Call Center Management Featured Article
Improve the Customer Experiences with a Few Easy Fixes to Existing Processes
While many companies today are operating on stringent budgets and cannot afford major new overhauls to their contact center software or additional labor costs for more agents, there are many things that companies can do today that will fundamentally improve the quality of service they offer. Today, most customers identify that when it comes to a customer experience, “fast” and “easy” are what’s likely to induce them to remain loyal customers. Luckily, “fast” and “easy” are two relatively simple traits to boost in a simple review of existing contact center processes.
Map your current customer journey. Where are the potential hang-ups? Do you have too many menu items on your IVR? Is your IVR introduction too long? (No, impatient customers really don’t need to hear about how many awards you won last year or what your official customer service motto is.) What about your scripts? Are they too long, and are agents likely grinding their teeth waiting for agents to get to the point where they ask, “How may I be of service today?”
For some companies, it may help to use less stilted language in IVR and call center agent scripts, according to a recent blog post by Chuck Ciarlo, CEO of workforce optimization solutions provider Monet Software. Customers like a friendly voice, and formal tones often don’t sound friendly.
“Formal business language sounds scripted and impersonal,” wrote Ciarlo. “Try a more conversational tone within shorter sentences that get to the point. The faster callers know what to do, especially with an IVR, the faster they can conclude their business and you can boost average handle time.”
With the IVR, consider revamping the menu choices to make them simpler to listen to and simpler to choose from. Ciarlo notes that it’s human nature to “zero out” to a human being when faced with long, verbose IVR recordings. Customers want to “get to the point” faster, and to many of them, this means speaking to a human being. Boost the effectiveness of your IVR, and you can reduce the number of callers who “zero out,” potentially saving a lot of time and money.
“…By using more effective words and offering more specific options, some of these call transfers can be avoided,” wrote Ciarlo. “However, you have to give the script a chance to work. If the caller hears ‘talk’ or ‘speak’ too early in the engagement, he or she is more likely to wait out the system rather than try to get results before that.”
Ciarlo also recommends that IVR menus include a short (remember to keep it short!) inducement to customers to look on the company’s Web site. Many people today prefer finding their own answers and will do so if presented with the tools. By directing customers to the Web site and emphasizing that it’s easy to find answer, you may be able to divert even more people with routine questions away from live agent calls.
Edited by Stefania Viscusi