7 Best and Effective Inbound Call Strategies For Call Centers
Accessibility is one of the essential aspects of delivering an impeccable customer service experience. The inbound contact center serves as the point of access for customers for queries, complaints, issues, and feedback. Inbound call center software helps businesses to optimize huge volumes of inbound calls in order to deliver excellent customer service.
Resolution of customer issues becomes easier when the business integrates inbound call management software. In this blog, we will unpack the fundamentals of inbound calling and disclose some proven ways to improve call center inbound calling strategies by leveraging tools like call center software.
What is inbound calling?
Inbound calling refers to the calls made by clients to reach out to the business. It is basically an answering service provided by a business to its existing customers. These incoming calls can be of the following nature:
- Technical support
- Product-related support
- Complaints or feedback
- Payment processing
- Order tracking or issues
- Upgrade-related query
- Renewal process, etc.
Why is inbound calling important for a business?
The customer service experience delivered through inbound calling aids in customer retention for a business. When customers have a positive customer service experience, they are more likely to make repeat purchases as well as refer them to their acquaintances. Therefore, inbound calling has a significant impact on revenue generation.
73% of consumers have admitted that customer experience is a significant factor influencing their brand loyalty. If customers feel less valued, they will switch brands. Therefore, inbound calling becomes a crucial element for building brand loyalty.
As customer service has become a critical competitive differentiator, let’s look into the ways inbound call center software can improve your inbound calling strategy to deliver a stellar customer service experience.
7 ways inbound call center software improves CX
Call center software has many features that can be leveraged to strengthen your inbound calling strategy. Here are some of the functionalities of inbound call center solutions that improve customer experience.
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Cut down long queues with automatic call distribution
Automatic call distribution helps in distributing large volumes of calls at inbound call centers to all the available agents. It takes care of call queueing and ensures that customers do not need to wait on hold for long. This feature of inbound call center software provides the following advantages:
- Ensures faster response to calls
- Prevents customer frustration by cutting down waiting time
- Optimizes resource utilization
- Reduces call abandonment rate
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Route customers to the right department
Call routing strategy is the most prominent factor that impacts the performance of your inbound calling. Implementing skill-based routing can elevate your resolution rate leading to greater customer satisfaction. When your customers are routed to the right department and agent with matching skills, their issues are resolved faster. Call and contact software also offer IVR systems to route calls to the right department. It also keeps the caller engaged while on hold.
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Implement self-service options
Today’s customers prefer finding the answers themselves. Chatbots can be used to provide customers with step-by-step guidance for resolving their issues. An inbound management software may also have speech analytics to identify key phrases. These frequently used phrases can be used to understand customer pain points and create content around it. Such information can be made available on the website in the form of FAQs and blogs to enhance self-service capabilities. These two methods are the most cost-effective ways to provide customers with better accessibility and after-hour services.
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Integrate communications across channels
Modern customers use multiple communication channels, such as email, social media, live chat, etc to contact a business. An omnichannel inbound call management software unifies all the communication channels so that agents can respond to customers without any delay. It simplifies communication between customers and agents. Moreover, customers get the flexibility to reach out to the business through their preferred channel. It also enhances customer experience as customers do not need to repeat themselves when switching channels during the conversation.
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Integrate CRM to equip agents with the right information
CRM integration is the feature of inbound call center software that boosts agent productivity. It equips the call center agent with the customer information, previous history, last communication, etc., so that they can quickly catch up on the conversation with the caller. It portrays that you know and value your customers.
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Offer call back option
When all your agents are busy, the customer may have to be on hold for longer. This results in customer frustration. The best way to avoid such an unpleasant experience is by offering customers a call-back option. It also shows that you value your customer’s time.
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Rely on call analytics
Call analytics is a valuable resource that can help you improve your inbound calling strategy. Focus on the right metrics to identify areas of improvement. Some of the metrics that you can monitor are:
- Average speed of answering
- First call resolution (FCR)
- Average handling time
- Service levels
- Average waiting time
- Customer satisfaction
- Service level
The analytics and reporting enable a business to assess the agents’ performance as well as evaluate the customer experience. It also helps in identifying agent training needs. Become a data-driven inbound call center to meet customer expectations.
Leverage the prowess of inbound call center software
Inbound call center software provides numerous perks for businesses leading to better revenue generation. It is the most effective tool to streamline customer service operations. The advanced features of call center software enable the business to handle tons of inbound calls while delivering a positive customer experience. With omnichannel inbound call center software like HoduCC, a business can also ensure brand voice consistency across all communication channels. HoduCC is a leading call center software that helps in providing a hyper-personalized customer service experience to your customers. It comes with a plethora of call operation features that support proactive customer interaction leading to a higher customer satisfaction rate. To know more about HoduCC and other HoduSoft products, check out its website.
If you have any queries or would like to know more about the HoduSoft product suite, get in touch with our sales team at [email protected] or fill up the form here for a callback.
