Call Recording Featured Article

Every company wants to maximize the potential of its workforce, as it all comes down to simple dollars and sense; more productive workers equal higher profits. This is especially true in contact centers, where more calls answered successfully can translate into higher customer satisfaction and retention.

Yet one simple step has been largely overlooked to date, although it is finally changing: Transitioning to text.

In a recent online piece by CustomerThink.com (CT), it was noted that research done by Harris Poll and commissioned by OneReach found that more than 60 percent of customers would rather text than call your business for support. “With texting, customers can get a faster, more efficient response to their questions,” CT said. “This value can be seen within customer communications, as well as internal workforce communications.”

But there’s also a bottom-line benefit as well. Studies find that texting has been shown to reduce call volume by 40 percent and decrease phone costs. Such calls can run between $6 and $20 per call; Text chats can cost a paltry $2 to $5 per interaction. “By offering the option to pivot to text messaging within your call center’s IVR, your company can deflect calls to a less costly channel, reduce wait times and improve self-service options,” CT said. “In fact, over 40 percent of customers would prefer to text with an agent than wait on hold.

Need more? CT listed a number of ways implementing texting can contribute to overall workforce optimization:

Respond more with fewer agents: “With text chat, agents can respond to multiple chats at once, lowering the number of agents needed to respond to customer inquiries,” CT said. Result? Lower costs.

Review transcripts: “Contact center managers as well as agents can take a look at the conversations to see if agents were brand compliant, how long the conversation took, what and more,” CT noted. “They can also review agent performance across channels and per agent.”

Guide the conversation: Your contact center can also use artificial intelligence to auto-select an appropriate (canned) response based on a customer query, again saving time and money.

“The ultimate value of using text messaging within an organization does not stop at the customer,” CustomerThink concluded. “Using text messaging for corporate communication helps drive more efficient communication within the organization and improves task efficiency in the workforce.”