Call Center Service - Elision Technologies

Top Tips to Retain Your Customers Using Call Center Solution

Posted on March 10, 2021 - 6:56 pm by Hiren Pancholi

The cutthroat competition has lowered the margins and increased the stress in all markets and call centers are no exception here. There is a lot of competition in the global call center industry. Therefore, it is necessary to retain the customers. Retaining customers is often considered easier than locking new customers because all you need to do is deliver an excellent customer experience.

There are multiple ways to follow to retain your customers. In this blog, I will share how you can increase customer retention using a call center solution. The top tips of using the right features of this software can help you increase customer retention up to 95.98%.

1. Stay connected to the customers

The first and foremost thing is to stay connected with your customers. It will help in nurturing the leads. There are many features of a call center solution, which can be used here. For example, a predictive dialer or any other auto dialer along with a survey feature can be used to run a survey or take feedback occasionally. This will make sure customers feel valued. If there is any glitch in the software or if there are any policy or pricing changes, you must update your customers well in advance. You can use the voice broadcasting feature of the call center software for this.

2. Give self-serving options

Believe it or not, but customers like to resolve their concerns by themselves. Therefore, providing the options to resolve their queries by themselves or taking a common action without the involvement of agents can be a great help. A call center solution offers multiple self-serving options. Different call center solutions may have different features, but each of them will have some features that automate certain actions.

3. Cater to the customer via their preferred communication channels

In 2021, we have several modes of communication unlike a decade ago when people used to use only phone calls or SMS. These days, from traditional to digital communication channels are available in the market. It is necessary to use all or major communication channels, which are preferred communication channels of your customers, which can be any of the following:

Voice calls
Video calls
WhatsApp
Facebook
Twitter
SMS
Email
Fax

If you cater to the different age groups of customers, then you should use an omnichannel call center solution, which supports unified communication channels. However, if you focus on serving a specific age group, then you can integrate the preferred communication channels of that age group.

4. Add personalization

For this, you may need to invest in call center CRM integration to show more information related to the customers to agents during a live call, but it is worth it. It helps in making customers feel valued and increasing retention.

These are the top 4 tips you can implement to enhance the customer experience, make them feel valued, and retain them. If you do not have a call center solution, contact us.

How to Reduce Call Hold Time in Call Center?

Posted on March 8, 2021 - 2:23 pm by Hiren Pancholi

Tips to Reduce Call Hold Time in Call Center

Customers wait for enough in the call queue, putting them on a long hold is quite irritating according to customers. Of course, customer care agents need to put customers on hold while their requests are in process or while agents look for the required information.

However, long call hold times fuel up the frustration. Even if you have the best music on hold, it won’t help to keep customers happy with the long hold time. Even if it is necessary for customers to stay on hold to get a resolution to the concern, you are losing customer loyalty with the long call hold time.

It is necessary to reduce call hold time, so you can delight customers and increase the retention rate and loyalty. In this blog, we will share the top tips that will help you reduce overall call hold time.

1. Use dynamic and multilevel IVRS

Nowadays, call center solutions come up with amazing features and one of them is dynamic and multilevel IVRS. If an IVRS of a call center solution has advanced features, then it will be able to complete jobs related to customer concerns. The advanced IVRS also allows making payments for the bills, checking application status, etc. In this case, customers can follow the IVR prompts and get the answers to their queries. They neither need to wait in the call queue to get connected to the agent nor need to wait by staying on hold while agents are looking for the information. This can help in reducing call hold time.

2. Select the right call routing rule

Even after interacting with the IVRS, customers cannot find the required answer to their query, then they have to choose to talk to the agent. A call center solution offers multiple call routing rules. It is necessary to select the right call routing rule to connect customers with the right agents. If agents have the required skills or already know the customer case, then it will be easier for them to handle the customer call without keeping the customer on hold for long. This will reduce the call hold time.

3. Call center CRM integration

A call center solution comes up with some fields to store customer information. However, more information related to customers would be stored in the CRM system. To find the required information, the agent will need to look for the information in the CRM system or any other tool.

The agent will put the customer on hold while fetching the information. This will increase call hold time. If you invest in call center CRM integration, your agents can see all information stored in the CRM system within call center software. This will reduce the time to switch from one system to another and look for the information. Therefore, call center CRM integration is recommended.

These are the top 3 tips that you must follow to reduce call hold time. Other than this, you should also have skilled agents and the best call center software. If you are looking for a reliable and feature-rich call center solution, contact us.

Blacklist in Call Centers: Is It Really Helpful?

Posted on March 1, 2021 - 6:10 pm by Hiren Pancholi

A call center solution comes with a wide array of features. Some features get used more frequently and some of them are used rarely. In fact, it has some features, which stay untouched, even if they can do magic for the business using it. In this article, I am going to share more details about one of the rarely used features, which is equally important. It is “Blacklisting”. (more…)

Call Center Metrics to Measure Agent Productivity

Posted on February 25, 2021 - 9:21 am by Hiren Pancholi

Call center metrics, which are more popularly known as call center KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), are necessary to monitor. Not just monitor, but you should also work on improving them. Usually, a majority of call centers keep all their focus on monitoring KPIs related to customer experience and satisfaction. It is good to monitor KPIs related to customer satisfaction as higher customer satisfaction also means higher revenues.

However, ignoring agent productivity and related KPIs can be one of the biggest mistakes your call center must be making. Measuring agent productivity-related KPIs can help you reduce expenses and improving customer satisfaction even further. This will help you improve ROI (Returns over Investment).

To monitor agent productivity, there are some KPIs, which can give a clear picture of agent productivity. Here are the top 4 KPIs that you must monitor to review agent productivity:

1. Average call handling time

It gives the average time agents take to handle a single call. There is no ideal value of it as different call centers may have different natured campaigns and each may have a different average call handling time. According to the best call center solution provider, the average call handling time needs to be minimized to a possible extent. One needs to measure AHT (Average Handling Time) and take the required actions to reduce it. For example, if you are not using call center CRM integration and your AHT is very high, then you must integrate the CRM into the call center solution. This will give upfront information to agents about the customer and help them reduce the average AHT.

2. Average call wrap-up time

After completing an ongoing call, agents need to fill in some information such as disposition, the changed status of the lead, etc. This activity is called call wrap-up time. For obvious reasons, it has to be minimum possible to make sure agents spend more time talking with customers. To reduce average call wrap-up time, you can add the Disposition Bucket module to your call center solution. It is also available for VICIDial by VICIDial customization companies like ours. It will have predefined disposition messages for common dispositions. This will help to save the time of agents otherwise spent in call wrap-up.

3. SLA (Service Level Agreement)

It is measured by calculating the percentage of calls attended within a specific time period. Here, the time will be in seconds. This KPI helps in measuring if your agents are quicker in taking calls or not.

4. Average call answering time

This KPI indicates how long agents take to answer the call once it gets routed to them. If the agent is not quick enough to answer the call, it may cause awkward silence or an abrupt ring, which may cause disinterest or irritation in the customers.

These are the top 4 metrics that you must monitor to measure agent productivity. Your call center solution reports section will provide all the details required to measure these KPIs.

If you are looking for a call center solution that can help you measure and improve KPIs, contact us.

Call Center Solution vs. Contact Center Solution

Posted on February 22, 2021 - 5:34 pm by Hiren Pancholi

Call center solution and contact center solutions, these two terms get used interchangeably. However, both of these terms refer to different types of software. It is necessary to understand the difference, so you can identify, which kind of solution is best for your business. In this blog, we will share the difference between both of these solutions to give you complete clarity.

Traditional vs. digital customer service

A call center solution uses a traditional approach to handle customer care and sales campaigns. Voice calling, IVR, and similar features are highly used by companies or call centers that rely on a call center solution.

A contact center solution is more inclined towards digitization. It uses digital technology and tools to cater to customer requests and sales queries. It emphasizes a client-centric approach by taking advantage of digitization using multiple communication channels.

Communication channel

The major difference between both of these solutions is the communication channels available in both of them. By default, both solutions have common call center dialer features. The primary thing which makes both of these solutions different is the number of communication channels supported by both of these solutions.

A call center solution only supports one communication channel, which is voice calls.

A contact center solution supports all available communication channels. Businesses can use as many communication channels as they want or they can add all communication channels in this call center software. If it has all communication channels to offer, then it is also referred as an omnichannel call center solution.

Omnichannel management of the queue

A business using call or contact center software can handle multiple calls or conversations in parallel. However, when there are more call or contact requests than a number of agents, then those calls and contact requests will be added to the queue. The queue is where customers wait for their turn to talk to the customer care representative.

In a call center solution, there will be a single type of queue as there is only a single mode of communication

In a contact center solution, there will be omnichannel queues. For each mode of communication, there will be a queue.

Wrapping up

A call center solution and a contact center solution are commonly used to handle customer concerns and lead generation campaigns more strategically and professionally. Both of these solutions have multiple and almost all features in common. What makes them different is the mode of communication used in these solutions.

It might sound like a small difference, but it changes the whole way of handling customers and prospects. There are many advantages of using modern modes of communication and that is why contact center solutions are gaining a lot more popularity than a call center solution.

Which is better for your business?

A contact center solution is good for all businesses, but in some cases, a call center solution can do the job. We can help you in the selection process and also provide you the software of your need. Contact us for more details.

How Omnichannel Call Center Solution Contributes to Maintain Digital Brand Reputation?

Posted on February 18, 2021 - 6:43 pm by Hiren Pancholi

A call center solution can be used for multiple reasons in any business. One of the most important use cases of this software in the era of digitization is to maintain a positive brand reputation. We are living in a digital era. Customers have multiple options to share their anger and defame a brand. Moreover, competitors are lurking for a single opportunity to take away your clients. Therefore, it becomes necessary to use the right tools that can help you maintain a positive reputation of your business brand on digital platforms.

An omnichannel call center solution is one of the tools that can be used by businesses to maintain their digital brand reputation. Let us share how this software can help you in all aspects.

Attend inbound leads

An omnichannel call center solution can let you attend all inbound leads more professionally. It will connect the caller to the right sales executive so all questions can be answered and the prospective client can be assisted in making the right purchase decision. Moreover, an omnichannel call center software will also support communication via WhatsApp, SMS, and live web chat. Therefore, sales executives can help customers and prospective customers to make the right purchase decisions via different communication channels. On the other hand, it helps businesses to increase sales and revenue generation. This helps in improving business brands by becoming popular brands.

Handle customer concerns

One of the biggest reasons that defame a business brand digitally is the poor post-sales experience. Your customers expect you to take responsibility to answer any questions they are facing and respond to them promptly. One of the majorly used platforms to share concerns by customers is social media. Customers share their concerns on social networking sites. As per the stats shared by different survey sites, customers expect a response from a brand within an hour. If you fail to respond to customers, then that adds fuel to their anger. This can motivate them to add more anger on social media in terms of negative comments and ratings on different platforms. Using an omnichannel call center solution can help here as well. You can integrate social media platforms within the call center software. Your customer care agents can respond to issues and concerns of customers shared on social media promptly. This also helps in better digital brand reputation management.

Collecting survey

You can collect feedback from customers to make sure your customers feel valued. The call center solution can help you run a survey effectively.

Keeping customers updated

One of the major concerns of customers is that they do not get regular updates from their brands. If there are any changes in policy, plan, or packages, then your brand should inform customers about the same in advance. For example, if you are going to change the pricing, then you should update the customer formally by running an outbound campaign.

Keeping customers connected with the brand and make them feel valued is the key to maintaining a positive business brand. An omnichannel call center solution is a great tool to help you maintain a positive digital brand reputation. We offer omnichannel call center software. Contact us for more details.

Major Use Cases of Sticky Agent

Posted on February 15, 2021 - 4:56 pm by Hiren Pancholi

An advanced call center solution like DialShree possesses many amazing features. Each feature has multiple use cases. In this blog, we are going to share major use cases of one of the advanced features available in the call center solution, called, Sticky Agent.

What is a sticky agent?

It is an advanced call routing feature of a call center solution. It connects a caller to the same agent, every time she/he calls at the call center. As this call routing rule sticks to the same agent, it is known as “Sticky Agent”.

What are the major use cases of a sticky agent?

Many call centers use this feature in only one way. However, there are many use cases of using this feature offered by the advanced call center solution. Let me share some of the major use cases of the sticky agent feature.

To handle VIP customers

All businesses have some or a few VIP (Very Important) customers. The VIP customers can be the customers who have been paying more or using your products for a long. In a bank or similar organizations, a VIP customer is the one that maintains a good balance in the account. To retain them and to deliver an excellent customer experience, it is necessary to build a stronger relationship with them. The sticky agent feature makes sure that the customer is handled by the same agent. As an agent knows the customer very well, he can deliver quick and personalized services.

To handle leads of bigger products

Here big products do not mean heavy products, but it means expensive products such as automotive vehicles, real estate properties, etc. Cold and warm leads need to be handled by the same agent, so the customer feels connected with the person he/she is calling. It also helps in assuring that, the prospective client does not need to share his inquiry if it is a repeat call. To handle this type of case, the sticky agent can be a great feature to use.

To handle frustrated customers with repeat issue

Some customers do not get a resolution or proper guidance related to their queries. Sometimes, it happens that the resolution can take time and the customer needs to be patient. If the customer is facing similar issues and he is calling repetitively to the call center, the best option is to connect him with the same agent. This helps in reducing frustration or at least stopping the case of adding fuel to his anger.

To retain customers who are all set to switch to the competitor

Sometimes customers made up their mind to switch to your competitor. In this case, adding a senior staff and using the sticky agent feature of a call center solution can help you win the customer back. The senior agent can give an instant discount or some other options to assure that customers get the required attention and support and they do not leave your company.

If you want to use a sticky agent and many other advanced features available in the call center solution, contact us.

Tips to Improve Call Center Efficiency

Posted on February 11, 2021 - 7:01 am by Hiren Pancholi

Call centers invest in the best call center solution, CRM software, skilled agents, experienced managers, etc. To make sure the investment in the team, software, tools, etc. gives the expected returns, the call centers need to take further actions as well. One of the areas, call centers must work is call center efficiency. Call centers need to invest time and efforts to improve efficiency because improved efficiency can boost other results as well.

In this blog, we will share some tips, which will help call centers to improve efficiency:

1. Automate as much as you can

Call center solutions can help to introduce automation in a call center. The call center must identify areas and operations, which can be automated using the features offered by its call center solution. Automation will not only improve efficiency and productivity, but it will also increase accuracy as there are no human resources involved.

2. Internal communication facility

It is possible that agents need to communicate with other agents or their supervisors. For this, it is necessary to offer a reliable communication channel. This internal communication channel needs to be fast and simple. For example, our call center solution, DialShree has an internal chat feature for agents, so agents can communicate internally in a hassle-free manner. Agents also do not need to leave the screen of the call center dialer. This helps in increasing productivity and efficiency.

3. Use the idle time of agents

In any call center, it is necessary to give breaks to agents, so they can rejuvenate themselves. However, it is also necessary for call centers to make sure there is no idle time. The first thing to do is get the best call center software, so there are no system downtimes. If your call center cannot afford to get an advanced call center software, you can also use a hosted call center solution, which will offer all advanced features at cheaper rates. The next step is to use the right work policy and features, so downtime can be minimized. For example, if your agents are staying idle because you are using the sticky agent call routing rule, you should switch the strategy. Always focus on maximizing output to improve agent productivity.

4. Add unified communication channels

Nowadays, unified communication channels really help in improving customer satisfaction. That is why many call centers already have started using an omnichannel call center solution, which supports unified communication channels. Along with increasing customer satisfaction, adding omnichannel communication also helps in improving efficiency in the call centers.

These are the top 4 tips, which you can apply to increase the efficiency of your call center. You need to make sure that your call center software supports your approaches to improve efficiency.

If you do not have a required call center solution, we can help you. We offer hosted and proprietary call center solutions. Our offered solutions can meet your requirements of increasing efficiency and help in multiple other ways. For more information, contact us.

What to Include in Training Call Center Agents?

Posted on February 8, 2021 - 9:31 am by Hiren Pancholi

In any call center, agents are the only people who communicate with customers. They are the face of the company and brand representative. Thus, they have to be well versed and well trained. All call centers have their own training programs. With time, call centers must update their training programs. In this blog, we will share what a call center must include in agents’ training.

1. Company information

The first thing agents need to learn in a call center is about the company. Many call centers don’t give importance to including company information on training, but it is very important. It will not only make agents more confident, but will also help them carry the value of the company. In this segment of training, call centers must include:

History of the company
Vision, mission, and values of the company
Major goals of the company

2. Technical training

Many agents, if they are experienced, are used to with a call center solution. However, different call center solutions may have different flow and GUI. Thus, technical training is necessary. If agents are interns or fresher, technical training becomes mandatory. In the technical training, call centers need to train agents to effectively use the following software:

Call center solution
CRM software
Database
Knowledgebase
And any other software used in the call center

3. Script usage training

Scripts will be given to all agents and call scripts are often precise, perfect, and clear. Still, sometimes, the message does not get conveyed to the customers. Therefore, it is necessary for call centers to have a segment of training that covers script usage. It may surprise you, but it is true and necessary. For example, if an agent usually speaks slowly or has bad accents, then the customer will not listen to the agent. Therefore, agents need the training to use a call script correctly. In this training, call centers must train agents to use:

Right tone so customer takes interest in listening
Natural dialogues so the speech does not sound robotic
Correct way of initiating a call with the right greetings
The right way to conclude the call

4. Etiquettes, soft skills, and more

The last segment of training includes other points such as etiquettes, soft skills, empathy, etc. All these are common human traits. However, not all humans have these traits, thus, agents need to be trained to behave as professionals who empathize with the concerns of customers and are skilled enough to give the resolutions. This segment of training is related to delivering an excellent customer experience on the call. Thus, it includes many important things such as:

Patience when customers are furious or impatient
Way of transferring calls
Keeping customers engaged
Not putting the call on hold for too long
Professionally taking supervisor on the line if conferencing is needed
And more

All these must be part of your call center training. If you are looking for a call center solution, contact us.

Major Call Center KPIs You Must Measure in 2023

Posted on January 25, 2023 - 4:25 pm by Hiren Pancholi

Key performance indicators are the parameters that define the performance of campaigns, agents, and the call center itself. Call centers nowadays are more conscious about the growth and development and for that improving performance is needed. Identifying the right KPIs and focusing on them can help call centers to improve performance.

In this blog, we will help you identify the right call center KPIs by briefly describing, which KPIs will be important in 2023.

1. Customer satisfaction (CSAT)

To identify the right value of this KPI, a call center needs to run a post-call survey using the survey feature available in the call center solution. In any call center, this KPI defines how good the service is. It also assures the rate of customer loyalty.

2. Calls made per agent

How many number of calls are made by each agent in an outbound call center is called calls made per agent. This KPI defines the productivity of agents and has to be focused on.

3. Abandoned call ratio

The measure of the total number of abandoned calls vs. the total number of calls made lets you count the abandoned call ratio in the call centers. The abandoned call ratio defines how many customers hung up the phone before connecting with an agent in an outbound calling campaign. This can increase call flagging as well.

4. Call drop ratio

The total number of dropped calls vs. the total number of calls joined the call queue gives the call drop ratio value. Often when it takes too long in a call queue, customers are likely to drop the call. This can increase the customer dissatisfaction ratio and also result in loss of business. Therefore focusing on this KPI is necessary, especially in customer care centers.

5. First call resolution rate (FCR)

The total number of customers that received resolution during the first call vs. the total number of concern calls received defines the first call rate. If your business focuses more on increased customer satisfaction, then focusing and improving this KPI becomes very important. Know more about FCR.

6. Average repeat call rate

The total number of repeat calls divided by the total number of calls defines the repeat call rate. It means the customers are calling repetitively with the same concern. This KPI lets you identify a hole in the process and fix it to improve client satisfaction.

7. Average call handling time

This KPI can be calculated by summing total hold time, total talk time, and total wrap-up time of agents divided by the total number of calls handled. This KPI defines the accuracy of the work of each agent. The supervisors must train the agents in their team to handle calls in minimum possible call handling time without hampering the call quality.

8. Conversion rate

The total number of converted calls divided by the total number of calls made or received defines the call conversion rate. The call conversion rate also defines the number of sales, which is why this KPI is also important to monitor and improve.

These are the top KPIs each call center must monitor and work on to improve in 2023. If you are looking for a call center solution, which lets you monitor KPIs in a hassle-free manner, contact us.

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