When it comes to waiting on hold, studies have shown that callers don’t have a ton of time to spare.
A recent survey from Arise Virtual Solutions reveals that over 65% of customers are only willing to wait on hold for a maximum of two minutes before hanging up. What’s more, over 13% of respondents said that hold time, no matter how long, is unacceptable altogether.
Read More
Topics:
customer service,
contact center software,
CRM,
contact center solution,
call center software,
customer support,
high call volume,
contact center solutions,
time in queue,
customer service team,
wait on hold,
on hold,
waiting on hold,
customer service rep
The first thing you should do to make powerful discoveries about your customer is successfully adopt a CRM system. The next step is integrating your CRM with a contact center software platform. By combining the data in your CRM with data from your call center, you can get to know your customer even better. Here are some examples of what you will learn:
Read More
Topics:
customer service,
CRM,
contact center solution
According to Contact Center Pipeline’s recent survey, the biggest challenge for today’s contact centers is high attrition rates—something that should come as no surprise when considering the average call center faces an average annual turnover rate of nearly 33%. And when asked what conditions must be present to create satisfied employees, 67% of contact center managers said relevant and sufficient training (Jabra). In fact, 41% of employees plan to leave those organizations with a training score of “poor”, as opposed to just 12% from those with a training score of “good”. So what are a few ways call centers can more effectively train and coach their employees to create a happier work environment and reduce attrition rates? Consider the following:
Read More
Topics:
call center,
contact center,
contact center solution,
agent training,
agent coaching
Each New Year brings its own set of unique opportunities to the contact center space, both from a technological standpoint as well as an operational one. And as businesses continue to adopt the latest solutions and best practices to support their employees, customers, and organizations as a whole, many continue to run into challenges piecing everything together and making good use of it all. But what are some of the challenges contact centers are anticipating in the coming months? And how can businesses more effectively manage what they have and mitigate the risk of a potential issue? Let's check out the findings of Contact Center Pipeline’s recent survey, “Contact Center Challenges & Priorities”, revealing some of the biggest challenges for organizations today—and how to alleviate them in 2016.
Read More
Topics:
customer service,
call center,
CRM,
contact center,
contact center solution,
call center software,
self-service,
agent retention,
knowledge management,
knowledge base,
contact center attrition,
SLA,
ASA,
service level,
high attrition,
attriction rate
As customer service continues to overtake price and product as a brand’s key differentiator, businesses are increasingly seeking out ways to streamline processes and implement a more customer-centric approach across their entire organization. And to shed light on the current state of customer service, Microsoft recently released the findings of its annual survey, “2015 Global State of Multichannel Customer Service Report”, highlighting the key communication trends taking place, as well as changing consumer expectations. What was revealed that is of key importance to service organizations are the 6 most frustrating aspects of a customer service experience—issues that can easily be mitigated or eliminated with the help of a few tools and procedures.
Read More
Topics:
customer service,
call center,
contact center,
contact center solution,
customer experience,
cloud contact center solution,
customer service experience,
hold times,
bad customer service,
call center solution,
frustrating customer service,
improve customer service,
cloud call center solution
The sales landscape has significantly evolved over the past few years as consumers become more informed and empowered, and alternative touch points continue to emerge. What was previously a process largely controlled by the seller, 57% of the purchasing decision is now made before an individual even contacts a business, something that has presented businesses with a number of challenges. And to keep up with the growing demands of the customers they’re serving, businesses have recognized the need to adopt a number of advanced solutions, from marketing automation, to CRMs and contact center software, in order to more effectively attract, sell, and retain their client base. So what are some of the solutions sales teams should be utilizing in 2016?
Read More
Topics:
CRM,
contact center solution,
call center software,
sales,
marketing automation,
sales best practices,
call center solutions,
sales team
“It’s not personal, it’s business,” or so the saying goes. But today, everything is personal – or at least it should be given the growing emphasis and importance on personalizing each customer engagement. In fact, a recent study by Forrester Research and Salesforce listed “Personalizing Customer Service Interactions” as one of the key trends facing customer service organizations. And with more than 70% of executives believing personalizing the customer relationship is of strategic importance, its no wonder its driving the way organizations currently target and service their customers. And there is no denying the results.
Read More
Topics:
customer service,
call center,
crm integration,
contact center,
contact center solution,
customer experience,
customer relationship,
multichannel communications,
personalizing customer service,
personalized customer service
The contact center space is changing. So what should one expect in 2015?
Continued Implementation of Self-Service: Recent studies have shown 67% ofcustomers prefer self-service over speaking to a live representative, which has its benefits when considering self-service interactions are 200-300% less expensive than those handled by a live agent. While the use of live agents is not expected to decrease, the importance and extended use of self-service is likely to be a continued theme next yar.
Growing Deployment of Cloud Infrastructures: By 2015, cloud computing spending is projected to reach 155 billion, compared to 46.4 billion in 2008. And according to DMG Consulting, cloud-based infrastructure is the fastest growing area for the call center industry, predicted to almost double between 2013 and 2015. When compared to premise-based solutions, contact centers based in the cloud have experienced 27% reduction in annual contact center costs and a 35% improvement in uptime. Offering superior reliability, scalability, and cost-savings, cloud adoption shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon and likely to continue its successes in 2014 well into 2015 and beyond.
Read More
Topics:
customer service,
cloud security,
cloud based contact center,
call center,
multichannel contact center,
contact center,
contact center solution,
remote agents,
cloud call center,
scalability,
WebRTC,
reliability,
big data,
cloud contact center,
customer experience,
self-service,
customer relationship,
at-home agents,
multichannel communications,
saas integrations,
security,
virtual agents,
personalizing customer service