If there is something that irritates anyone, it is having to wait for a long time on the phone before being attended by an agent. Most people lose interest in the call after 5 minutes of waiting, which has a negative impact on satisfaction with the company and the image it projects towards customers and potential customers, in addition to considerably reducing conversion.
5 tips to reduce waiting time in a call center
To reduce call waiting time, there are different solutions that any manager should be aware of, apart from the most obvious one: hire more staff. Here are 5 methods to reduce waiting times and long queues, and thus make your customers feel much more satisfied.
1. Apply automation for simple queries
When we talk about automation in phone calls, we mean the integration of IVR or Interactive Voice Response. These systems simulate the interaction with an agent in a virtual way to interact in the first instance with the customer.
Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems are configured to play pre-recorded questions and messages that guide users through keyboard response or voice recognition. For this reason, they are an extremely useful tool for any call center, whatever its size and sector, to order requests, direct them to agents, and organize the workflow to facilitate the agents’ day-to-day.
In addition, applying an IVR system will not only help you identify the reason for each call and direct the customer to the agent that can best resolve it. In many cases, these pre-recorded messages help the consumer enough to resolve their doubt before reaching the interaction with the agent. In many cases, customers do not even need to interact with an agent because they can solve the questions thanks to the IVR system.
2. Routing to the last agent
This method consists of redirecting each person who has previously contacted the call center to the agent who last handled their query. This mechanism is one of the benefits of EVOLUTION, which shows the agent all the necessary information for each client. For example: the history, the previous actions carried out, notes and other vital data to continue with the interaction without losing any detail.
Using a DBR, you can check if the agent is online and send the call to that particular agent, and if not, to a group of available agents.
This connection causes a greater affinity between the agent and the client, and significantly reduces their effort to repeat the phases through which each query has been through. In addition, it also reduces the time that agents spend on each call, that is, it increases productivity and reduces management and waiting time.
3. Reduce waiting times with chat
As you know, time is money in any call center, so maintaining good management of it is essential. Another basic method to reduce waiting times is to integrate the chat as a communication channel between the agent and the consumer.
In today’s era, users are much more used to connecting with other people via text messages, as it is a much easier and faster solution to convey a message.
The chat is not only an easy-to-use channel for the user, but also facilitates the agent’s day-to-day. A chat session can take up to half the time of a call, it can be resolved at the same time as others and from anywhere, since you don’t need a quiet space to communicate (just a good internet connection).
Also, taking into account that incorporating automation is essential to reduce time in any call center, it is essential to mention chatbots to offer instant responses and uninterrupted service.
4. Provide an FAQ section
A section on the web for frequently asked questions is an excellent and effective strategy to minimize traffic in call centers. In order for it to give the expected result, it is essential to carry out a search on the most requested information. As well as those topics that generate more controversy or that consumers tend to ask more. You can also add direct links to forms, conditions or instructions.
In the same way, and in order to clarify doubts much more effectively, it is essential that these responses are written both in the language of the country where the company carries out its operations, as well as in English (or other languages) to enlarge reach.
Remember that the people reading the FAQ page are most likely not technically savvy. For this reason, the documents and the answers must be written as clearly as possible so as not to generate ambiguities. If the customer understands what is being talked about in simple terms, it will be easier for them to share the problem to an agent in case they need a call.
5. Adjust team based on work peaks
Adjusting equipment to the spikes and dips in call center traffic can take many hours of analysis and juggling. Call centers also have to manage hours of operation so that call queues are not overloaded at peak times or empty at off-peak times.
To facilitate this process, you should review historical data to identify trends in peak times; Call traffic can increase during holiday periods or at the end of the fiscal year, it all depends on your industry.
Integrating omnichannel software into your contact center will help you find all this information automatically so you can manage it and increase productivity while saving time and money.
How ICR Evolution can improve queue management and reduce waiting time in a call center
Our omnichannel software EVOLUTION is responsible for improving queue management to help you minimize the waiting time in your call center and guarantee the success of your communications.
- Workflow management and agent burnout reduction
- Automated solutions and omnichannel communication
- KPI Generation, Reporting and Monitoring
Do you want to know more? Request a demo!
