5 shortcomings of contact center solutions that can harm your Brand in 2019.

Ava’s TV underwent some technical glitch so she called up the customer care department for resolution. And here’s what happened next. Ava had to detail out every information required by the contact center executive, do follow-ups, repeat the information, hold the line for numerous minutes, and so on. Lastly, she was so annoyed that she dumped his TV.

The above incident is good enough to explain that if you are still asking for customers’ names, basic information, product details in 2019 you are ruining your brand’s reputation. According to research, around 62% of customers share their bad experiences with others (online or offline) and it takes 12 positive reviews to make up for one negative experience. Even after spending millions of dollars on advertisements, with such word-of-mouth marketing, your business is likely to go on a toss.

Undoubtedly, creating a memorable customer experience is not a cakewalk. But it is the need of the hour. 73% of buyers consider customer experience as an important factor affecting purchase decisions. So, what’s the way forward? Switching to a better contact center solution that can stop the worst experiences from happening such as.

1. Repetition of the concern

Most contact centers have different departments for handling different issues and no single executive to address the same customer’s call, time and again. This creates a messy situation for the caller. They are required to repeat their personal and product details every time as there is no history available to the next agent. This activity is time-consuming and annoying for the customer, creating poor service experience and declining business reputation.

Solution:  Such a situation arises as the agent has no history of a customer’s interaction. So, your business needs to have a contact center software that allows agents to transfer the call with complete call context in notes. This allows the new agent to start directly from where the other had left. This saves the customer’s time and makes him feel valued.

2. Long hold time to validate customers

There are times when a customer has to hold a call for long because the agent lacks proper information related to the customer’s issue. This wait time makes many customers disconnect the call even before the issue gets resolved by the concerned agent. Research by AT&T stats that 60% of the callers hang up when put on hold for more than 45 seconds and 30% of these never call back. So, you are losing on a potential chunk.

Solution: You need to have a unified contact center software solution that offers a single pane of glass view where a single agent can handle tasks of multiple departments such as billing, ticketing, etc. with superior integration.  Subsequently, this increases First Call Resolution (FCR) and reduces Average Handling Time (AHT) largely. This saves your operational cost for hiring more agents.

3. One standard agent interface for all types of business

Every organization caters to different businesses and their kind of customer issues. Here, a one-size-fits-all interface holds back agents from creating an awesome customer service experience. This is because agents are unable to view business-specific information fields. Further, there is an increase in AHT.

Solution: So, your contact center software should have a tailor-made solution basis your business need. For instance, if you own a telecom company you don’t need a field for premium and return and vice versa. This needs to be an easy task that addresses an agent’s requirement.

4. Agents moving out of context

With numerous calls coming in all day and loads of work pressure, many agents miss on the training part. Neither they mature in handling calls nor they are able to continue the conversation without scripts. In such scenarios, it becomes imperative for the organization to create agent scripts. But not everyone has a dynamic script for every function. So, with an intent to follow the static script, agents consciously or unconsciously move out of context that further annoys the customers.

Solution: This makes absolutely imperative to have a call center agent scripting tool. The tool allows you to create a series of scripts for agents and make things flow as per the customer’s response. It can be customized at any point in time. One can have multiple scripts catering to various functions. This will make the agent sound original instead of robotic.

5. IVR scripts not acted upon

Most contact centers have an IVR system to guide the customer through the process and help them land in the required department. But does your contact center have these departments or agents monitoring customer journeys in real-time? It gets annoying for customers when they choose the required option and are still being asked by agents about the concern.

Solution: Your contact center system should be responsive to the IVR script. Subsequently, it needs to automatically populate the screen with dynamic data based on IVR variables. This will save time and increase FCR. Informed agents are always likely to resolve issues at the earliest.