We all know that in recent years, an increasing number of customers — especially millennials — want text-based customers support, such as live web chat, email, mobile SMS, and online knowledge portals.
Long Live the Phone
However, this doesn’t mean that customers are anti-phone. On the contrary, research by customer feedback platform company Usabilla found that 55 percent of customers prefer speaking to a live agent or representative because doing so is faster, easier, and ultimately more beneficial; particularly if they have a complex challenge to solve or detailed questions to ask. What’s more, a survey by CRM system leader Salesforce.com revealed that a whopping 92% of sales interactions (in whole or in part) still take place over the phone.
What Customers Want
Some companies are winning the phone-based customer support game, and others are losing. What separates the victors from the vanquished? It boils down to delivering the 3 R’s of what customers want when they pick up the phone and call for help:
- Reach: Research by analytics company ClickFox has found that the number one thing that customers hate is being “bounced around” from one person to another. They want to directly reach the individual, team or department that will take ownership of their issue.
- Responsiveness: Research by HubSpot has found that 90 percent of customers rate an immediate response as important or very important when they have a customer service question.
- Resolution: Research by CX platform company Ameyo has found that 67 percent of customer churn can be prevented if companies resolve issues the first time. Separate but related research by consulting firm SQM Group has found that every 1 percent improvement in first call resolution (FCR) increases customer satisfaction by 1 percent, and at the same time lowers operating costs by 1 percent.
Delivering the Goods
If your business isn’t checking all of these boxes with your phone-based customer support— reach, responsiveness and resolution — then you’re leaving sales and profits on the table. In the long run, you may even be risking the very existence of your business. Research by American Express has found that 33 percent of customers will switch companies after just a single instance of bad service. On a much brighter note, the same research also found that 70 percent of customers will spend more money to do business with a company that delivers great customer service.
How We Can Help
Our affordable, flexible and feature-rich cloud phone system is the smart and strategic way to take your phone-based customer support to a whole new level — and transform your current and future customers into loyal fans and inspired brand ambassadors. Specifically:
- Reach: Each member of your team — regardless of whether they work in the office/store, at home, or anywhere else — will get their own unique phone number and extension, so that they can be easily reached on any phone (IP phone, web-based softphone, mobile phone, or landline). This is especially important when dealing with escalated customer support issues.
- Responsiveness: You can easily configure hunt groups and ring groups to maximize the chances that incoming calls will be answered by a human being. You can also forward after hour/weekend calls to a hosted contact center. Plus, your team will be able to pick-up voicemails through email, which greatly improves responsiveness.
- Resolution: You can use interactive voice response (IVR) menus to help customers self-direct their call to the right individual, team, or department. This improves first call resolution, which benefits customers and cuts your labor costs.
Learn More
To learn more about significantly improving your phone-based customer support — and boosting your sales, profits, and bottom line — contact us today and schedule your free live guided demo of our cloud phone system, which we will deliver over-the-web at a time that is convenient to you and your team. Call us at (336) 850-5400 or chat with us during business hours by clicking the chat icon on the lower-right of your screen. We are a local Greensboro, North Carolina-based business with over many 5-star reviews!