Better planning can support a reduction in inbound calls by reducing abandoned calls and repeat calls.
-Phil Anderson
Several calls that come to call centresare all about complaints occurred due to product-related shortcomings. Inbound call centre takes customer calls relating to any business query where the in-house agents try to influence the customers towards the business service by solving their issues. The performance of the inbound callers is measured through metrics like first call resolution (FCR), average customer-agent communication time and time in queue.
Customers’ today communicate through various channels like emails, chats or calls. The more a business receives inbound calls, is the more it has the possibility of service issues. Customer calls increase when the business service has deficiencies, or when the partner has some query related to the business offerings.
Companies nowadays look forward to reducing their call volume and increasing outbound calls to boost business brand image. Every business needs to get less of inbound calls and increased outgoing calls to generate leads and to market and advertise the business functions.
Here we have the tips to help you lower inbound call volumes:
· Map the customer journey
To analyze the increasing/decreasing call volumes, businesses need to understand why customers call their service provider. The reason helps to map the process to reduce calls.
Businesses are also stressed thinking, which call to stop, and which to take. Well, the calls that the business wants to reduce is undoubtedly those arising of business-related issues to the customer. While the calls that the business wants to take are those that seek interest in the business functions and are query for the same.
Therefore, when the business knows which calls to avoid, they should listen to customer queries seriously to sort the issues as soon as possible, so that any similar issue does not become a new call.
· A check on the service level of all channels
The business needs to have an eye on the business service of all channels. Since the customer may contact the call centre anytime, so to make sure that there are no repetitive calls from the same customer, boosting service level of all channels of communication is vital.
Customers call repeatedly to get their query sorted, which is why inbound call centre volume increases. This is why tracking service level across all channels is necessary. Along with this, tracking the bounce rate from one channel to another is also crucial to understand each platforms’ performance.
Every business channel needs quality monitoring so that the customer is not compelled to re-connect for an improved experience.
· Consider predicting customer reactions
To reduce inbound call centre calls, business owners need to have an idea of customer behavior.
You must be thinking why?
Well, when the business predicts customer behavior, it is easy to make decisions for improvement, keeping the customer interest in mind. A business service improves when changes are user-centric and aims at benefitting the customer experience.
To dwindle the call volume, the best move any business owner can possible make is to avail call centre inbound services.
· Provide multi-channel option
To limit inbound call volume, businesses need to offer multiple channel access to the customers, which boosts experience level and promotes easy service management.
The point to note here is allowing the customer to choose a channel of her/his own choice. Firms need to keep in mind that customers need not be forced to use a particular channel just because it is the market trend.
Provide customers with different channel options and do not force them to choose a particular one that is feasible for business personal management.
· Use dedicated KPIs for each channel
It is important for the business to keep control of the functions and to do so, monitoring tasks is essential. Evaluating performance is best with utilizing dedicated KPIs for each channel.
There are different channels for customer-business communication, like online, text, email, etc. and thus, monitoring each to check service level is essential.
A business excels when it is up-to-date on each channel and thus extending quality practice across all channels is necessary.
· Commit to FCR maintenance and promotion on all networks
First Call Resolution is the best key to limit inbound call volumes. Your business can keep the calls down by taking on-time care of all incoming calls so that they do not turn into decreased customer satisfaction and increased repetitive calls.
Lastly, the business must promote all channels evenly without any specific focus on the business-friendly channel. The customer may not be happy to use the channel that you promote your business on, however, may be interested in some other platform feasible to them.
Thus, promote all communication channels with the same measure and let customers enjoy the platform, which they find most suitable and reachable.
· Promotion of self-service
Self-service plays a vital role in diminishing a great volume of calls in the inbound call centre. Self-service has a bigger role to play than just limiting call volumes for the business.
Do you know how?
Well, self-service is used to share the in-house agents’ work with online speech and other apps. In today’s competitive era where new technology is taking over every business function, self-service offers ease in business performance, which is why it is in high demand.
Self-service helps the customers have the opportunity to take help of chatbots, mobile apps, customer forums, etc. to solve any business-related issue rather calling the call centre agent every time, which results in increased call volumes.
Promoting self-service, a business enhances its service support and makes its functions easily manageable with technological tools at work.
Thanks for reading!
