Tag Archives: virtual-hold

The New Customer Service Lexicon, Part 2

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The New Customer Service Lexicon, Part 2This blog series explores terminology related to customer service that is either new, evolving or uncertain. In Part 1 we looked at “Canonical”, “Chat vs. Messaging”, “Bots vs. AI” and the troublesome word “digital”. This week, we have 3 new entries below.

It’s amazing how quickly this space is moving: new channels (e.g. chat & bots), changing consumer behavior (e.g. a preference for text, venting on Twitter) and new players (e.g. Facebook and Salesforce).

To navigate all these changes, the right language with crisp definitions can help. Sloppy language with squishy meaning (intentional or not) can hurt. Hopefully this series helps to steer you towards the former! Continue reading →

How to Maximize the Benefits of Call-Back Technology

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How to Maximize the Benefits of Call-Back TechnologyInvesting in a call-back solution is a strategic way to lower abandon rates, smooth out spikes in call volume, improve the customer experience and lower telco costs. When implemented correctly, companies can quickly realize a positive ROI.

Call-back technology covers a broad spectrum. At the call center, “virtual queuing” or “virtual hold” allows callers to replace hold-time with a call-back. On the web, “click to call” or “click to call-back” makes it possible for customers to trigger a call-back, from an agent, directly from a company’s website. And “mobile click to call” or “tap to call-back” extends this same functionality to the mobile phone.

Given the many ways companies use call-backs, there’s not a single one-size-fits-all approach for all call centers. But there are a number of key ways companies can maximize the benefits of call-back technology. Continue reading →

Adding Call-Backs to Your Call Center? Choose Cloud For Max Speed and ROI

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Call Center Seats in the CloudI am often asked about how Fonolo compares with other options on the market such as Virtual Hold, Avaya’s Callback Assist or Cisco’s Courtesy Callback. The answer, in one word: “cloud”.

Over the last few years, this little term has gotten so much exposure in our industry and I worry people stop appreciating what an enormous change it represents to the contact center. The entire world of enterprise IT has been reconfigured by the emergence of cloud alternatives to the traditional model of software purchasing. Salesforce really led the charge in the CRM segment. Other segments soon followed: HR, ERP, BI, accounting, etc. The call center has been the toughest segment to migrate but, make no mistake, the revolution is happening right now. Continue reading →

Call-Backs Are a Call Center Cure-All

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Call-Back's Are a Call Center Cure-AllIf your call center has long hold times then study after study tells us that your customer satisfaction is at risk. One way to reduce your average hold time (or ASA which stands “Average Speed to Answer”) is to increase the number of agents. If you have the budget, you can always add as many agents as you need to meet a target ASA. But of course, budgets in the real world are always constrained, so this is not usually a viable solution. That’s especially true if your call center has occasional volume spikes. If you staff to the peak volume, you will have a lot of excess agent capacity at other times. (By the way, dealing with volume spikes was exactly the topic of yesterday’s webinar with Bright Horizons.)

So if you’re stuck with an ASA that’s endangering your customer experience, the best option is to give your callers the choice of receiving a call-back from the next available agent. The reaction we’ve seen from callers, when they hear that a company is offering them a call-back option is always very positive. A recent study from Forrester found that 75% of customers think the option of a call-back is “highly appealing”.

But call-backs can do much more than just ease the pain of hold-time. Here are 3 other reasons you should consider adding them to your call center:

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How an Outsourced Call Center Provider Reduced Cost-per-Call

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Call Center Provider Reduced Cost-per-Call by 8%A common problem among call centers is the issue of excessive hold time. Long hold times lead to frustrated consumers and increased telco costs. This was exactly the case with one of Vesta’s call center customers who handles thousands of calls a day. The client challenged Vesta Networks to find a call-back solution that would help provide a better customer experience by reducing the number of callers waiting on hold.

They considered a number of solutions, including Virtual Hold’s Conversation Bridge, Avaya’s Callback Assist and Cisco’s Courtesy Callback. However, the team at Vesta agreed that these solutions were too complicated and difficult to work with. Fonolo, on the other hand, is simple to use, easy to deploy and can be up and running in a matter of weeks.

The Results:

  • 25% of callers requested a call-back rather than continuing to wait on hold.
  • This led to an 8% reduction in cost-per-call (even after their investment in Fonolo). Continue reading →

Yes, you can add cloud-based call-backs to your contact center without security risk.

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In-Call RescueAs cloud-based services overtake more and more of enterprise IT, data security remains a concern that must always be addressed. With contact centers, security concerns are heightened because voice data often requires extra care and might involve additional regulations. (This is especially true in verticals like financial and health care.)

With Fonolo’s cloud-based call-back service, voice calls between the company and the customer will flow through our servers and so we are frequently asked about security. In last week’s webinar (available for on-demand viewing here), an attendee asked:

If we add Fonolo to our call center, is it possible to ensure that voice data is secure?

The answer is “absolutely!” and the reason why is our recently unveiled appliance option.

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How a “Virtual Hold” Solution can Save the Customer

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How a Virtual Hold Solution can Save the CustomerIf you’re not familiar with virtual queuing, it’s the smart way to interact with your customers. Allow them to schedule a call-back – rather than wait on hold – when hold-times are too long. Whether you call it “virtual hold”, “virtual queuing”, or just “call-back software”, it means one thing: customer experience. Not expecting that response? Let me explain….

Why the customer experience is so important!

Not only do customers HATE waiting on hold (look no further than onholdwith.com for proof), when they can’t reach you, they’ll go elsewhere. A study from YouGov shows that 76% of respondents said, “just one unpleasant contact center experience was likely to make them take their business elsewhere”. In fact, according to callcenterhelper.com, 6/10 customers have ditched a company because its telephone customer service has been so bad.

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Click-to-Call, Virtual Queuing, Virtual Hold, Call-Backs – What it All Means

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Click-to-call, Virtual Queuing, Virtual Hold, Call-backs - What it All MeansWhen it comes to reducing hold-time in the call-center, there are a number of terms that overlap each other, which can be confusing. Let’s try to clear things up.

I’ve written about this topic several times, but the questions keep coming up (most recently, in last week’s webinar with cruise industry giant World Travel Holdings – which you can watch here.) So, I guess it can’t hurt to revisit it.

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Comparing Fonolo and Virtual Hold

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Virtual Queuing Solutions Comparison - Fonolo In-Call Rescue, Avaya Callback Assist, Cisco Courtesy Callback, Virtual Hold Conversation BridgeWe held a terrific webinar last week (over 200 attendees!) titled “Top 5 Call Center Trends of 2013”. During the part about “Intelligent Call-back” (one of the top trends), we received several questions about how Fonolo compares to Virtual Hold. I asked Shai to elaborate on some of his answers during the webinar.

 

Q: How does Fonolo compare with Virtual Hold?

Shai: Both Fonolo and Virtual Hold provide the functionality of replacing hold time with a call-back which is what we call, generically, “virtual queuing”. The concept has been around for decades, but is now gaining renewed interest because of rising consumer expectations. Continue reading →

The End of Hold: Comparing Fonolo In-Call Rescue, Avaya Callback Assist, Cisco Courtesy Callback and Virtual Hold Conversation Bridge

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Virtual Queuing Solutions Comparison - Fonolo In-Call Rescue, Avaya Callback Assist, Cisco Courtesy Callback, Virtual Hold Conversation BridgeAre you still putting your callers on hold?

Here’s some bad news: They hate it. They’ll leave you for it. And they’ll tell the whole world in the process.

Here’s some good news: Virtual queuing eliminates hold time and there are a growing number of ways you can add it to your call center.

Most major call center vendors now offer a virtual queuing add-on to their product. For example, Avaya offers Callback Assist and Cisco offers Courtesy Callback. There are also vendor-independent options. Virtual Hold, a pioneer in the field, offers Conversation Bridge and Fonolo offers In-Call Rescue. Fonolo’s offering has the distinction of being the only cloud-based offering (which also gives it the lowest cost).

If you’re considering virtual queuing for your call center, tune in to this week’s webinar (register here) where we’ll discuss the pros and cons of these options. Continue reading to preview the webinar slides and download our new In-Call Rescue datasheet.
Continue reading →

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