Many businesses rely on BPO Services and outsource their help desk to these eligible partners. Customer satisfaction being the core metric of business growth, every company wants to have a satisfied and happy customer base. But at times, it becomes difficult for an in-house team to handle volumes of calls, and there is a rise in the call drop and, in turn, customer dissatisfaction.
So to eradicate the chance of such unwanted scenarios, the companies prefer to outsource their customer service to leading BPO Companies. Although every industry is raking benefits of the services offered by third-party providers, ecommerce customer service outsourcing is on the rise. The pandemic has triggered online marketing and purchases, and the ecommerce sector is finding it difficult to manage it all.
Why Businesses Need A Customer Help Desk?
The customers always tend to call up the customer service portal of a company if they have a doubt, and here is where the voice process of call center services plays a significant role. The 24×7 support eliminates the call drop chances. The executives are trained to handle the calls from the customers and deliver optimum solutions and answers excellently.
Average Call Handling Time
The Average Call Handling Time (AHT) plays an essential metric defining the success of the support panel and its efforts. It is the duration of the conversation between the customer and the call center agents. These executives aim to fulfill all the questions with appropriate replies and clear all the consumer’s doubts through proper phone answering. The BPO Services aims to increase the productivity of the agent and escalate the CX. The customer satisfaction score is boost with low AHT.
How to Calculate the AHT (Average Handle Time)?
The AHT comprises the total duration of conversion between the customer and the agent, including the in-between hold time. This, however, excludes the queue time and the ring time. The more efficiently and successfully an executive handles a call and closes the conversation, the better the call handling score would be. This significantly reduces the wait time, and the company can achieve higher cost efficiencies.
Here are some methods and tips that BPO Services follows reduce the Average Call Handle Time:
Keeping a Record of Every Call Conversation
Many call center software are set for automatic call recording, and these give a deep insight into the agent’s performance. The managers can scrutinize the recorded data and can understand the weakness and the trouble areas. This helps them offer better guidance to the agents, and they can teach them the ways for a shorter and more fruitful conversation.
One thing that needs a special mention here is that the agents should not focus on closing a conversation without delivering answers. Else that would portray a negative impression on the customer, resulting in repeated calls.
Agents’ Training Is the Key
The BPO Services should organize regular training sessions for the agents and teach them the efficient ways of reducing AHT. The use of numerous call center tools like the CRM facilitates the agent to derive the information quickly and answer the calls in the lowest possible time, leaving the customers satisfied. This coaching should be conducted with the help of recorded calls for a real-time experience.
The agents must also know whom to contact when in doubt and the best way to keep a customer engaged and resolve the issues at the earliest. The agent of the BPO Services should also have a thorough knowledge of the products and services offered by the company so that they can provide a First Call Resolution to the customers.
Streamlining The Process And Workflow Of The Agent
The call center must focus on monitoring the agents’ workflow and process and offer them customized ideas to optimize their performance. For instance, a utility call center manages and figures out all the inefficiencies and slices all the possibilities of an inflated AHT. The manual tasks can be automated to minimize the busy time of the agents.
Offer Enough Knowledge Material
Only if the agent has the required knowledge regarding the company policies and the products, he can answer the customer’s calls in the most meaningful manner. This can drastically reduce the call time, and the agent can deliver a satisfactory performance. Here a list of FAQs helps the agents through common queries and see-through answers without over-thinking.
Upgrade Call Routing With Modern Technology
If the most trusted and capable agent answers the call with specific queries, the AHT is expected to drop massively. Here skill-based call routing, IVR system, and other new-age software can play the winning point in BPO Services. This results in lesser customer frustration and higher CX.
Opening and Closing the Calls with Greetings
If BPO Services wants to create a positive customer experience, the opening and closing greetings matter greatly. The more professionally and politely a customer is greeted, the happier and more satisfied he leaves. The greetings should be short, sweet, and simple without much exaggeration. A personalized greeting develops a bonding between the agent and the customers, and it leaves an impression on the caller’s mind. However, this is only possible with an updated customer data through an omnichannel strategy along with the use of an effective CRM integration.
Use Of Latest Call Center Technologies
The customer service solutions and the other infrastructure should operate smoothly if a call center expects its agent to deliver a robust call handling solution. If the internet speed or the system response time is low, the agent may take longer to finish the call, which will hike the AHT. The availability of a secure connection, proper telephone connectivity, high-tech menu options, and voice clarity triggers a better customer experience.
Use Of Chatbots and IVR
The use of these modern self-service technologies eliminates the need for a voice call to some extent. The consumers get the answers to almost some of their common queries through these tools, and these systems also help route their call to the right agent.
Call Type – Evaluation
There should be different categories for different call types in the BPO Services. There may be a general query, technical troubleshooting, billing information, or other contact reasons. Depending on the different types of calls, AHT may differ.
Always Value Experience
All agents have their strengths and weaknesses in the respective fields, which the managers should keep in mind. Even after the same amount of training on the processes, some agents may perform better than others. They should be encouraged to share their efficiency tips to improve the overall performance of the team.