5 Tech Solutions To Improve Your Customer Service Phone Systems
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There are more ways than ever for businesses to communicate with their customers, but that doesn’t mean traditional methods are not important anymore. Although many customers will choose to contact you online, a lot of people still prefer talking on the phone. Unfortunately, many businesses invest most of their technology budget in modern options, like live chat, and they neglect their phone systems.
This is a big problem because long wait times and frustrating phone menus are some of the biggest things people hate about dealing with customer service departments. If your phone systems are outdated and your customers have a terrible experience, they are unlikely to use you again in the future.
The good news is, there are some excellent tech solutions that can improve small business’ phone systems and make the experience much better for the customer, which ultimately leads to increased loyalty and more sales. If you haven’t been paying attention to your phone systems, you should consider investing in these tech tools right away.
Remote Call Centers
Remote working practices are becoming more common in all areas of business, and they can help you improve your customer service phone systems too. Long wait times are one of the biggest issues customers have when trying to contact a business by phone. Increasing the size of your customer service team is one option, but it’s an expensive one because you have to pay more salaries and find the space to house a large team. You’re much better off using a remote call center service that can manage high call volumes when your core team is struggling. This will reduce wait times and avoid an influx of angry customers. This is a particularly good option around busy periods, like holidays, when you are expecting more calls.
You can also use remote solutions to manage calls coming into the reception. If you are a B2B company and you often get clients calling the business, it’s important they are greeted by a professional and directed to the relevant department immediately. One of the benefits of an answering service is that you can achieve this without having to take on a full-time receptionist. Using remote solutions is one of the easiest and most effective ways to improve your business phone systems.
Interactive Voice Response Systems
Most people are familiar with interactive voice response systems, even if they haven’t heard the name. A customer calls up and is presented with a prerecorded menu, asking them to choose an option from the list. This means that they are then referred to the correct department right away instead of having to speak to multiple people. Some businesses worry that this can be frustrating for the customer, but as long as the options are simple and the process is efficient, it can speed things up and the customer can get to a resolution quicker. It also prevents the issue of customers being connected with an operator that is not qualified to help them, which can be incredibly frustrating.
Automatic Call Distribution
Automatic call distribution is another simple way to reduce wait times. Calls can automatically be categorized and rerouted to a specific department, based on a number of factors. International businesses can use this to connect customers from different countries to somebody that speaks their native language, for example. You can use automatic call distribution for all sorts of things and if you already have the customer’s number on file, you can put them straight in contact with a relevant department, meaning shorter wait times and improved resolutions for the customer.
Data And Analytics
Understanding what customers are calling about and what kind of solutions they require means that you can adjust your approach to better cater to them. If a lot of people call about a specific problem, you can give your staff refresher training to make sure they are well-equipped to tackle any issues that crop up. The best way to do that is to use data and analytic tools. When choosing a phone system for your business, find one that has call recording tools so you can record the actual content of the call as well as the number of calls coming in, the length of the calls, and the different departments that they are redirected to.
By analyzing all of this information, you can gain a much better understanding of how your call system is operating. You will be able to see if calls are taking too long, for example, or whether the same customer is calling multiple times over an extended period. This would indicate that, even if you have quick response times, your team is not providing adequate solutions to customers. You can then take steps to rectify this and create a better overall experience for customers.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Systems
CRM systems are an excellent business tool that can help to improve all areas of customer service, especially your phone systems. CRM software is used to log and track all the interactions your business has with the customer, giving your employees easy access to this information when answering the phone. That means that you know exactly where the customer is in their journey and what conversations you have had with them already. Customers find it incredibly frustrating if they have already spoken to somebody and they then get connected with a different person and have to explain their issue all over again. Sometimes, they might just be calling for an update, so they don’t want to spend ten minutes telling a new person the whole story. Having all of their details and lots of notes about their case means that whoever answers the phone knows exactly why they are calling and they can give them the information they need right away. It can also help ensure that people remember to call customers back and nobody gets forgotten about, which can be disastrous.
Your phone systems are still one of the most important lines of communication you have with your customers, so make sure you invest in these incredible tech solutions to improve them. Explore a sample call center service, if needed.
