According to a Harris Interactive report, 75 percent customers believe that it takes too long to reach a live agent. It is no wonder then, that the number of abandoned calls is very high. However, the call back feature could well be a revolution that increases customer satisfaction significantly. This is a computer telephony feature that allows a customer waiting in queue to reserve his place in it by requesting a call back. When the agent becomes available, he receives the request on his screen, which he only needs to click on to initiate a call back. The customer can also request for a time of call back so that he can ensure that he is available to receive the call from the contact center. This gives the customer a fair deal of control on the interaction, thereby increasing levels of satisfaction by several notches.
Benefits of the Call Back Feature
- Decrease in Number of Calls Abandoned: Let’s face it – there will still be some calls that will be lost. Although the call center will call back at a convenient time suggested by the customer, it may still happen that there is no answer to the call. In this case, it would be counted as an abandoned call. However, even so, the number of abandoned calls decreases significantly with this feature.
- Zero Loss of Leads: In case of outbound calls, an agent will never have to lose a lead again because they were too busy to take their call in time or because they lost their contact information. There will be no need for them hunt through CRM for caller information or rummage through voice mails. The information will be right there on the screen when the agent is available.
- Increase in Customer Satisfaction: Instead of being annoyed by lengthy queues and giving up on the contact center altogether, the customer will feel valued because his time will be shown due to respect and his convenience, prioritized. This is bound to translate into higher customer retention and more referrals.
- Reduction of Call Costs: The company will no longer have to pay for the time that customers spend waiting in queue. Instead, it only needs to pay for the call time that is being productively utilised. This will prove to be a major saving in the long run.
- Increased Productivity: It helps to improve the team’s service level scores, since call back will add to the number of calls attended per hour. As there will be no need for the agent to retrace the customer information, with all the relevant information being displayed on the screen, it will save precious time. Moreover, if gamification techniques are utilised in tandem with this feature, agents will be further motivated to perform.
Coupled with this feature, the VQ Pass allows important customers to completely bypass the queue and connect directly to an agent. This allows the company to retain the satisfaction of a valuable customer and makes it known to the customer that he is truly valued.