6 Crucial Call Center Statistics Businesses Need to Know

Posted on

November 8th, 2022

Contact centers are critical for many businesses to ensure their customers receive a satisfactory experience. However, customers often dread calling customer service numbers due to poor outcomes previously. Companies that find ways to reduce pain points and bottlenecks enjoy greater customer loyalty. The following are several call center statistics businesses need to know to remain competitive:

Customers will spend more after a positive experience. Frustrated customers aren’t likely to whip out their wallets for upsells or supplementary services. However, they’ll spend up to 140% more following a positive experience.
Service matters more than the cost or product. Customers obviously want quality products at competitive prices. However, they’re 4X more likely to make purchases from competing providers if they dislike the customer service they receive.
Customers don’t hesitate to sever ties. Customer loyalty is harder to maintain than many companies realize. A whopping 40% of customers will stop conducting business with a company after a single negative interaction with customer service agents.
The cost of poor customer service is exorbitant. Poor customer service costs companies around $75 billion each year.
Customers expect rapid resolutions. Over one-third of customers expect agents to solve their problems during their first interaction. It erodes customer loyalty if they have to call back for updates or repeat their information.
Customers want empathetic exchanges. Canned responses come across as robotic and cold. Customers can tell when agents are reading from a script. It has an immediate and damaging effect on their overall satisfaction.

Customers want rapid resolutions, high quality services, and empathetic exchanges. How well a company’s call center can meet these expectations directly effects the customer experience and their loyalty. Contact the experts at Actec to learn how a nearshore call center can improve your customer service capabilities.

4 Ways to Improve Call Center Communication

Posted on

October 26th, 2020

Andrew

Investing in a call center can save companies hours of time while boosting productivity. However, how businesses communicate with their call centers will determine the effectiveness of this service. Business leaders should use the following strategies to reduce miscommunications with call center employees:

Look for communication breakdowns or miscommunication bottlenecks. According to the Harvard Business Review, more than half of employees indicate the directions they receive at work are unclear or too vague. If half of the call center employees aren’t sure what their employer wants from them or what the business’ top priorities are, they may struggle to provide high-quality service.
Keep emails to a minimum. Employees waste hours of their day clearing out their inbox of unnecessary emails. Most employees report that excessive emails take up too much time and affect their ability to focus on their top priority tasks. It’s also possible for important emails to get lost among the dozens of other emails vying for employees’ attention. Seeing a massive list of unread emails can tank employee motivation and morale as well. While email communication is sometimes necessary, businesses should limit the overall number of emails they send to employees.
Encourage open communication within teams. Many businesses have a hierarchy of responsibility, which can make call center employees feel incapable of speaking up to their team leaders when they notice an issue. Cultivating an environment where employees feel comfortable with two-way communication within their team can identify problems, improve morale, and foster innovative ideas.
Schedule team-building exercises. Creating a sense of community within the workplace is more challenging than ever in a COVID-19 environment. With so many people working from home with limited opportunities for socializing, call center employees can rapidly feel disconnected from their team. Businesses should consider virtual or outdoor team building activities that can comply with social distancing recommendations to keep up team spirit. These exercises can also help combat feelings of loneliness and isolation.

Improving communication has a direct effect on productivity, employee engagement, and workplace morale. Contact the experts at Actec to learn how our nearshore call centers can help your business.

How to Improve the Customer Experience for Better Retention

Posted on

January 13th, 2020

Andrew

Individuals selecting their insurance providers tend to be choosy because they know they can afford to be. With so many providers on the market, these people have endless options to research and snaring them relies on a combination of offering products and features they want at a competitive price. However, maintaining their loyalty is a challenge as well. Focusing on maximizing the customer experience whenever they call to file a claim or seek more information about their coverage can go a long way to retaining existing clients.

Not only that, but it costs significantly more money to obtain a new customer than it does to keep existing clients happy. As such, it behooves insurers to put time and effort into boosting customer service. When customers are happy with how their provider does business, they’re more likely to stay with that company even when their insurance needs change.

The following are some of the more effective means of improving the customers’ experience while interacting with their insurance provider:

Keep it simple. When customers have to go through several phone trees or navigate down numerous website menus, they’re going to become frustrated fast. Building websites so that they’re customer-centric can cut down on confusion and keep their business.
Remove unnecessary steps. While some customers may want to browse or compare their options, some know upfront what they want. Offering a direct option for these individuals to receive quotes or purchase coverage removes unnecessary hassles and keeps those clients satisfied.
Open up additional communication options. Sometimes, customers have basic questions about their policies or coverage that would be much simpler to answer via a chat or text system. This is also beneficial during periods of crisis when customers need to produce documents following an incident.
Allow for customization. Every customer’s insurance needs will be different and a one-size-fits-all policy isn’t going to work well. For example, customers that own vintage cars may not need full coverage during the winter months if they put them away in storage. Allowing for flexible coverage that shifts with their needs provides value and instills customer loyalty.

From digitization to ease of use, insurers can take several steps to overhaul their approach to customer service. Contact the experts at Actec to learn more about improving customer satisfaction through effective claims management, first notice of loss, and more.