I Want to Speak to a Human
Tuesday, 30 June 2009 13:08
| Super Powered - Tips & Tricks |
Have you ever complained about a companies auto attendant? Does your company get complaints about your phone systems auto attendant? Read this article on how to best utilize your auto attendant and learn some of the basic design practices.
How many times have you said this to a phone system? How many times have you just hung up? How many times have you questioned your sanity because you find yourself yelling through a phone to a machine? You are not alone. You and many others may have done just this in the past few days.
Unorganized and useless automated attendants run rampant in today’s businesses. These useless automated attendants are a result of poorly designed systems and featureless proprietary phone systems.
Of the many reasons that a company's automated attendants fail to provide a good customer service experience is the way the options were designed. The options were probably designed for a specific result or to drive calls to a certain department. They did not take into account the need to change these options as the company grows, expands or changes the way they do business. Just as your marketing changes every so often so should your phone system options.
Another reason these systems fail is the order in which the choices are presented. Take for example the company that uses “For all general questions press 1.” How do you know if your question is a general question or a specific question until you hear the rest of the options? If this option is first, your customer will be trying to decide if it’s a general question and potentially miss the next few options. A good design will have this option towards the end, in case all the previous options were not relevant.
Just like a company's business cards are important to the first impression made upon a customer, so is your phone system's automated attendant. The tone, voice and tempo of the recordings are very important. These are the first impressions your customers are hearing and getting from your company.
If the voice is perceived as unprofessional, they probably won’t take you seriously and they'll give up on their phone call. If they can’t understand the voice because it’s talking too fast and causing them to miss the options, then they will get annoyed and hang up. If this customer continues and gets through to someone, then the call center agent will end up talking to a frustrated and irritated customer—who didn't start off calling in that mood.
Your automated attendant should also be accurate and responsive. This means that, if the system puts you in a queue, let your customer know that. Don’t have them thinking that they are next in line, when in fact they aren’t. The system should be able to tell the customer an accurate hold time and what number they are in the queue. The caller will appreciate it if they know that they are number 50 in line versus next in line. They can make a decision as to if they have time to hold for the 49 previous callers.
If your system says that the hold time will be 10 minutes and you pick up in 30 seconds, then that shows to the caller the company is probably not as organized and they can’t really trust anything that is told to them. They also might have started to do another activity while they are on hold, assuming they had time to kill while on hold.
If your system says that the hold time will be 10 minutes and you pick up in 30 seconds, then that shows to the caller the company is probably not as organized and they can’t really trust anything that is told to them. They also might have started to do another activity while they are on hold, assuming they had time to kill while on hold.
It’s also a good idea to indicate to your customers that their call is about to be answered. Some systems will do this with a fake ring or some other type of audible sound. This will give the caller a few seconds to either pick up the handset or finish what they were doing while on hold.
The biggest reason callers give up on automated systems is because they feel like they can’t reach a human being right away. ALWAYS give the caller an option to speak to a live person. Don’t do like a lot of companies and make this a hidden option, or an option only if they have failed to enter in a correct account number.
The biggest reason callers give up on automated systems is because they feel like they can’t reach a human being right away. ALWAYS give the caller an option to speak to a live person. Don’t do like a lot of companies and make this a hidden option, or an option only if they have failed to enter in a correct account number.
People enjoy the convenience and speed of automated attendants, but there is a limit to their patience. If a caller has to decode or think hard through the options, then it defeats the purpose of the technology. That purpose being to disseminate information in a timely fashion or to connect them to a person that can answer their questions without having to hear “Sorry you’re in the wrong department”
When you go to design your phone systems, take the time to layout the options and solicit feedback from co-workers. This will give you multiple perspectives on the design.
When you go to design your phone systems, take the time to layout the options and solicit feedback from co-workers. This will give you multiple perspectives on the design.
Use these technologies to make your life easier and your caller’s lives easier. It will increase the productiveness of your employees and increase your revenues.