Did you know that on an average, for every 100 calls manually dialed, only 14 reach the right person? Predictive dialers can automate the handling of these failed calls, and this feature alone could lead to a 150%to 400% rise in the productivity of your contact center agents. An intelligent outbound dialer has features such as a setting for maximum call drops, automated message to a dropped call, revert on dropped calls, and setting time parameters for each call.
Customer care centers operate by the dictum that retaining a customer is more economical than getting a new one. So, there is a need for technology to gauge customer satisfaction levels, as well as a platform for providing feedback and important information, such as changes in service to the customers. This facility, when coupled with cross-selling and up-selling initiatives, the calls serves as a pipeline to future sales.
How does it work?
Implementing predictive dialing technology or the effective outbound customer care strategy involves advanced call processing and utilization of CTI technology. However, this alone will not guarantee success. The entire contact center environment, which includes people, processes, and technology, should work together as a single unit to make this happen.
Technological Considerations
Implementing outbound customer service should focus on some primary components, such as:
- Routing calls to and from the agents via a high-speed telephone switch.
- A server or CPU for executing the programs, dialer software and data to be transformed.
- Gauging productivity of the contact center with a workforce management system that monitors and reports the performance level of agents.
- Need for data networks to provide relevant information to the agents.
Other important aspects include:
The foundation of any outbound call management system is the pacing algorithm that controls the dialing rate. Here are some other considerations that are crucial:
- To maximize and optimize the agent’s talk time, they should have higher control over nuisance or abandoned calls. The features that enhance an agent’s productivity and drive customer engagement include high-speed voice detection and precision answering machine detection.
- The auto dialer system must be able to access external databases to identify the callers before they reach the agent. This can be achieved either by using Automatic Number Identification (ANI) or Dialed Number Information Service (DNIS).
- For exceptional database capability; a database support must include the ability to handle multiple users, real-time updates, provision for connecting the caller to the most qualified agent, and should also offer support for record-query searches and updates.
- There are times when the agent may not have the required information or knowledge to handle a particular query. For such times, the predictive dialer system should have a seamless call transfer facility to the appropriate department.
- If the contact center, apart from inbound customer service, plans to offer outbound customer service as well, call-blending technology is an important consideration. The blending feature allows a single call center operation to manage the inbound and outbound functions, simultaneously. It further enhances the efficiency of the contact center by transferring agents between inbound and outbound calls, as per the call volume.
However, implementing this feature requires an enterprise-wide commitment, training, extensive planning and management.