On hold? In a Queue? No Option for a Call Back?
On hold? In a Queue? No option for a Call Back?
It’s 2018 and it would seem some contact centres are still living in the dark ages when it comes to understanding customer perception. Customers are being forced to wait for excessive durations on the phone against their will with no option for a call back or a queue with sensible length and waiting time.
In this blog we take a look at customer perception, what are customers really prepared to tolerate in regard to receiving assistance on the phone?
It is common knowledge that no one likes waiting for anything, however, when people choose to wait for something they value or wish to purchase like a concert ticket they tend to be far happier to wait to get through in an orderly queue.
Queuing has lots of interesting psychological factors, how much people are prepared to tolerate is largely dependent on the specific context.
If someone really wants to go to a concert they’ll happily spend time on the phone waiting to connect or in a queue and be extremely happy if they manage to then get a ticket.
Alternatively if they have an existing inbound call handling feature or faulty broadband service for instance then they are likely to be unhappy if they have to wait in a queue for an excessive time.
For example;
Mr Jones runs an mobile business, with a team of vans, he currently has a card payment solution which customers use to pay.
Its 9:00 am and one of his team is trying to receive from the card machine but it isn’t working meaning he can’t process the clients payment and Mr Jones needs to raise a fault with his mobile card machine supplier.
Mr Jones decides to contact his supplier for some support in resolving the issue.
So what happens to Mr Jones on the call.
(Ring Ring)
(Generic recorded voice)
“Thank you for waiting. Your call is important to us. I’m sorry, but all of our fault operators are busy at the moment, but please stay on the line. Your call will be answered shortly”.
Shortly? If the wait time is anything but short then you can imagine how Mr Jones is feeling in regard to being placed on hold, especially after the pre-recorded message is played again or at worst for the third and fourth time!
In the meantime, Mr Jones is becoming more and more frustrated giving him time to reflect on the pre-recorded message;
Thoughts:- My calls important?..... So why am I left hanging here?....... Stay on the line?...... I’ve been waiting 10 minutes already and I’m being forced to wait……… Why is there no option on the I.V.R for me to be directed to the faults department?.......For goodness sake I simply need to raise a fault on this particular card machine, the rest are all ok........... Why is my time outside of this call not appreciated?............. Maybe I need to look at moving this service to a provider that actually has acceptable levels of business support and values my caller experience!
When any service provider makes you wait on customer service lines they are essentially not supporting you and there is no justification for this. Few Questions:-
Has your business received negative feedback on the lack of options available on your I.V.R recording ?
Do you have a facility that allows for feedback on customer calls ?
Do you track figures on abandoned customer calls ?
Are your calling customers being given the option to receive a call back from you to save them waiting an excessive time ?
Is your current queuing system configured to meet the requirements of your callers and in tune with their service level expectations ?
Do you have fall over destinations set-up to distribute the calls during busy periods so your callers aren’t left waiting for excessive amounts of time ?
If your current I.V.R and inbound call handling features are falling below callers expectations, then it’s time to talk to our experienced inbound 08UK team today.
Call us for free on 0800-692-7000 or email new@08uk.co.uk
If you would like to talk to one of our team to get any point clarifying please do not hesitate to contact us. Call us now on 0800 692 7000 or email new@08uk.co.uk so we can call you back.
