6 Important Ways to Effectively Manage High Call Volume

Contact centers are often the frontline for most business-to-customer (B2C) interactions. This is particularly true for customer service and sales channels. The B2C industry is booming and there is no stopping its growth. But at the same time, the sheer number of incoming calls has increased exponentially and call volumes are shooting up to an unmanageable level, which can cause serious issues in the day-to-day operations of a contact center. If the contact center fails to acknowledge the incoming calls, then eventually customer frustration will catch on to your profits. The repeated poor service will increase the loss of customers and more resources will go to waste. Hence, it is important to strategize and figure out how to manage these calls and resolve every customer issue. 

Content:

• Better intake management can help reduce wasted time spent on identity verification.
• Providing agents with additional information about customers before they answer a phone call can reduce handling time by up to 20%.
• Automation tools such as smart routing, artificial intelligence, and chatbots can be used for self-service as well

There is an array of tools and solutions which can fit into your day-to-day operations and improve your efficiency. Let’s discuss these in more detail: 

1. Investment in Self-Service to Reduce High Call Volume:

Self-service resources are a valuable way to provide customer support in the contact center. It barely requires human interference. It is a self-sufficient service that can contain the customer and resolve the issue. They can be:

• Knowledge Bases: A knowledge base is an online source of information about a particular topic. It is created for people looking for answers to questions, as well as for those who need more detail about how something works or what type of information they might find when researching a topic.
• Forums: Forums are discussion boards where customers and employees can post questions, and replies, and initiate discussions on any given subject. These boards are often used to gain feedback from other customers with common problems or issues.
• Chatbots: Chatbots are computer programs designed to simulate a conversation with human chatters, usually through text messages or a live chat interface. Chatbots can answer frequently asked questions and resolve a majority of the problems that customers face. For inbound calls, voice bots are also getting prominence. So instead of deflecting callers to chat, voice bots can provide the conversational experience without tying up the agents. 

2. Automate Customer Verification:

IVRs are smart enough these days to identify the customer and verify their accounts with you to confirm their legitimacy. These tasks are absolutely tedious and time-consuming. Therefore, automating them is better than forcing your agents to waste precious time by searching through customer history and whatnot. Some contact centers are using voice biometrics for authentication of the caller. The more time saved on redundant tasks, the more efficient your agents will be in offering the due customer service. 

3. Improving IVR Containment Rate:

Your IVR is the first line of defense. If the customer’s issue is resolved by the IVR, your agents wouldn’t have to bother with them anymore. They can focus on tickets where agent assistance is imperative. But how do you improve the IVR containment rate? Here are some tips:

• Create a separate line for finance, product, and other assistance.
• Do not spam advertisements on your IVR. It is insensitive and frustrating as it delays the service.
• Shorten the menu if possible but do not skip on any option that might help your customers.
• Integrate with your CRM system to retrieve information and record inputs from the customer and complete the interactions.
• In case some assistance can’t be offered via IVR, share details about how they can avail help. Educate them about your self-services as well. 
• Encourage all straightforward problems to be solved through your IVR. 

4.  Never Understaff:

Managers can use their forecasting and workforce management tools to provide the best service to their customers. Forecasting is the process of predicting future demands for resources, using past patterns of activity and historic data. This can help managers calculate the proper number of employees needed for both peak and non-peak hours.
Forecasting is also a way to predict customer demand and make sure that a company's staffing levels are prepared in advance. For example, if customers typically call in late at night but call volume has been very low this week, it is likely that they will increase their calls during tonight’s peak hours. Managers should prepare ahead by hiring more staff who would be best suited for these late-night shifts in order to meet customer demands. This way you are always prepared for your peak hours. 

5. Investment in a Call Scheduling Tool:

Well, it is frustrating if the customer doesn’t get through to you at once. But keeping them waiting is just careless service. Instead, offer them the option to schedule a call back where the agent and the customer can both be available. This eradicates the need for mindlessly waiting and also shortens the queue during peak hours. 

6. Call deflections with IVR:

The concept of Visual IVR is very simple. While the generic IVR offers only one channel of service, the Visual IVR can offer more. The Visual IVR presents the entire menu and options onto the screens of your smartphones or tablets. The customer can scroll through and choose to resolve issues using Visual IVR menus or they can also avail of other options like setting up a callback, sending an email, communicating on social media forums, or even speaking to a chatbot or live agent. The Visual IVR acts like an umbrella under which all support options are available. The best way to trigger Visual IVR is through call deflection. When the call volume is high, the IVR can provide an option for customers to choose Visual IVR or WhatsApp chat and take the load off from the call queues.

I assure you that it is not rocket science when it comes to managing high call volumes. Customers will always call. No contact center is ever sitting in silence. The best bet is to hire rightfully and predict your peak hours. Based on the incoming volume, you can invest in the above-mentioned practices to become more efficient. With multiple self-servicing options and AI-driven support, agents need not be bothered for all calls. If you are struggling with high call volume and want to deal with it better, feel free to contact our experts.