Chances are you’ll be getting slightly annoyed by being put on hold this long. No idea what number you are in the queue or how many more minutes you will have to wait. Let alone that you’re given another option like leaving your number to be called back later. Contrary to the messages you hear, you do not feel welcomed at all. Ignored is probably a better description.
Imagine you’re calling customer service about an issue with an order. You’re welcomed by a voice recording that says, ‘Welcome to Company X, all our lines are busy’. Then the keyboard music starts. And you wait. For at least five minutes without hearing a human voice again. Or maybe to hear the occasional recorded message saying ‘your call is important to us’ without any actual information. How would that make you feel?
Welcome, not welcome
Provide them with options
Do you know how your customers are treated when they call customer service? What is the inbound call flow like? Is there a recorded message and directly followed by music (or even worse, silence)? Do customers have to state their reason for calling via an IVR? When there is a queue, do you inform them of the approximate wait time? If the wait time is at least 5 minutes (or more), do you offer them the possibility to be called back later? Or to hold their spot in the queue but disconnect until there’s an agent ready to take their call? When’s the last time you, as a contact center professional, queued all the way through your own flow to get a full customer experience of your own service?
It’s all about perception
If you say the calls are important to you, that should come across in the way callers are treated. Research shows that just hearing music played during wait time, changes people’s perception of how long they have been on hold. Compare it to an amusement park where on busy days there are long queues to get on the rides. These parks style the waiting areas and make them as entertaining as possible so it feels like time is going by faster. And they inform their customers every now and then of the wait time from that point. Keeping customers entertained and informed, makes waiting easier. So why not do the same for telephone queues?
Create an optimal experience
The customer experience on the telephone should be in line with your brand and communication style. And with all the possibilities around these days, it’s not that difficult to make your callers feel welcome and appreciated. Even if you can’t answer right away. The options mentioned before are just a few examples and these can be combined with other technical finesse. And it doesn’t matter what call center platform you’re on. It’s always compatible. Does your inbound call flow create an optimal customer service experience?
