Category: Customer Experience

We often hear that we are living in the fourth industrial revolution and many of us wonder what exactly this means. While it may seem extreme to some, when we analyse the new technologies that are now starting to fuse the physical, digital and biological worlds, it would be foolish to consider this moment in…
The post Why Customer Service Staff Still Matter in an Online World appeared first on Customer Experience Magazine.

You’ve probably heard of ‘virtual queuing‘ or perhaps heard of ‘virtual hold,’ which is a branded virtual queuing solution from VHT. But what exactly is it?
What is virtual queuing technology?
Virtual queuing technology is the colloquial name for many virtual queuing solutions offered by many of the large contact center platforms, and VHT, the only competitor to Fonolo. It’s the most basic type of call-back or virtual queuing technology you can choose.
The Benefits of Virtual Queuing Technology
Most of our content is focused on the benefits of call-backs and virtual queuing technology, so we’ll keep this as a quick round-up.
5 Amazing Reasons to Add Virtual Queuing to Your Call Center
Customers prefer virtual hold to waiting on hold themselves. Offering your customers the option of queuing virtually dramatically reduces abandonment rate.

A virtual queuing option improves customer satisfaction.
Virtual hold can naturally reduce average talk time, especially when call volume is high.
Virtual queuing is a great way to reduce your Average Speed of Answer and maintain your agreed service level

Agent satisfaction increases when you offer virtual queuing.
Our customers describe their virtual queuing solution as ‘an all-around stress reliever’ for their contact center.
Offering virtual queuing creates a premium ‘concierge service’ for your customers.
Scheduled call-backs (like Fonolo offer) are the upgrade from virtual queuing and are the most cost-effective way of managing call volume spikes.

How does virtual queuing technology work?
Virtual queuing can be initiated in several ways, but the most common is what we call ‘Voice Call-Backs’ or ‘FIFO virtual hold,’ where a caller is offered the option to receive a call-back instead of waiting on hold.
Here’s the typical virtual queuing process:

The caller is played an ‘offer message,’ which usually comes after hearing an Estimated Wait Time, and sounds something like, “Press 1 to receive a call back instead of waiting on hold.”
If the caller decides they don’t want to wait on hold, they press ‘1’ to begin the virtual queuing process.
Fonolo uses a SIP Trunk connection to step in and take that caller’s place in the queue. A SIP trunk is a very secure, direct connection that allows our little queuing bots to take a caller’s place in the queue without compromising experience or security. It also allows our bots to bypass any IVRs or firewalls — and we can use this to help you direct callers waiting in the queue.
While the customer waits, they’re sent a text message or two to keep them updated about their status in the queue.
When our little Fonolo bot reaches the front of the queue, it connects to the agent and tells them to press a button to call the customer back. That way, the customer isn’t made to wait twice.

Types of Virtual Hold
Virtual queuing can be executed in two ways: ‘FIFO’ and ‘Scheduled.’
First In First Out (FIFO)
The FIFO model is the oldest method. It provides a simple, convenient way for callers to hold their place in the queue without physically waiting themselves.
Typically, a FIFO system monitors the average hold time in the call queue and offers callers the opportunity to receive a call-back when they reach the front of the line, instead of waiting on hold.
If the caller accepts the offer, a virtual call is placed in the queue, and the caller can hang up the phone. The system monitors the call queue for virtual placeholders and automatically places an outbound call when they are near the front of the line. When the person answers, the system confirms they are ready before connecting them to an agent.
The method is called ‘caller-first’ virtual queuing because the customer is contacted and connected at the end of their virtual hold, rather than the agent getting connected and placing an outbound call to the customer.
Scheduled Conversations
Scheduled call-backs are a newer, smarter, and more powerful way to manage call volume in the contact center.
Instead of offering to take the caller’s place in the queue and inserting a bot to hold their position virtually, customers are offered a future time slot to receive a call-back. When that pre-agreed time arrives, the ACD system initiates the call-back as soon as it arrives.
Why Use Call-Backs?
There are three ways of offering your customers a scheduled virtual hold option:
Forecast-Based Scheduling
A forecast-based system is a potent tool for managing call volume surges. It relies on a robust workforce planning and demand forecasting system. This type of virtual queuing does come with the downside that the times offered aren’t always convenient for the customer.
Timer-Based Scheduling
Offering timer-based virtual queuing is customer-friendly because they receive the call-back after a set period, regardless of the queue’s length. The downside is that it can create bottlenecks if there is an unanticipated call volume spike or lack of agents to answer the call.
Calendar Scheduling
This is the most efficient system for both the customer and the call center and is the most reliable way to offer your callers the option of queuing virtually across the various channels, like your mobile app, that we all now use.
It relies on some forecasting to block out the busiest times of the day and work out how many ‘appointments’ can be scheduled throughout the day, depending on volume and the number of agents available. This type of virtual queuing also allows you to offer a call-back outside of business hours, which significantly improves the customer experience.
What’s the difference between Virtual Hold and a Call-Back?
A typical virtual queuing solution takes your place in the line. All virtual queues end in a call-back, but not all call-backs come from a virtual queue.
Call-Backs
Call-backs are what happens when a customer’s call is returned. Whether that’s from a virtual queue or a booked appointment time, it’s all a call-back.
Virtual Queuing
Virtual queuing is a catch-all term for what happens when a bot or an automated queuing solution takes your place in a call queue.
Agent-First Virtual Queues vs. Customer-First Virtual Queues
Virtual queuing systems also differ in how they connect to the customer at the end of the queue. There are two ways of connecting a caller to an agent at the end of their virtual hold time: Agent-First Connection or a Customer-First Connection.
Customer-First Virtual Hold
Contrary to its name, this is the least customer-friendly option. When the call nears the end of the virtual hold queue, the ACD places a call to the customer. When they pick up, the system validates the call and caller and then connects them to an agent.
This means that the customer is still forced to wait on hold for a short time. Companies like United Airlines choose this option because they want to save money by making you pay for the extra call time.
Agent-First Virtual Hold
Agent-first means that the call is connected to an agent at the end of the virtual hold. The agent then must initiate the call-back themselves, usually by pressing a button on their console.
The ACD then places the outbound call to the caller, who can speak to a live agent as soon as they answer the call. This makes for a much better customer experience, which is why Fonolo call-backs are agent-first.The post Blog first appeared on Fonolo.

And it is unevenly distributed.
The only way we have to understand someone else’s pain is to consider it in comparison to our own experiences. It’s a bit like our taste buds: If something is described as chocolatey, but you’ve never tasted chocolate, you have no clue what they’re describing.
It’s easy, then, to dismiss the pain that others report, physical or emotional, if it differs from our experience.
Even if you’ve never felt this particular pain, the other person is feeling it, right now. Perhaps you’ve felt the pain before and don’t think it’s that bad–your customer’s experience might be different.
You might have been insulated from fear or the trauma that has magnified the experience for the person you’re engaging with.
Even if the circumstances wouldn’t have caused you to feel this particular pain, that might not be true for your friend. And even if you can’t imagine the feeling, it’s still real for them.
Pain ignored is still pain. And pain acknowledged is a first step toward easing that pain.

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Hi all, I’m fairly new to CXM and want to expand my knowledge. I like having podcasts to listen to while I work. Are there any podcasts in particular on the topic that you would suggest? What are the experts listening to? Thanks!
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 “Love is like a rubber ball. You can drop it a few times before it loses its bounce. Trust, on the other hand, is like a glass ball…” – Anon Engaging your customers with CX-iness depends on how well you orchestrate the implementation of your Customer Experience Strategy and influence Adoption and Accountability throughout your…
The post CX-iness – What Is It and How Do You Get It? part 2 appeared first on Customer Experience Magazine.

It’s not an accident that dirt roads end up with deep ruts on them, that moguls on hills get steeper and that we find ourselves slipping back into the very things that exhaust us at work.

Once the pattern starts to be grooved, we repeat it, which only makes the groove ever deeper.

Habits are habits because in many ways, they’re simply easier in the moment.

A significant challenge in learning (as distinct from certified ‘education’) is that learning requires us to break old habits and walk away from old ruts. It rewires our instincts and helps us see the world in a new way–not just see it, but act differently in it.

It’s incredibly difficult to lever yourself out of a long-term rut. A community and a curriculum can make a huge difference.

That’s why I created the altMBA five years ago. It wasn’t designed to be a knowledge-delivery tool (the internet does that just fine, all the time, for free). It’s designed to be a habit-breaking, habit-forming, rut-reducing tool.

And the best way to break a habit is to model and then commit to a new habit.

Tomorrow’s the regular deadline to apply for the next session of the altMBA. If you’re ready to leave your rut behind, I hope you’ll consider it.

[The altMBA is part of Akimbo, which is now an independent, mission-driven B Corp. I’m thrilled at what they’re building.]

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If you want to see wisdom and maturity in action, look for someone (or a community) investing in infrastructure before it’s too late.
Part of what makes my part of the country so lovely is that the trains work, the water is clean and the health department inspects restaurants.
But for the last fifty years, around the world, few communities have invested enough to maintain the systems they were smart enough to build. Now, my block loses power for days at a time after a storm… And it’s far more dire elsewhere.
In our personal lives, we can coast on a particular credential or bit of knowledge for years. And then one day, we realize we’re obsolete. The idea is the same:
We need to plant our trees before we want the shade, and fix our systems before they break.

I just installed new smoke detectors in the house (definitely worth the hassle and low expense) and the batteries now last ten years.

There’s a little spot on the side of the detector to write the year you installed it.

I’m wondering what the person (maybe me) who changes the batteries a decade from now will think when they see “2020” written on the side.

Whatever happens over the next ten years, if history is any guide at all, the year we just finished will be mostly a faded memory.

What will matter more than what just happened is what we decide to do with where we are, daily, persistently, generously, for the next 3,650 days.

Here’s to possibility, to justice, and to betting on the future.