Depending on the hold music, most customers can tolerate a brief wait before having their call answered. Consumers have come to expect that there will be a short delay before their query is addressed, but just how long is a customer willing sit on hold before it becomes a problem? Where is the tipping point?
As the seconds pile up, potential dissatisfaction increases exponentially. Customers won’t applaud a company for answering their call in one second, nor two seconds, but they will have a problem with wait times over 20 seconds. (The general call center standard is that good service is achieved when 80% of calls are answered within 20 seconds - perhaps an antiquated approach, but more on that another time). They might not register a complaint about the wait time, but they’ll be a little harder to please, a little harder to retain.
Your customer service representatives might be able to quash any problem, but you don’t want them to start the conversation doing damage control. The best defense is a good offense. You might have the best assembled group of problem solvers this side of NASA, but if your infrastructure isn’t working to its full potential, you’re digging a hole for your team before they even have a chance to speak with a customer.
Every call centre representative, accountant, CEO, and sales director has had to make calls as customers themselves. There is no mistaking what works and what doesn’t work. But how can you know if where you stand without in-depth reporting?
Companies need to know how long their customers are waiting, how many times they’ve been transferred, and how difficult it is to navigate through their IVR. The customer experience is everything. These statistics will evolve as customer bases and product offerings grow. A single one-time snapshot isn’t sufficient. Companies must closely follow the evolution so that they can change their infrastructure as needed before they begin to hear complaints from customers.
In order to maximize business intelligence and ensure sound decision-making, you need to know exactly what your customers are experiencing when they call, whether it’s for a purchase, for assistance or to terminate a service agreement (here’s hoping you can retain them with good customer service). The old management adage still rings true: “You can’t manage what you don’t measure.”
Tags: business intelligence, call center software, customer service, hosted call center, ivr, wait times