Category: Customer Experience

High call volumes are three words that can strike fear into the heart of any call center professional. Without the right preparation, even the most established operations can find themselves struggling with call demand, and trying to stay afloat when faced with an onslaught of customer queries.
The occasional call spike is hardly cause for concern — however, if your call center agents are struggling to manage daily volumes, you risk a lot more than a few abandoned calls. In fact, agent morale, customer satisfaction, and other important KPIs are directly tied to your call center’s ability to successfully manage incoming queries.
As the Great Resignation continues to loom over the industry, hiring and training more agents may not be in the budget. The good news is, there are a lot of great tools and techniques you can use to level the playing field. We’ve compiled a comprehensive list to get you started – read on to learn more!
The Contact Center Guide to Managing Spikes in Call Volume
Understand Customer Behavior
Conducting research should be the first thing on your list. Gather your customer data and really dig into their behavior and expectations. This should give you a good picture of when you can expect spikes in call volume.
Ask yourself: why are your customers reaching out in the first place? Anything from current affairs to product launches to seasonal periods can trigger a rise in demand for your call center. Based on this information, you can make decisions on which types of calls to prioritize for the voice channel, and which calls to divert to other channels.
Focus on First Contact Resolution
When it comes to lowering call center demand, first call resolution (FCR) is the most important call center metric to focus on. Resolving a customer’s issue the first time means they’re much less likely to call in with a follow-up query.
Work with your agents and set expectations around providing consistent and high-quality service to your callers. This may involve more training, especially for your newer agents. Auditing your contact center tools and software can also help improve FCR.
What is First Contact Resolution in Call Center Metrics?
Prioritize Self-Service Solutions
When it comes to contact center technology, self-service solutions are the way to go! This takes pressure off your agents, lowers call demand, and empowers your callers to find the answers to their questions on their own.
Customer Portal
If you don’t have one already, consider investing in a customer portal. This is an engaging and transparent way to handle issues from your users and should allow them to view the status of their open support tickets. Since it can be accessed from a web browser, they will be less inclined to dial into your call center to follow up on their queries. It is also another terrific opportunity to collect customer data to inform future strategies and initiatives.
Interactive Voice Response
Interactive voice response (IVR) has come a long way from its early days. What started as a basic phone menu is now an advanced intake system designed to gather information and connect callers to the right agent, fast. Today, this pillar contact center technology has more features than ever, including voice recognition technology, natural language processing, and smart call routing. By using these IVR features, you can streamline the process for callers and complete each query more efficiently.

DID YOU KNOW?
IVRs are no longer limited to the voice channel. With Visual IVR, you can engage and direct your web and mobile app users to the proper channels. You can even let them schedule a call-back up to 15 days in the future, saving them from dialing into your call center!

Chatbots
Automation is an important part of alleviating high call volumes. Chatbots are a great example — using modern AI technology, they are able to help digital users with simple queries and direct them to relevant pages on your website or mobile app. This is a great way to help your call center divert less urgent calls away from the voice channel.
Knowledge Base or FAQ
Self-service doesn’t always need to be high-tech. Having a dedicated section of your website or mobile app to common questions can save your customers from picking up the phone. Make sure the information is clear and easy to find for your digital users — otherwise, you may find yourself dealing with confused and concerned callers!
Use Call-Back Technology
One of the biggest frustrations of high customer demand stems from long hold times. The solution? Offer callers a call-back before they abandon the interaction. Those who opt in will receive a call from a live agent once they become available.
Chances are that callers will be happier waiting for support without being tied to their phones. Plus, by deferring their calls to a later time, your call center can smooth call spikes and make inbound call volumes more manageable. When used strategically, call-backs become a valuable defense against high call volumes!

DID YOU KNOW?
In this study, over two-thirds of customers surveyed said they would wait up to two minutes before hanging up. 13% of respondents said no amount of hold time is acceptable.

Provide Clear and Accurate Information
Communication is the key to maintaining a good relationship with your customers. Whether you’re sending a bill or posting a tweet, your audience is listening. If anything is unclear or cause for concern, you can bet they’ll pick up the phone to get to the bottom of it.
For that reason, it’s best to keep your communications simple and easy to understand. Avoid industry jargon and use plain language. Anticipate any concerns that your customers might have and take extra care to share accurate information.
Develop and Support Online Communities
Online communities are a serious undertaking, but they can do wonders for building brand loyalty. Whether it’s an online forum or a social networking channel like Linkedin or Twitter, these platforms offer you a way to engage directly with your audience and share the latest information about your organization.
How does an online community help with call center demand, you ask? By building a brand-loyal community online, you create another alternative channel where your users can find information. Customers who champion your brand will often share their insights and experiences when others in the community have questions or concerns.
There you have it: a comprehensive list of strategies to help get call center demand under control. Stick with these best practices, and you’ll see an incredible difference in not just your performance metrics, but your operation as a whole!The post 10 Effective Strategies to Reduce Call Center Demand first appeared on Fonolo.

“As soon as possible” is a trap if you focus on soon instead of possible.

2022 saw many changes in social trends and CX. From TikTok taking over, to the Metaverse finally taking off. Social media marketing already looks very different to what it did just a few short years ago. 2023 looks set to have a lot more in store. Ready to future-proof your social media marketing strategy? Take a…
The post Which social media marketing trends will shape CX in 2023? appeared first on Customer Experience Magazine.

Forward thinking is a desirable skill for any team member. It means you are proactive; always on hand and ready to deal with tasks; you take risks; and are open to learning and growing.  When you have an entire cohort of forward thinking employees, you can achieve great things. And success should be awarded! The…
The post How to become an internationally recognised, forward-thinking company appeared first on Customer Experience Magazine.

From strikes and lost luggage to flight cancellations and delays, this year’s travel season saw its fair share of turbulence. This led many passengers to take to social media to express their frustrations. Amid these challenges, social media teams were under an enormous amount of pressure to solve an unprecedented number of cases. This, coupled…
The post The fight or flight of airline CX appeared first on Customer Experience Magazine.

The FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) in 2022 published their final rules for the Consumer Duty. This is a set of procedures that companies must have in place to meet the required standard of consumer protection and support. Many companies had to finish the Consumer Duty plan by October 2022. However, these new regulations apply mostly to retail…
The post How will Consumer Duty drive major CX shifts in the retail industry? appeared first on Customer Experience Magazine.

Sustainability is not just a desirability – it’s now a necessity. Businesses are scouring for ways to reduce their carbon output drastically. With eCommerce, using advanced customer data platforms (CDPs) to collect and manage zero-party data can be the key to unlocking significant carbon reductions. Lean marketing is becoming the buzz of the eCommerce world….
The post Putting the ‘eco’ into eCommerce with zero-party data appeared first on Customer Experience Magazine.

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No can do.

We drift.

Our standards aren’t set in stone. They change over time, often based on the situation we’re in.

This explains how cults or extreme views occur. Not all at once, but bit by bit.

Until one day, people wake up and are shocked to discover that they’re advocating for (or doing something) that is clearly wrong. It didn’t make them uncomfortable yesterday, but the reality of what’s being done is so different from the person we’d like to be that a break occurs.

The question is: If no one else was doing this, arguing for it, insisting on it–would we? Is it something you felt strongly about before the tribe and its leader took it on?

We can avoid this by staying away from institutions that profit from pushing participants further than they’d want to go on their own. If the heroes are extremists (in any sense of that word) don’t be surprised if participants are pushed to be so as well. And even more powerfully, we can remind ourselves of our first principles, about what matters more than winning or being popular.

Standing for something is a good way to avoid having someone stand on you.

What can we build for 2050?

Thirty years ago this month, I created 18 Pine Street, a series of young adult novels with bestselling author Walter Dean Myers. He was a brilliant creator and a delightful partner. The kids who bought those books are having kids of their own now, and perhaps some of the books’ ideas around identity, agency and inclusion made a difference along the way.

And twenty years ago, I produced and published Waiting for Godiva on SACD. It’s now on Spotify. It sounds even better than I remember. Beth and Michael made something magical on that single day we spent recording.

When we’re in the middle of a project, it’s easy to imagine that it’s not going to be around for decades. But every project opens doors, for you and for the people you build it for. It doesn’t matter if it works for everyone, if it’s a worldwide bestseller or on the front page.

Oceans are made of drops.