Every successful business leader knows that “if we fail to take care of our customer, a competitor will.” Consider these eye-opening statistics:
- 17% of customers will walk away after just one bad experience, while 59% will leave after a handful of bad experiences. (Source: PWC)
- Companies that lead in customer service out-perform laggards by nearly 80% (Source: Forrester)
- Customers who rate a company’s service as “good” are 38% more likely to recommend that company to family members, friends, colleagues, and associates. (Source: Qualtrix XM Institute)
While there are many ways for organizations to improve customer service, among the most effective and most affordable is by adopting a cloud phone system from Carolina Digital Phone. Below, we highlight 10 — yes that’s right: 10! — cloud phone system features that are built into our all-in-one solution, and that elevate customer service to the next level.
1. Auto-Attendant Phone System Features
Auto-attendant is one of the most loved cloud phone system features — and for many good reasons! With auto-attendant, organizations can:
- Automatically answer calls on the first ring with a professional and customized greeting.
- Route calls based on variables such as caller ID, day and time. For example, calls made from key customers can automatically be directed to the sales team.
- Allow customers to self-direct their call to the desired employee or department.
- Forward calls to any internal or external line, or send them directly to voicemail.
- Block incoming spam calls, so that employees are more productive and efficient.
2. Voicemail-to-Email
Voicemail-to-email is one of the most game-changing phone system features. It automatically converts voicemails to audio files and emails them to designated employees (or if desired, multiple designated employees). This not only helps employees return calls faster — which is something that customers appreciate — but employees can forward voicemails to colleagues if they need additional support.
For example, consider a sales rep who receives a voicemail from a customer about a complicated technical issue. The sales rep can simply forward that voicemail to their colleague in Technical Support. That colleague can provide insight and guidance, or possibly even call the customer back directly to provide comprehensive and accurate answers.
3. Live Call Forwarding
With a conventional phone system, there may be times when a sales rep who is speaking with a customer is forced to say “sorry, I’m just leaving the office, can I call you back on my cell?” This delay can frustrate customers and lead to lost sales. That’s where live call forwarding enters the picture and saves the day!
With live call forwarding, sales reps (and other team members.) can seamlessly transfer live calls from one device to another. For example, they can answer a call on their deskphone, transfer it to their cell phone. They can even transfer it again to their vehicle’s Bluetooth system. The customer on the other end does not experience any disruption whatsoever. No wonder that live call forwarding is among the most popular phone system features!
4. Queue Callback
While it’s ideal to answer every possible call, unfortunately, this just isn’t realistic. There will always be times when there aren’t enough reps or agents available. However, instead of asking customers to wait on hold organizations can use one of the most amazing phone system features available: queue callback.
With the queue callback, customers are invited to have the company call them back as soon as the first rep or agent is available. This means they spend NO time on hold!
5. Presence
Presence is another one of those “how did we ever survive without this?” phone system features. It lets employees instantly and in real-time see if a colleague is available, busy, or away from their desk. How does this impact customer service? Consider two scenarios — one without presence, and one with presence.
- Scenario 1 (without presence): A customer calls a customer service representative (CSR) and asks a question about their order. The CSR needs to consult their colleague in shipping to get this information, so they put the customer on hold. Unfortunately, the colleague who they want to speak with is away from their desk. The CSR comes back on the line a minute later, and is forced to tell the customer that the information they need is not available at the current time.
- Scenario 2 (with presence): A customer calls a CSR and asks a question about their order. The CSR needs to consult their colleague in shipping to get this information. The sales rep glances at the presence indicator on their screen and immediately sees that the colleague is not available. The CSR then promises to get the information as soon as possible and call the customer back.
In Scenario One, the customer was placed on hold and expected to get information that was ultimately not provided. This of course, would make anyone frustrated.
But in Scenario Two, the customer was proactively told that the information they wanted was not immediately available, yet would be provided to them ASAP. This leaves the customer with satisfactory results.
Presence enabled the CSR to MANAGE EXPECTATIONS, and that made all the difference between a frustrated customer and a satisfied one!
6. SMS, MMS, and Team Messaging
Let us return to the scenario that was just described above, but with a twist: this time, the CSR can see (thanks to presence!) that their colleague is available.
Now, instead of putting the customer on hold and getting the desired information, the CSR can simply send their colleague a text message and get a rapid, accurate reply. This information can then be passed along to the impressed and happy customer.
Or, what if the CSR isn’t 100% sure which colleague has the information that they need? No problem! The CSR can simply send out a team message that will be broadcast to multiple colleagues in shipping (e.g. “On the phone with Jane Smith customer ID# 141241 — I need to know when her order #12512 was shipped”).
7. Remote System Access with Phone System Features
In the past, in most organizations, remote working was on the sidelines. Now, however, it is in the mainstream. And while millions of employees have already returned to the workplace, many of them will continue working from home offices for at least part of the week/month (a.k.a. hybrid workers).
A cloud phone supports “anytime, anywhere” calling — whether employees are on the other side of the office, city, state, or even country. Plus, employees can access a wide range of phone system features on their smartphone, such as presence, call history, one-click dialing (which is efficient and eliminates dialing errors), and SMS/MMS/team messaging.
What’s more, outgoing calls display the organization’s name/number on Caller ID — even if the employee is using their personal device. This presents a more professional image, and it also protects privacy.
8. CRM Integration
The more that sales reps and CSRs know about customers the better — because it means they can rapidly provide relevant information, or even better anticipate what customers want/need to know about products, services, promotions, and so on.
A cloud phone system uses web browser-based APs to securely integrate with back-office CRM applications such as Salesforce, Zendesk, ZOHO, vtiger, FreshDesk, Google, Infusionsoft, Google Contact, and many more. As soon as the customer’s phone number is recognized, a pop-up window opens and presents the findings.
9. Conference Calling
With conference calling, it’s fast and easy to add one or multiple additional parties to the conversation — which can significantly boost customer service levels.
For example, let’s say that a customer who is speaking with a sales rep has a very detailed and product-specific technical question — one that is so complex and multi-faceted, that sending/receiving text messages is not a good option.
Instead of researching the information for the customer and calling them back later on, the sales rep can instantly loop in their technical support colleague, who provides all of the answers. The result? An informed and impressed customer!
10. Call Analytics with Phone System Features
Last but certainly not least, one of the most valuable cloud phone system features are call analytics, which highlight key metrics and performance indicators such as:
- The proportion of customer inquiries that are being resolved on the first call (i.e. first call resolution).
- The average duration of customer inquiries.
- Days/times when customer inquiries spike.
Supervisors, managers, and executives can use this dashboard-based actionable intelligence for training, coaching, compliance, quality assurance, and recruiting — and ultimately, ensure that the overall customer service program is constantly firing on all cylinders.
To learn more about how these powerful, yet easy-to-use cloud phone system features will dramatically improve your organization’s customer service levels — and clearly separate you from the competition — contact Carolina Digital Phone today. Call us at (336) 544-4000, or click the chat icon at the bottom of your screen.