Customer support is one of the vital aspects of a business. It’s your connection to people who bought your product or service. So, it can make it or break it. Because of this, you need to cater to it and keep it in perfect shape. And sometimes, that can be a hard thing to do. But, what if we tell you that you can improve customer service for your business with VoIP? In fact, this is the reason why it’s so popular these days.
Now, many are surprised when they realize that call centers still exist in 2021. At the end of the day, we have chats and emails, so why wouldn’t you do what you need via that medium? Well, it seems that people still like to use phones. They don’t want to wait on an email response. And this way, they’re sure that they’ll get instant help.
So, it’s clear that you need to have a call center if you want your company to move forward. VoIP helps businesses communicate with their customers, so it’s an ideal choice for most. But there’s more to the story than this. And we’ll explain why this is.
Why is Contact Center Phone Service so Important?
We’ll start by sharing one piece of information. You see, about 70% of customers will disconnect if they don’t get to talk to a person. We don’t say that auto-receptionist and IVR options don’t work. But, most people still prefer to speak to a human. And that’s one of the reasons why you need a phone service that can handle any volume of calls.
On top of that, it’ll help you retain loyal customers. When an existing customer leaves your business for a competitor, that’s called customer churn. And if it happens once, you can be sure that it’ll happen again. So you have to do something about it.
According to experts, you can reduce the churn by as much as 75% if you resolve your client’s issues in the first interaction. You don’t want them to call back repeatedly to solve the same thing.
Now that you know all of this, it should be clear why contact centers are crucial for businesses. And if you’re going to have it, you should go for the best option out there – which is VoIP. That, of course, doesn’t mean that you need to spend a ton of money on it. There’s plenty of small business options that can work great, and they’re affordable.
So, let’s see why these are so good.
If you want your company to grow, you need to have a call support service. Alt tag: People working in the office talking about how to improve customer service for your business with VoIP.
Never Miss a Call
You’ve learned how important it is for customers to talk to a live person. But imagine if they can’t reach your business at all. That would have a significant impact on your earnings, for sure. However, with VoIP, you can ensure that you never miss a customer call.
You can set up a system that incoming calls go directly to the next available agent. And if all of them are busy, send your customers to a group inbox where they can leave a message or request a callback.
On top of all that, VoIP systems are very versatile. They’ll allow you to gather data about your customers and use them during their phone interactions. So, you can create a personalized experience for each client. Even if they wait to get in touch with you, they’ll get the interaction that no other company can offer them. And for that, they’ll come back.
Decrease Response Times
No client will be happy if they must wait for you to find a solution to their problem. And putting them on hold or passing them from one agent to another will only make things worse. So, let’s see how you can improve customer service for your business with VoIP.
With such a system, your calls will be answered in a matter of seconds. Automatic routing rules allow you to spread them out across agents. So, all your employees will get equal opportunities to answer them.
And because it’s so advance, VoIP makes it easy for your agents and managers to communicate with each other. They’ll be able to solve any problem your customers have much more quickly than your competition. And that can’t be a bad thing.
Allow Agents to Be Flexible
A great thing about VoIP systems is that they’re location-independent. And this means that your employees aren’t chained to desks anymore. They don’t even have to come to the office to work.
If you give your agents a chance to work from a coffee shop or home, they’ll be much happier. And it’ll work out for you as well. You won’t need a large office that can sit all your staff, so you’ll save money.
On top of all that, you can hire the best talent from pretty much anywhere in the world. Therefore, if you already have a remote workforce, or you’re considering hiring some, small business VoIP is exactly what you’re looking for.
Your agents will be able to work from wherever they like, and that will influence their happiness. Alt tag: Working setup at a coffee shop.
Lower Costs
All of the things we talked about are a nice intro for this paragraph. If you’re a business owner, you probably heard stories that VoIP saves you money. And as a matter of fact, these stories are true.
You see, almost any VoIP phone service will be cheaper than the solution you currently have. We can promise you that. Internet is widely available these days, so there’s no surprise here. But how does this help improve customer service?
Well, if you spend less money on calls, you’ll have more money for improving other processes. You’ll finally be able to implement those innovative ideas and solutions you always wanted to try out.
VoIP Improves Internal Communication
There are many ways you can use VoIP. And one of them is to improve collaboration within your business. You can hold virtual meetings in which you can discuss strategies to improve your services.
Be sure to encourage this kind of open communication. You’ll be amazed by how many good ideas your teams will come up with. And those are wins for everyone – your employees, your customers, and yourself.
Analyze Customer Interactions
This is another way to improve customer service for your business with VoIP. With these systems, you can record calls for later playback. And how you’ll use these recordings is on you. But, we’ll give you a few ideas that have worked great for many companies.
- They’re an excellent tool for training new agents.
- Supervisors can take a listen and highlight the best and the worst moments.
- Agents can listen to them and seek room for improvements on their own.
It’s also easy to integrate VoIP with CRM or productivity tools. If you create call and usage reports, it’ll be easy to keep track of trends in the business. You’ll be able to anticipate the demand and better serve your customers.
You’ll quickly improve customer service for your business with VoIP as you’ll be able to analyze calls that you’ve gotten. Alt tag: A man analyzing on his tablet.
Quickly scale up or down
Business growth is a good thing. But sometimes, it’s not easy to predict it. So, it’s good to know that your phone service can handle the extra volume at a moment’s notice. If you run into unexpected demand, the last thing you want is to keep your customers waiting. And VoIP helps you handle that.
And the best thing about it is that you only pay for what you use. So, depending on what your business needs, you can expand or downsize whenever you want. No more long queues for your users, that’s for sure.
Automate Simple Queries
Another of the things you need to know about VoIP phone service is that it allows for automation. That’s pretty much always a good thing, but it’s a lifesaver here. Let us explain why.
We have already talked about how customers want to speak with a live person. But, that’s not always the case. Sometimes, they only want to get quick information about their payment or debt. And for that, they don’t have to wait in a queue.
It’s much better to use a built-in IVR feature for providing customers with answers to common questions. So, if they want to know their payment date, they only need to push one button, and they will know what they came for.
It is an excellent option for these clients as they won’t waste any time. And it’s great for your business as you will make your processes more efficient. Once again, everyone wins.
Improve Accessibility
As we have established, customers usually prefer calling a business for support. However, sometimes, they’ll decide to use email or text. And when this happens, you’ll be glad to have VoIP.
It enables you to consolidate multiple communication channels into one interface. So, no matter which method customers prefer at the time, it’ll make no difference for your agents. They’ll always know what the problem is, what has been done to solve it, and what they should do next.
Your customers will have more channels to contact you, and your agents will see all of them in one place. Alt tag: A person texting and writing an email at the same time.