How to Improve Customer Service with Hosted VoIP

When decision-makers brainstorm ways to trim a business's expenses, they often focus on familiar tactics such as using less paper around the office and outsourcing more tasks to contractors. These approaches do not always work as intended and sometimes even increase costs. 

For example, entrusting software development to an external team can lead to significant delays. What if there were a better and more reliable way to streamline your budget? There is, and it starts with customer service.

Customer service is not just a driver of an organization's image and reputation. It also shapes long-term retention and revenue. By prioritizing customer service, you can achieve returns comparable to dramatic reductions in spending or increased profit:

• According to the influential business text "Leading on the Edge of Chaos" by Emmett and Mark Murphy, just a 2 percent increase in customer retention is equivalent to a 10 percent reduction in costs.
• Defaqto Research once found more than half of customers (55 percent) would pay more for a better service experience.
• The Net Promoter Score - a popular measure of a brand image - has been estimated to account for up to 60 percent of variation in organic growth rates among competitors.
• Marketing Metrics has found that it is much easier to convert a happy existing customer into another sale than to win over an entirely new prospect.

Verbally committing to delivering excellent customer service is easy; actually achieving it is more challenging. The good news is that with hosted VoIP services from an experienced partner such as Telesystem, better customer service and superior business functions are both within reach.

What hosted VoIP can do for customer service operations

Many of the top complaints about customer service are actually gripes about legacy PBX systems, which give representatives limited tools for processing a high volume of calls. A Consumer Reports National Research Center study revealed some of the most common issues, including being unable to reach a human (75 percent of respondents), getting disconnected (74 percent) and being transferred to someone who can't help (70 percent).

A hosted VoIP solution is a perfect fit for modern customer service. In addition to offering substantial savings on equipment (there are no on-premises assets to manage) and IT support, it provides specific benefits for customer service workers, including:

1. INCREASED CAPACITY FOR TAKING MORE CALLS

Waiting in the queue for someone to pick up is frustrating – two-thirds of the Consumer Reports survey-takers cited it as a problem. Long wait times are products of constantly busy phone lines, compounded by the complexity of needing on-site visits from service providers for almost any increase in line capacity.

With hosted VoIP, all system changes can be managed from a convenient web interface. You can boost capacity and answer more calls, leading to shorter average wait times. Once customers notice they can reach someone with minimal delay, they will be more likely to trust the organization and conduct return business.

2. BETTER ROUTING AND ANSWERING

VoIP platforms have more flexible routing options than standard PBX systems. For starters, multiple incoming numbers can be routed to a single destination. Advanced policies can also be set up in software, to make sure calls go to the right person the first time. These adjustments save callers the annoyances of being transferred between extensions.

Hosted VoIP even supports mobile offices, enabling reps without fixed lines to receive calls on mobile devices from any location. Such flexibility ensures important calls do not go unanswered.

3. INTEGRATIONS FOR HOLISTIC SUPPORT

Call centers are not islands. Representatives do not simply pick up the phone but instead spend considerable time looking up records in applications such as customer relationship management software or Microsoft Outlook. 

Integrations between these platforms and hosted VoIP implementations simplify customer service delivery. Moreover, VoIP functionality is a natural pairing with unified communications services for instant messaging and conferencing. Old-fashioned PBX infrastructure cannot match hosted VoIP in delivering multifaceted support.

4. AUTO-ATTENDANTS AND VOICEMAIL

Some companies work around long wait times by offering to call customers back as soon as possible. Auto Attendant and voicemail features, like the ones included in Telesystem voice solutions, make this approach possible.

They may offer customized greetings as well as menus for capturing customer details prior to the return call. For small and medium-sized businesses, these systems have the added benefits of presenting a professional "big company" image.

Better customer service starts with better tools

Hosted VoIP is a key piece in the customer service portal. It makes it easier for customers to reach knowledgeable representatives, while helping those workers perform their jobs more reliably. The end result is greater satisfaction on all sides.

Are you ready to remake your customer service operations? Visit our main Voice page to learn more about hosted VoIP options from Telesystem, or contact us directly for more details.

References:

http://thevoipreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/13-Secrets-to-Using-VoIP-to-Improve-Customer-Service.pdf

https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2015/11/top-customer-service-complaints/index.htm

http://www.netpromotersystem.com/about/how-is-nps-related-to-growth.aspx

https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/109434/file-333361905-pdf/50_customer_service_facts.pdf

http://www.telesystem.us/products/voice/phone-system/

https://telzio.com/blog/cost-benefits-switching-voip-service