We all get frustrated when we call customer service for help only to get a response of, “Can you hold for a moment?” That moment can easily feel like forever. Here are some of the worst mistakes a contact center can make – and how to avoid them.
There is nothing more frustrating than being on hold with customer service. Chances are if your contact center agents are putting callers on hold, they are bringing down your customer service.
It is understandable that contact center agents are very busy and probably have multiple calls they are attending to at one time. However, it is important to make each client feel they have the agent’s undivided attention. Although it may be unrealistic to never put a customer on hold, in their mind, it would be ideal.
Being put on hold simply translates to the realization that the call is going to take longer than they expected. To try and avoid the caller from getting upset, have your contact center agent ask themselves, “Can I sufficiently resolve the caller’s issue without having to put them on hold?” If so, instead of pressing the Hold button, have the agent talk to the caller while searching for information.
To also prevent calls from being put on hold, make sure your contact center software is up to date, so your agents have access to comprehensive information about the caller from all of your business tools available in the browser as the phone rings.
What is worse than waiting on hold for longer than a few minutes? Waiting in a call queue for a long time! It has been said that one of the most annoying phrases to a caller is, “We’re sorry, but we’re experiencing unusually heavy call volumes.” The other phrase is, “Your call is important to us, please hold.”
If your contact center has been known to have long waiting queues, maybe you should consider hiring more agents or moving around your schedule so that there are more agents on hand during the busier call times. Or, you can hire on-call agents that work only during the high call volume periods.
Another thing that can annoy callers is being unable to find an agent that can help solve their issue. So instead of being on hold or in a long queue, they are bounced around from agent to agent, with each transfer becoming more frustrated.
The only thing worse than getting bounced around is asking the caller to do the bouncing themselves. This is done by hearing the phrase, “We are unable to answer your question. Please call xxx-xxx-xxxx to speak with a representative.”
Luckily, there are ways to avoid having a caller being transferred around at all. To avoid this, consider cross-training your agents. If callers are jumping from agent to agent, it may be because your agents do not know how to adequately resolve the callers’ issues. Through training your agents to handle a large variety of questions or be able to provide support and sales, the chances that they have to transfer a caller are significantly decreased.
You can also utilize conference calls. If the agent has the ability to resolve the issue but needs a little help, do a conference call. Conference in a manager, more experienced agent or tech support agent to assist. By adding an agent to the call, you can ensure the call is more efficient and there is less of a need for the caller to be transferred around.
This can be a common, but still annoying, habit that contact centers have. Either while the caller is on hold or in a long queue, an automated recording suggests that they go to the contact center’s website for more efficient service. This is easily one of the largest mistakes a contact center can make.
They called you for a reason, and probably checked the website for help, prior to calling. Or perhaps they simply prefer the phone or have a unique question that cannot be answered via the FAQ section. The solution to this is simply don’t do it; you can mention the website as an option but do not force a caller in that direction.
To improve your customer service by leaps and bounds, check out all the contact center solutions that we offer here at KOVA. Our workforce management software makes running a contact center easy. Contact us today for more information on how we can help you avoid the above mistakes and many more.
