Certain commentators in the customer service space have been predicting the death of the call center. While it’s true that channel preferences are shifting, it would be incorrect to conclude that the voice channel will be buying the farm anytime soon. In fact, as we’ve argued before, phone calls are still essential to the success of customer service.
It’s true that self-serve options have become more effective at handling “easy” transactions: For example, large swathes of consumers use these online interfaces to track packages or confirm reservations. This means that when customers make a phone call, their queries are typically more complex and contentious. So, the stakes are raised, and it’s even more imperative that call centers exceed the expectations of customers.
To help with this, here are five things customers want (and expect) when they phone in to a call center.
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How will technology change customer service? A common answer to this question is, “Improvements in automation and self-service will erode the importance for call centers and the human agents in them.” That answer gets reinforced every time you read an announcement from a company touting success of a new automation project. It also gets strengthened by the marketing efforts of all the vendors selling self-serve technology. However, if we adjust for recency bias and profit motive, can we still be sure this trend is real? It’s a question too important for casual conclusions.
Since the inception of the voice channel, businesses have faced and overcome many obstacles to improve the experience for customers. Yet, this channel continues to be the bane of many customers’ existence. Are businesses not sick of hearing the same complaints over and over again? Are consumers not tired of complaining about the same things? If your call center still makes customers cringe when they dial into support, it’s time to take action. If you’re a customer who assumes the experience will be a bad one, then you’re setting yourself, and the call center up for failure.
The IVR experience (“press 1 for this… press 2 for that…”) has long been part of the contact center. Although it serves an important purpose, it is universally detested. Many people see chatbots as a natural replacement for the core functions of the IVR.
Avaya’s annual customer conference (“Avaya Engage”) just wrapped up and I believe they made good use of a unique moment in their history. Under normal circumstances, this type of conference is a high pressure situation. Avaya is in complete control of the content and production so if they can’t look perfect here, that’s bad news. If there are missteps or flubbed announcements, or if the crowd isn’t enthusiastic, analysts are quick to take note and turn that into a story.
Did you know that not all call-back solutions are created equally? If you’ve deployed virtual queuing in your contact center that has been bundled alongside a suite of other solutions, you’ve probably hit the rock bottom of call-back solutions. It’s true when they say you get what you pay for, and if an enterprise solution like call-backs comes free, it may actually hinder your customer experience rather than improve it. If you feel like your call-back solution isn’t really doing much to reduce caller abandonment, lower cost-per-call, boost agent morale or have your customers raving, you might want to dig into the root causes for this.
What we know: The voice channel is here to stay (Whether or not it declines in popularity is still up for debate). But we can’t hide from the facts: 
The IVR (Interactive Voice Response) has been the bane of many customers’ existence since its inception. Unfortunately, this seemingly helpful tool has become somewhat of a nuisance for callers. From convoluted dialing options to poor speech recognition, it’s no wonder that customers are skipping this friendly voice over and trying to reach a live agent. According to 
The IVR experience (“press 1 for this… press 2 for that…”) has long been part of the contact center. It serves an important – if disliked – role as part of the process. Specifically, the jobs performed by the IVR include routing (determining the kind of agent the caller needs), authentication (establishing the caller’s identity) and, sometimes, gathering caller information.
The IVR experience (“press 1 for this… press 2 for that…”) has been part of the contact center for so long, it seems like the two are destined to be conjoined forever. But will it be so?
