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Fonolo's Customer Service Blog

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Category Archives: Customer Service

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How to Prepare Your Call Center for Open Enrollment [Guide]

By Astrid Monge on June 27, 2019
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Healthcare Tip Sheet ImageOpen enrollment is one of the busiest and most stressful times of the year for healthcare insurance providers and consumers alike. In fact, many healthcare insurers start planning for open enrollment the minute the last season has come to a close. This is good thinking, as no company wants to find themselves getting ready only a few weeks before November 1st. Regardless, one of the main challenges during this time period is communication, with the cumulative call center volume in the federal marketplace totaling more than 14,569,000 in 2016 alone, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medical Services.

It makes sense: Customers are likely to be overwhelmed by the information they need to sift through in order to make serious decisions about their healthcare coverage. They are bound to have questions for call center agents. This, compounded by their desire to obtain the same level of customer service as they would from their favorite retail and tech brands, leads to massive spikes in call volume for most healthcare call centers. And while it might be tempting to forgo quality customer interactions and neglect the customer experience during this extremely stressful time of year, it’s of the utmost importance that call centers aim to please. After all, this is how customer relationships are made or broken.

How can your call center improve customer interactions during the most important time of year for consumers’ healthcare choices? That’s easy. In our latest tip sheet, you will learn the most important steps to take to get your call center into gear.

(Get the full tip sheet here!)

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The Lowdown on Downloads: 3 Customer Service Apps to take on your Summer Travels

By Drew Wilkinson on June 26, 2019
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The Lowdown on Downloads 3 Customer Service Apps to take on your Summer TravelsBack in 2009, Apple filed for a trademark on its buzz-worthy phrase, “There’s an app for that.” Almost a decade later, there’s no shortage of apps cluttering up the Android and Apple marketplaces. While many factors are at play here, the growth of the mobile app market has been partly driven by the fact that more and more businesses are integrating mobile apps into their customer service strategies.

When it comes to travelling, people are increasingly reliant on their smartphones. From last-minute flight changes to on-the-ground local expertise, there truly is always “an app for that.” With the Transportation Security Administration calling 2019 the “busiest summer travel season ever,” these three customer-focused apps are not only worth downloading, but can provide valuable insights into what customers expect from businesses.

 

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Fonolo Investigative Report: Hold Time in Real Time: Booking with Air Canada

By Jordan Maxwell on June 20, 2019
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Fonolo Investigative Report Hold time in Real Time Booking with Air CanadaPicture it: A young American family booking a flight to a city in another country via Air Canada. Imagine them having to wait for more than 20 minutes before a customer service agent gets on the phone, only to then be transferred to another department.

Picture this, too: Imagine trying to get a flight changed at the last minute and waiting on hold for more than 50 minutes until you finally get through.

And, imagine this: You receive a gift card for Christmas and it doesn’t work, so you have to wait for customer service to get back to you. And in this scenario, it feels like that takes days.

These three situations have all been experienced by people just like you and I looking to connect with Air Canada customer service professionals to either book flights, change flight times, or simply access information about travel requirements and needs. According to onholdwith.com, a community-driven website aiming to end hold time for good, website Air Canada is among the most notorious hold time offenders. In addition, data from the website shows a real-time view of Twitter complaints for Canada and research shows more than 119 complaints in just the last week alone.

 

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Four Reasons Why a Personalized Customer Service Experience is Important

By Jessica Suezin on June 18, 2019
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Four Reasons Why a Personalized Customer Service Experience is Important

Today’s customers are savvier than ever before and one thing many of them are looking for is a custom experience tailored specifically to their individual needs. A study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Ada showed that personalized customer service has a variety of benefits for the company providing these customized experiences. Companies with personalized customer service see a decrease in operational costs, more efficient call center agents and higher levels of customer satisfaction and engagement.

Despite the clear benefits of personalized customer service, only 5% of companies said they were implementing customized experiences regularly. With so few companies jumping on the customization train, brands have a huge opportunity to set themselves apart. Let’s take a closer look at some of the rewards you can reap by giving your customers that personal touch!

 

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4 Customer Service Books Every CS Pro Should Own

By Astrid Monge on June 14, 2019
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4 Customer Service Books Every CS Pro Should Own-450As Harry Truman famously stated, “Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.”  Wise words. Although this is true, how do customer service leaders strategically read to a) learn how to turn themselves into optimal leaders; and b) transform their teams into the high-performing customer service engines they aspire to be?

With this being the “Era of the Customer,” it is now more important than ever for customer service professionals to stay ahead of ever-changing trends in the vast landscape that is the customer service and customer experience industries. Yes, an unwavering intellectual curiosity is a must in such an industry, but as you well know, it’s not always enough. There exists a myriad of books out there to choose from, and while it may seem daunting to know where to begin, we Fonolonians can give you a leg-up.

 

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How to Prepare your Call Center for Cyber Monday and Black Friday [Guide]

By Drew Wilkinson on June 11, 2019
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While Black Friday and Cyber Monday may seem a long ways off, smart retail contact center and call center leaders are already planning for the variety of challenges this period poses. In 2018, Black Friday pulled in $6.2 billion in online sales and Cyber Monday saw $7.8 billion in sales (both record highs). Given these numbers, it’s unsurprising that calls to businesses rose more than 375% over the past two holiday seasons. While this unbelievable sales flood is a boon for a retailer’s bottom line, it can be a painful time both for customers seeking assistance and those in charge of retail contact centers.

It might seem tempting to neglect the customer experience in favor of the “just get it done” mentality that stems from such a drastic increase in call volume, it’s important that your call center aims to please during the busiest sales periods of the year. After all, this is how customer relationships are made or broken.

So, how can call centers improve customer interactions during the most important weekend of the year? Look no further … we have you covered! In this tip sheet, you’ll read about four of the most important ways you can get your call center into gear with specific action items. (Download the full tip sheet here!)

 

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Acquisitions Point to Messaging’s Future in Customer Service

By Shai Berger on June 5, 2019
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Acquisitions Point to Messaging’s Future in Customer ServiceBig question: How should text-based communication work alongside voice for customer service? In the dark ages, the only answer to this was email, in its own silo, and a call center, in its own silo. Then real-time chat came along. And then messaging, powered by massive platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp, made an appearance. Meanwhile, driving in its own lane, is good ‘ol SMS.

For now, you can find companies trying any or all of these strategies. You can read success stories in each. But, at some point, it’s likely that one of these channels will become the dominant companion to voice. By that I mean it will have enough critical mass that it’s just assumed by consumers that any large company will offer it, in the way we assume any large company has a toll-free number and an email address.

 

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The Contact Center Guide to Managing Spikes in Call Volume [Industry Report]

By Samantha Mehra on May 31, 2019
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Managing Call Volume Spikes Industry Report

Contact center managers are, at their core, problem-solvers. One of the most challenging problems they often face is dealing with unpredictable spikes in call volume. Sometimes the causes of call spikes are understood, even anticipated. Yet, in many cases, these periods of peak call volume come as a real shock to everyone in the contact center. For example, a marketing event promoting a product sale would be an easy predictor for an influx in calls, whereas an unexpected power outage or sudden bout of the flu in the contact center isn’t something that can be readily planned for. Or is it?

This guide will tackle those questions, and more, head on!  Continue reading →

4 Brands Using Cutting-Edge Customer Service Technology

By Jessica Suezin on May 29, 2019
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4 Brands Using Cutting-Edge Customer Service TechnologyWith the powerful tool of social media, customers everywhere now have an expansive platform with which to voice their feelings about their customer service experiences. This puts a huge amount of pressure on call center agents to perform. Of course, companies hope that their customers use these social platforms to sing the praises of their brand. But, of course, this is not always the case: An IBM study found that customer service operations are often both pricey and inefficient. Companies spend $1 trillion on 265 billion customer service calls each year and 50% of the complaints were unresolved.

It’s not a great track record.

 

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Success Story: How Canada’s HVAC Experts Deliver Customer Excellence with Call-Backs

By Astrid Monge on May 28, 2019
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Reliance Home Comfort and Fonolo Call-Backs Success Story Customer service is a serious business.

We know this better than anyone else: On a daily basis, we witness our customers working tirelessly to provide exceptional journeys for their own customer base. They are able to achieve greatness because of one important thing: They take service seriously, and in the long-run, this worldview results in success. Today, we bring are pleased to present you with one particularly inspiring success story, featuring a Canadian HVAC, plumbing, and water-heating service provider (and beloved Fonolo customer): Reliance Home Comfort.

Trusted by 1.8 million homeowners and businesses, Reliance Home Comfort is one of Canada’s largest and full-service providers of heating, cooling, water heaters, water purification, plumbing, and protection plans.

 

Continue reading →

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