by James Mearns
Waiting is so 2016. I don’t need to wait in line for a table at a restaurant, a haircut, or movie tickets. So why would I wait in line in a contact center?
The idea of being forced through a maze of menus, placed in queue, and then given the choice to sit there, hostage-like, or hang up seems downright quaint in this day and age, doesn’t it? It’s a thorn in the paw of any modern call center to not provide callers with the kind of service that is second-nature in today’s world of immediate gratification (Amazon 1-Click, anyone?). Waiting on hold is a trip down the rabbit hole: in a world of multitasking, where information comes from all directions simultaneously, a contact center queue is like the Mad Hatter from the other side of the looking glass that eats up your time and never gives it back.
That’s why I’m in a sustained state of disbelief when I encounter a contact center that doesn’t offer me the kindness of callback. Callback is one of the most straightforward applications for IVR. It provides obvious ROI and increased customer satisfaction. And if it’s built right, it will also offer a great amount of flexibility in configuration options, so that you can tweak it to be just right not only for your contact center, but also for your callers.
A good callback application is straightforward in its implementation, but powerful in its flexibility. It should give you the ability to not only offer callbacks, but to help your callers make informed decisions. Using expected wait time or place in queue, callers can decide their fate: wait in queue or request a callback. Empowering callers in this way also builds trust and loyalty – you’re giving them something helpful that could prevent them from enduring an undeserving stint in contact center Mordor. In a competitive climate, every little bit helps.
For example, if I call into a contact center and hear that my wait time is less than 90 seconds, I’m more likely to elect to hold for an agent, as getting this task completed may be more valuable than the modicum of tasks I could complete in that 90 seconds. Conversely, if my wait time is estimated at 15 minutes, I’m off to the races without a second thought, making sure my cell phone is on my person and my ringer is set to stun. But how does all this callback hocus pocus really work?
Let’s take a product like INI SureConnect™. With both Agent First and Caller First modes, and a highly configurable interface, INI SureConnect offers organizations a best-in-breed callback solution for the Avaya Aura Experience Portal.
If it’s an Agent First queue, INI SureConnect does the dirty work by waiting in queue for me (instead of me). When an agent comes available, INI SureConnect allows the agent to hear the reason for my call via a short message that I recorded when I requested the callback, as well as additional information such as an account number, date of birth, or other identifying information. Once the agent is up to speed on who I am and what I need, the callback is launched, and my phone rings just as I’m putting the finishing touches on my cold fusion reactor hobby project. I answer the call, and boom! Another task disappears off my ever-dwindling list.
If my callback was associated with a INI SureConnect Caller First queue, then I would receive the callback first, enter a keypress on my phone to indicate that I’m human and not just another cyborg robot avatar (or answering machine), and I’m launched into a priority queue, where I’m quickly connected to an agent.
Now consider the fact that INI SureConnect supports both immediate and scheduled callbacks, as well as a customizable API, and you can see I’ve got options. It’s good for me, it’s good for the agent, and it’s good for the business. Why? Because:
- I don’t have the life sucked out of me by a heartless ACD
- The contact center suffers fewer abandons (I did hang up, but only after requesting a callback – so it’s not an abandoned call, it’s a forced disconnect)
- The contact center has less toll-free carry time (the time I would have spent in queue would have cost a pretty penny-per-minute), resulting in added savings when the queue time and associated cost is removed from the equation
- The actual talk time spent with the agent is now carried over to less expensive or no-cost outbound lines, and the savings add up quickly
- Agents are happier because their job is made easier by having upfront intelligence on the nature of my call (knowledge = power, power = happiness)
- Customers feel valued when their time is respected and their problems are solved more efficiently
That’s called a win-win, win, win, win. And it’s only a few of the real based-in-fact data items that can be realized when you implement a callback solution. I’d also like to parlay the fact that because I wasn’t waiting on hold, I was able to make the world a better place by using that time to write this entertaining column. You’re welcome.