3CLogic's Contact Center Blog

Voice Remains a Key Part of the Customer Service Value Chain

For decades companies have been experimenting with new technologies (chat bots, emails, artificial intelligence) to respond more effectively to customer inquiries. However, if the recent COVID-19 events have revealed anything, it is that sometimes people simply need to talk to a real-life person. This is not only true for the current crisis but extends to any complex, time-sensitive, or personal crisis at any point in time.

According to Dimension Data’s recent Contact Center benchmarking report, digital channels (email, web chat, social media, SMS text, video chat), which currently account for roughly 35% of contact centers’ total interactions, are expected to overtake voice within the next two years. The catalyst?—the widespread adoption of Internet-connected mobile devices. Consider the following: by 2018, Cisco predicts that the number of mobile devices used by consumers will grow close to 8 billion.

An astounding 82% of today’s consumers say speed of service is the number one factor to a great customer experience. And as businesses increasingly seek ways to improve their customer service, many have turned to virtualization and self-service. Airlines use self check-in, restaurants allow customers to make their own reservations, and grocery stores have self check-out lines—the list goes on.  In the case of contact centers specifically, 62% of best-in-class companies use interactive voice response platforms in some capacity to facilitate the delivery of fast but relevant customer service.

Many company executives realize the importance of customer service to their organization. It’s no longer seen as just an outlet for customer complaints but instead a department to help ensure customer loyalty. As its core function, customer service is expected to effectively handle basic customer transactions.

Think back to a bad customer service experience. What do you wish the rep had done better? How about the best experience you had? If you’re like most people, you expect customer service to be able to quickly and proactively help answer questions and resolve issues. After all, isn’t that why they are there?

When a customer ends a call before it is answered by a live agent, the call is considered to be “abandoned”. Typically the result of long hold times, call abandonment can be a serious problem within contact centers, as it is often correlated with low CSAT scores, decreased revenue, and lost business. Consider this- more than sixty percent of consumers will hang up if their call is not answered in under five minutes, and more than eighty percent if their call is now answered in under ten. And while every industry and business is different, abandonment rates above 5% are considered to be problematic. How can contact centers decrease their call abandon rate?