Is your call center not performing well in terms of customer satisfaction? Then you may need to rethink how customers interact with your call center and how many customers give up and abandon their calls. Here we will look at 6 practical methods to reduce abandoned calls and increase customer satisfaction.
What are Abandoned Calls?
Call abandonment or abandoned calls refer to callers that hang up before receiving service or dropped calls. Calculating your call center’s abandoned call rate—an important call center KPI—can help you identify areas that need improvement. Callers that abandon their calls may do so because it is taking too long for them to receive support or to get a human being on the phone. A high call abandonment rate leads to low customer satisfaction. So, what can you do to provide better customer service?
Here are 6 useful ways to reduce abandoned calls in your call center.
1. Invest in a Cloud IVR System
An IVR is an automated phone system that assists a call center in managing incoming calls. The IVR interacts with callers, identifies the reason behind the call, and proceeds to help either via:
- Pre-recorded messages
- Transferring the caller to the right department
- Or sending the call to voicemail
In some cases, the IVR may even assist the caller in performing predetermined actions such as:
- Activating an account,
- Processing payments,
- Providing common troubleshooting help,
- Submitting a trouble ticket, etc.
A well-designed IVR phone system will effectively determine the purpose of the caller and assist them. This way, it can cut down the number of calls that need an agent for support. And if the IVR can’t help the customer, it can quickly forward the call to an agent. This is a good way to reduce abandoned calls.
Related: Interactive Voice Response: Definition and Benefits
2. Try Different Call Forwarding and Routing Options
Next, try different call routing options so calls go to the right agent or department and less time is spent transferring or keeping callers on hold. Some common call forwarding and routing strategies include:
- Time of day routing — route calls to specific numbers or lines during set times of the day.
- Select country routing — route calls to specific lines based on where the caller is calling from.
- Direct routing — callers select their preference of the menu provided by your cloud IVR.
- Data-direct routing — route calls to the right agent based on the caller’s data and history.
- Least-occupied routing — route calls to agents who have answered the least number of calls.
- Simultaneous ringing — incoming calls ring multiple phones or lines so no call goes unanswered.
- Failover forwarding — incoming calls are sent to the next agent in line if the first agent is unavailable.
Different routing strategies can help your call center balance incoming calls and distribute them evenly. You can even have calls made over the weekend or during off-hours forwarded to remote agents. This way, there’s always someone available to answer calls.
3. Prepare a Knowledge Base for Online Support
With everything being easily available over the internet, most customers will first try to solve an issue by themselves before they call a company. For this purpose, having an online Knowledge Base or Support section that provides assistance and troubleshooting for common issues can be a blessing.
Web visitors will first try to resolve their concerns via looking up your Support, FAQs, or Knowledge Base tools. If they are still unable to fix the problem, they can then choose to email or call your company. However, users that are able to fix the problem will not need to make the call, thereby reducing the number of calls in a queue and reducing abandoned calls.
4. Offer Multichannel Support
Another way to reduce abandoned calls is to offer other mediums of support. The Knowledge Base is one such tool. However, other communication channels include live chat, ticket tracking software, email, SMS, etc.
5. Train Your Agents for Common Issues and Large Call Volumes
Irrespective of how well you distribute your calls, if your representatives are not trained well and unable to perform under pressure, then your efforts are in vain. Take time out to ensure that call center agents get the training they need to succeed. Have refresher courses, webinars, and workshops on the regular to reinforce good habits. Furthermore, provide them insightful resources and incentives that can help them do their job well even during high volume periods such as holidays. You may even run a rewards program as well as provide quick and easy access to troubleshooting documents and so on.
6. Schedule Agents Based on Call Traffic
Lastly, study your call logs to see when and where most of your calls come in and schedule agents to tackle high-traffic periods. This way, your team is prepared to deal with the load of incoming calls while offering quick service. Plus, having more agents available during these times will help distribute calls better.
How Can United World Telecom Help?
We offer a variety of virtual communication tools specifically designed for call management. You can rely on our call forwarding options, cloud IVR systems, and rest assured that incoming calls reach the right agents on time. Improve your customer service today by signing up for our service. To learn more, call us or chat with one of our experts today!