Why Call Deflection Is More Important than Ever
Gone are the days when the quality of your products and a competitive price were the only determinants of attracting a loyal customer base.
The relationship between customers and businesses has changed to the point of no return. The rise of modern technology transformed the way we interact with our customers, and their expectations are higher than ever.
Neither the high quality of your product nor its affordable price won’t stop your loyal customers from churning if you don’t live up to their expectations by providing excellent customer service.
That’s where call deflection comes in, as an essential step in solving your customers’ problems that can improve their user experience, and boost their satisfaction.
What do Your Customers Want?
The answer is pretty straightforward – when your customers contact your customers’ service, they want a response right away, and if they have a problem, they want to be able to resolve it promptly.
Just like each one of us, they want to feel that the time is valued and that the fact that they’ve trusted you with their money is well appreciated.
Providing support to your customers via a traditional call center can’t answer their needs anymore. Call centers have a limited number of representatives and limited working hours, and it would take a fortune to make as many hires as needed to answer your customers’ demands.
Waiting for a representative to respond can’t be avoided, and their issues can take hours or even days to resolve.
Statistics show that being put on hold frustrates 33% of your customers, and the same number of customers hates the fact that they have to repeat their problem to multiple service representatives.
And you know what? Most of the time, your customers don’t want to call you at all. They turn to their phones only when your website doesn’t provide the information they need or offers them the way to solve the issue themselves.
Negative experiences only build up. And when they are not satisfied with the customer service, statistics show that they are four times more likely to turn to your competitor.
How to Use Call Deflection to Improve Your Customer Service
The key to improving customer satisfaction with your service is reducing the reliance on phone calls and making your human agents available to timely handle the complex issues that can hardly be solved otherwise.
The only way you can get there is by offering quick and easy ways for your customers to solve their issues without a need to interact with a human agent.
Here are a few efficient ways to deflect calls that will benefit both your customers and you.
Optimize Your Website
Most of your customers with an issue will first visit your website, and try to solve their issue themselves. Analyze the most frequent issues your customers are having as well as the reasons they’re contacting your call center.
Optimize your website so that your customers can find the answers to the most frequent questions easily. Put a comprehensive resource center or a FAQ section on your website, and explain each one of the processes your customers can handle themselves in a detailed manner.
Make the links to self-help pages and guides accessible from everywhere, and easy for your customers to find.
Also, make sure you include self-service links at your Contact us page, for the customers who will visit this section of your website first.
AI-Powered Chatbots
Using AI-powered chatbots is a great way to help your customers get timely and adequate customer service, and take the pressure off your reps.
Unlike call centers, conversational chatbots are available 24/7/365, capable of giving an immediate response and successfully resolving 80% of issues. With them around, the need for the calls to your center will significantly be reduced.
The clients who decide to contact you by phone and are faced with long waiting times can choose to interact with a call deflection chatbot instead. This personalized and branded virtual assistant can handle high call volumes, successfully automating FAQs, and managing simple tasks.
At the same time, conversational chatbots take a weight off your human agents’ shoulders, leaving them with more time and energy to handle more complex or sensitive issues, which require human attention.
Offer Multichannel Support
To prevent the calls to your service center, offer your customers enough alternative channels for interacting with your business that are equally, if not even more, efficient.
If you don’t use them already, consider adding other resources for customer support, such as email, live chat, interactive voice response, and social media.
You can also include YouTube videos and forums to add variety and offer the best fit for each one of your customers.
What’s In It For You?
When done right, call deflection will give you many happy customers, who can manage their matters all by themselves, without negative experiences. And, just a quick reminder that a single negative experience can mean a third of your customers lost, probably forever.
Furthermore, it will take the stress away from your customer service reps, who often spend their workhours helping unhappy clients solve common and trivial issues, instead of focusing on more complex problems that deserve their attention.
Finally, even if you do need to invest in order to provide diverse customer support and automate some of the processes, it will save you significant financial resources in the long run, as you won’t need to make as many hires.