The first things that come to mind to handle call overloads are usually more agents and more lines. Or to outsource part of your customer service for special moments when call spikes are expected (hello Black Friday!). The more people you have to answer calls, the lower wait times and numbers will be. Sounds logical. But that won’t work in case of unexpected spikes. Plus what will you do with those extra lines in quieter times?
When things get really busy, a simple IVR saying how many callers are waiting or what the average wait time is won’t do. You need a real back-up plan with overload solutions like:
- reroute calls to other contact centers where it’s less busy
- ask callers to leave their number and be called back later or receive a text message when it’s less busy
- give certain callers a VIP-status so they can bypass the queue
- enable customers to hang up but keep their place in the queue and be automatically reconnected when they’re next inline
