Vital tips for optimising caller experience

Introduction

A positive caller experience can be a major differentiator in reputation for businesses, and can significantly impact customer perception. Creating a smooth and accessible call experience is crucial to maintaining customer loyalty and showing that you value and respect your callers. 

Let’s take a look at some key strategies for improving caller experience, to ensure you are providing the best service possible:

1. IVR instructions

IVR (Interactive Voice Response) instructions provide callers with a structured pathway to address needs efficiently, pairing them to the right person quickly. According to Salesforce, 80% of customers say the experience a company provides is as important as its product or services. 

Therefore, by offering clear and concise prompts (for example, press one for X, press 2 for Y) customers can easily navigate their options, which in turn limits frustration, wait times and complications.

2. On-hold music 

On-hold music not only alleviates perceived wait time for customers with a pleasant auditory experience, but it also serves as a space for branding and reinforcing the brand’s values and services. Companies are able to create predefined messages which can then break up this music, on a timed loop. 

Some form of wait time is going to be inevitable, especially during busy periods, so it is important to capitalise on the time your customers spend on the phone, whilst you have a captive audience. Plus, on-hold music and messaging reduces perceived wait time by 34% (Microsoft) - so it’s a win-win!

3. On-hold messaging

Transparency is key for making customers feel valued, informed, and empowered, even in simple situations such as call queues. By informing callers of their position in the queue and their estimated wait time (e.g., ‘you are currently caller number 5 in the queue, and your estimated wait time is 7 minutes’), they can manage their expectations and decide whether they wish to continue to wait or choose a call-back (see below). 

Your messaging could also include information about the business, information about other resources available to the customer to solve their query, such as chat bots, or messages thanking customers for their patience.

4. Call back features

Call-back features allow customers to hold their place in the queue whilst going about their day. This means they do not need to be tied to their phone in the process, and are able to receive a notification when an agent becomes available. 

The customer will call the business, and then be given an option to leave the call and be reconnected when an agent becomes available, holding their place in the queue and giving them back time that would otherwise be spent listening to on-hold music.

5. Strategic call routing

Ensuring that customers are routed to the best-suited person to handle their concern is key to swift resolution time and minimal frustration. Creating a strategic call route will ensure that the most qualified person takes the call, based on factors such as skill, location, and language preferences of the caller.

Nobody wants to have to explain their problem to multiple people or departments, so consider incorporating ‘attended transfers’ when you have to pass customers between agents. The customer is put briefly on hold while the context of the call is shared, meaning the customer is greeted without having to repeat themselves.

6. Capturing insights through call-recording

In a recent blog, we spoke in detail about the benefits of call recording. Recordings can be used to monitor performance of agents and ensure quality customer service, and they can also be used for training purposes when identifying strengths and weaknesses. 

Companies can integrate CallCabinet with CallSwitch One for compliant call recording - which is important for industries such as healthcare and legal, where sensitive information can then be removed from call recordings. CallCabinet also offers sentiment analysis, helping businesses to understand customer preferences and concerns. 

7. Personalised interactions through CRM tools

CRM, or Customer Relationship Management platforms are a central resource for many businesses, where customer interactions can be captured, including previous inquiries, recent orders, and contact or account information. With a CRM integration on your phone system you can leverage this information in a number of ways. 

When calls come in, your CRM integration can trigger screen popping where caller information is displayed on-screen, helping your support team personalise their interactions, from using the caller’s name from the first greeting to seamlessly continuing resolving an ongoing issue. Alongside this, call recordings or voicemails can be stored alongside logs linked to your customer records.

77% of business leaders recognize offering personalised support experiences leads to increased customer retention (Zendesk). A personalised approach therefore fosters stronger customer relationships and helps agents to problem-solve quickly and efficiently.

8. Self-service options 

While this isn’t specifically related to caller experience, ensuring all bases are covered ultimately reduces call traffic, therefore improving call wait times and customer experience indirectly. Self-service options, such as FAQs, chabots, and online knowledge bases allow customers to skip the wait times and find answers to their queries independently. 

This reduces call volume and frees agents up for other, more complex inquiries, and also gives customers control over their experience, with the autonomy to choose the best solution for them. 73% of customers prefer self-service options for simple queries and instructions (Zendesk).

9. Capturing call-feedback 

Capturing effective call-feedback can take multiple forms, from scoring calls internally to providing opportunities for feedback from customers. This feedback is ideal for helping businesses understand the nature of their call traffic, as well as determining areas for improvement in service.

Firstly, agent feedback tools enable teams to score calls, put notes in, and apply dispositions or tags to give context regarding the call topic. This information can then be extracted into scheduled reports, so companies are able to track patterns and trends.

Alternatively, for capturing caller feedback, businesses could make use of webhooks to trigger automated SMS messages to callers once a call is ended to request information. This could be as simple as, “How did we do? Rate us 1-10.”, through to linking to detailed response forms.

Final thoughts

A positive phone call experience can significantly impact a customer’s opinion of a company, so investing in a seamless and efficient call centre operation is key to success and strengthening customer relationships. 

By implementing the above strategies, you empower customers, reduce frustration and stress, gather valuable insights, and improve performance. No matter how big or small the issue, customer experience is a key part of your business’ operations.