Why You Should Invest in Callback Technology this Year

Call centers are under a lot of pressure to deliver on consumer expectations while keeping costs contained — and that’s at the best of times. That central challenge was there even before social media, chat, and email showed up to complicate matters. Not to mention COVID-19!

Those alternate channels have taken some pressure off of voice calls, but the flip side of that is that the calls that do end up with an agent require more time and effort. And as we found out recently, the call center is crucial when a crisis hits, people still want someone to talk to.

Although many companies have got a handle on their inbound call volume, many still have long wait times to speak to an agent. If you don’t have the budget to staff up, another option you should consider is callback technology.

Replacing hold-time with a callback is the closest thing to a “magic bullet” that you’ll find in the call center world. Callbacks make callers happier, and agents more efficient. Here’s how:

Callback Technology Protects Your Brand

When it comes to consumer patience, the fuse is really short these days, especially if you put someone on hold. If hold times creep over the 5-minute mark, your social media timeline will start to show angry tweets. You might want to look up your company on OnHoldWith.com  but beware, you may be in for an unpleasant surprise.

Surveys regarding customer service complaints consistently show that “waiting on hold” is at the top of the list. Obviously, eliminating something the causes dissatisfaction will lead to increased customer satisfaction. However you measure client happiness – NPS, CSat, LTV, repeat visits, repeat purchases – you are certain to see an improvement when callback technology is place.

 

Other Reasons to Add Callback Technology

For some people, the improvement in customer satisfaction is reason enough to justify adding call-backs to your contact center.

If that doesn’t get you “off the fence”, here are 3 more reasons to consider:

1) Callbacks radically reduce abandonment rates

As hold times get longer, a larger fraction of callers will abandon, i.e. hang-up. An abandoned call can then become a repeat call — further straining the call center system — and, of course, you get a dissatisfied customer.

Callback technology reduces abandonment because, even if the total wait time is the same, a customer who has opted for a call-back is very unlikely to abandon. Our own numbers show a 98% reconnection rate.

2) Lower telco costs because you use fewer active lines

Callbacks can reduce contact center costs! When a caller is waiting on hold, there is a phone line being kept open, with per-minute telco costs accumulating. If that call is turned into a callback, the line doesn’t have to be active until the agent is available.

3) You can almost eliminate call spikes

Most call centers have some type of call volume spike. Some are predictable based on time-of-day or day-of-week. Some are unpredictable because they result from an external event, e.g. the network is down, a product got recalled, or a special promotion launched.

Call spikes present a real challenge: If you schedule enough staff to manage peak volume, you will have excess agent capacity at other times. Callback technology helps to “flatten” spikes in call volume by deferring calls — in a customer-friendly manner — till a time when there is excess agent capacity.

For more details on these reasons see:

• Why Call-Backs
• 3 Secrets to Successful Call-Backs
• The Do’s and Don’ts for Implementing Call-Backs in the Contact Center
• 7 Signs Your Call Center Needs a Call-Back Solution
• Things I Wish I Knew Before Adding Call-Backs to My Call Center

Fonolo’s Approach to Callback Technology

Until recently, adding callback technology to your call center required installing hardware or software offered by the vendor of the call-center system. For example, Avaya sells CallBack Assist for its platform and Cisco sells Courtesy Callback for its platform.

Fonolo’s innovation was to make it easy to add callback functionality to any existing call center by pursuing a cloud-based platform-agnostic approach.

 

We make it simple to use, but a lot of work “under the hood” is required to make that possible. Some of that work is spelled out in our many patents on the topic.

For more details on picking a solution, see “Make Call-Backs a Priority”. That post includes 6 key questions that you should ask your vendor before deciding.

What if Your Platform has a Call-Back Option?

Many platforms have at least some form of callback functionality. If your platform has this option, use it! By all means, you should experiment with voice callbacks, especially if there is no added cost.

But even in the case where there is a free option, the Fonolo approach has advantages. It’s tempting to just go with the built-in back feature but there are several potential downsides to consider:

• If you change platforms in the future, you will have to start over. As a bonus: having callback tech in place from a 3rd party during a platform transition is a great way to mitigate any hiccups that might occur.
• If you have a multi-site or multi-platform scenario, you will need to configure each call-back solution separately.
• If you send some of your calls to a BPO/outsourced call center, the call-back strategy won’t extend to those calls.
• If you’re looking for a feature-rich product with intelligent reporting features, turning on a module in your current platform likely won’t provide that.

Learn More

By replacing hold-time with a callback option, your callers get a more pleasant experience and the call center gets a more efficient operation. It’s a rare “win-win” for your customer service operation. Sign up for a live demonstration to learn more.