A Simple Solution for Better Service and Happier Agents

At the best of times, being a customer service representative can be a thankless job. During peak seasons, well, it can be downright difficult.

Call center managers are always being asked to do more with less, while having to deal with increasing call volumes (upwards of 20% annually). This often translates to an understaffed and overworked call center, which results in long hold times, high call abandonment and an overall poor customer experience.

More than anyone, it’s the front-line agents that feel the consequences. After all, it’s agents who continually experience the dissatisfaction of customers, irate at being on hold and whose expectations have not been met. This can take a huge toll on morale, leading to employee churn and … you guessed it … a decline in customer satisfaction.

So what’s the simple solution for happier agents? Give them happier customers, of course

It goes without saying that companies should focus on hiring the right agents, developing a rock star customer service team, improving their working environment and implementing the right tools. But these are all things that can only happen when companies are truly committed to customer service.

Making customers happy has to start at the very beginning of every interaction which, for most customers, is the call into your contact center. But when you put them on hold, 90% of customers will become frustrated and 60% of customers will abandon a call after one minute. An angry caller can become impatient with an agent, often complaining about their negative experience. Not only does this demoralize the agent, it actually increases the length of the call, further compounding the length of time other callers have to wait on hold.

Instead, contact centers should offer the option to receive a call-back, rather than wait on hold. It’s a win-win solution for both callers and companies. In fact, it reduces costs by making better use of agent resources and smoothing out spikes in call volume at peak hours.

Happy callers make for happy agents (which, in turn, make for happier callers, which make for happier agents, and on it goes). All of this leads to improved customer loyalty and a healthier bottom line for companies.