might need you at any time of the day. If he will not be able to get through your phone line, it will surely make a negative impact on the brand. Implementing an IVR could be the best option to avoid these kinds of situations. It allows the customers to choose from a menu of options to get the required information. An IVR proves to be a perfect solution when the customers are looking for easy and straightforward information such as checking balance, making payments, checking current offers/discounts, confirming order status and so on. The caller can always opt to talk to a service representative if some more information is required.
If the rep is busy and not able to attend the call, the customer can leave a voicemail so that the rep can call back as soon as he is free. Calling back the customer at the earliest ensures quick responsiveness, especially if it is regarding a complaint registered by the customer.
Invest in Personalized Interactions with Customers
Cloud telephony allows businesses to easily integrate their existing CRM system with the IVR System. This makes it convenient for service reps to have all the customer details and call history in one place so that they can tailor the conversation to suit a caller’s needs. Accessing the information about the caller gives the agent an opportunity to answer the queries quickly and resolve them on the first call itself without the need to call back the customer.
Cloud telephony also makes it possible for companies to assure that the same agent speaks to the customer whenever he calls, thus ensuring continuity in conversation and avoiding situations where the customer has to repeat his needs at every call.
Use Call Tracking Feature to understand your Customer’s Needs
With call tracking feature, you can assign a different phone number to each of you marketing campaigns, using virtual numbers. These numbers are eventually forwarded to the main business phone line wherein the reps can attend the call as if it was made directly to that line. Businesses can easily compare which number generated maximum phone traffic and therefore decide which campaign is working best for them. They can extract a very detailed and comprehensive data to determine what appeals the customers and what not. The data will further help businesses to improve the effectiveness of their marketing strategies.
Lower Call Abandonment Rates with Call Back Feature
Waiting on hold for long undoubtedly frustrates the customers and leads to high call abandonment rate. Implementing callback technology is the best way to knock out the need for a customer to wait in the queue. The customer can opt out of the queue to be called back at a convenient time defined by him. This cost-effective solution saves customer’s waiting time and makes room for higher customer satisfaction and retention.
Ensure Customer Convenience with “Click to Call” and “Missed Call” Features
Businesses can increase the chances of engaging with visitors to their site by implementing a “Click to Call” widget. It is an interactive button on the web page that, when clicked by a visitor, initiates a call to a company’s representative or allows the visitor to enter a phone number to receive a callback. It greatly simplifies the calling process for customers and increases conversion rates for the company.
The “Missed Call” feature allows people to access a brand’s content for free. When a customer calls on this number, the call gets hung up and companies automatically call back or send an SMS to the caller with relevant content or to bring about a particular response.
With these cloud telephony features, businesses can quicken customer responsiveness and that too in an effective manner. So, adopt these lucrative solutions at the earliest and reach your customers before your competition does.