More often than not, phone calls are the first touchpoint in customer service. With good impressions being critical to customer satisfaction, effective call management becomes an essential part of your customer service strategy. This means keeping your FRTs low and your FCRs high.
Longer hold times can lead to loss of customers as they lose interest or become dissatisfied with poor service. The same goes for having to switch agents. Customers can get frustrated and irate, especially when asked to repeat information they have already given to the previous agent. To maintain good numbers for your First Response Time and First Contact Resolution, apply these four simple steps in identifying and routing your customer calls more efficiently.
4 Simple Steps to Better Call Identification and Routing
1. Identify the types of calls your contact centre deals with
Before implementing a call routing system, it is important to identify what types of calls your company typically receives. These call types can include account inquiries, tech support, bills and payment, reservations, applications and upgrades, order status, and other concerns your business deals with. Knowing which call types you handle the most will enable you to develop the most appropriate solutions for your call centre.
2. Implement solutions based on data analytics and KPIs
Check your KPIs, including your Call Type Mix, Peak Hour Traffic, Call Volume, Call Transfer Rate, and other metrics that affect call management efficiency. Aside from accurately measuring call types, this will help you identify loopholes, bottlenecks, and areas that can be improved to streamline your call flow. Use data and metrics to develop an action plan for implementing appropriate solutions.
3. Leverage technology to automate call identification and routing
Improve customer experiences by streamlining your call flow using automation tools. For basic inquiries, chatbots or self-service IVRs can help customers resolve minor issues on their own. But keep menus simple, so customers can easily input their information and quickly get the answers they need. For complex calls, consider conversational AI solutions, including AI-powered IVRs. For cases that require critical thinking, specialized skills, or human judgment, use automated routing to direct customers to the right agents.
4. Outsource your call centre services
While automated services can accelerate the resolution of concerns, customers still prefer to speak with humans. Live agents are still more likely to drive positive outcomes when it comes to customer service. However, if you have limited manpower and capital for equipment, an in-house contact centre may not be feasible for effective call routing and management. You may want to opt for outsourcing call centre services, especially during peak seasons when call volumes surge.
Outsourcing also ensures that customers are handled by professional and knowledgeable agents who can resolve simple calls and route complex ones to the appropriate personnel in your company. Moreover, it makes sure that your customers have access to services 24/7 even during weekends, holidays, or emergency closures.
Effective Call Management Requires Continuous Improvement
Consumer needs are always evolving, so you must be able to adapt quickly to any changes to ensure customer satisfaction. After implementing the steps to identify and route customer calls efficiently, monitor your call centre performance. Put more focus on customer-centric KPIs than cost-centric ones, then make the necessary changes to further improve your outcomes. If you choose to outsource call centre management so that you can focus on running your core business operations, head on over to https://www.oncallcentre.com/ for solutions tailored to your needs.
At On Call Centre , we deliver exceptional customer support 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year—sometimes 366. On Call Centre has been providing tailored, fluently French/English bilingual answering services and call centre services to small business owners (professionals, trades) and customer support departments (government, high tech, property management, healthcare, emergency clients) serving Ottawa , Montreal and Toronto —and all over Canada —for almost 50 years.
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