In today’s competitive business world, businesses are looking gain a competitive edge over their competitors while cutting down their cost of operations. This need has given a rise to the trend of many companies outsourcing their call center services to India. Over a decade ago, there were a handful of sectors that felt the need to outsource their customer service operations or felt the need to hire a call center service provider to carry out various processes. Some of these sectors were telecom, broadband, cable networks and computer hardware & software manufacturers.

However, the scenario has now changed and there are many other industries or sectors that have realized the benefits of outsourcing their call center services. In this post, I will discuss the 4 sectors that are capitalizing or can potentially capitalize on call center services the most.

Healthcare Sector

Whether it is hospitals or medical insurance companies, various healthcare organizations are outsourcing call center services to get important processes like billing, appointment scheduling, reminder calls to patients to fill their prescriptions, insurance claim processing etc. These organizations hire call centers that have the staff with proper knowledge of handling medical processes or a proven track record for the same. Another trend that is picking up is virtual assistant services for doctors that can help their private practices running smoothly by handling all administrative tasks remotely.

Travel Industry

We live in times where we can hail cabs from our smartphones and book flights, trains and buses over the internet within minutes. All these companies, whether they cab providers, airlines or tour & travels Companies have various processes that can be streamlined with the help of call center services. Customers facing challenges booking their airline tickets can be helped using these services, sales of holiday packages can be boosted with outbound and inbound sales processes, customers that are awaiting their cabs can be sent confirmation calls to confirm their bookings using call center services and so many other ways this sector can be helped by outsourcing certain services.

Banking and Financial Sector

From banks to financial institutions like stock brokerages and tax services, all require call center services for various processes. If we talk about stock brokerages, they have call centers call potential clients to convince them to open accounts with them. Banks use these services to sell their products like credit cards, mutual funds, insurance plans or loans to their customers. With more and more banks offering their self-service smartphone applications, they also hire call centers in India to call customers to get these apps downloaded and installed.

E-Commerce and Logistics

There are many reasons that e-commerce companies need call center services. Their customers can face challenges completing payments for their products. There could be calls about general queries like refunds, returns, product features, complaints, feedback etc. Another challenge is from the logistics end. If your customers do not receive their product on time, they may want to know where their product has reached. How long will it take to be delivered? There may be coordination needed with the courier company etc. All these challenges can be solved by outsourcing your customer service to a company providing BPO services in India.

Conclusion

This is the present scenario but there is no telling which other sectors will soon join them and realize the benefits of outsourcing BPO Services that can help industries reduce their costs and enhance profitability.

Original Source: https://www.theoctopustech.com/4-sectors-can-capitalize-call-center-services/

Here goes an interesting fact about smartphones, out of the total population of the world which is roughly 7 billion, 3.7 billion own mobile phones. The fact seems much more intriguing when you realise that only 3.4 billion own toothbrushes.

Smartphone, which is basically a handheld personal computer that comes with a mobile operating system, works nothing less than life blood for today’s generation. An average user touches his smartphone over 2600 times a day which for a heavy user, goes up to 5400.

Amazing! With such heavy usage, smartphones are bound to touch each and every aspect of human lives from the moment we wake up to the moment we go to sleep. Apart from this, there is simply no field left that has not been revolutionized by this new age technology.

Call center services which are used for receiving or transmitting requests via telephone, are no exception. Below are few points to help us understand how smartphones have changed the way call centers work worldwide.

• Mobile-friendly

Gone are the days customers have to use bulky phone directories for contact info and search for landline phones to avail customer care services. With smartphones, people can directly find the solution to their query on their own via internet, or if not, can search for call center details and contact them without wasting any time.

• Security issues

Calling customer care for spoofing or fraud purposes has been going on for ages since calls via public booth can never be tracked back to reveal the caller’s identity.

With the coming of smartphones, things have improved drastically, thanks to its Automatic Number Identification which can uniquely identify any individual, thus forestalling such swindlers.

• Multi-tasking

To be frank, Customers aren’t much thrilled about talking to customer service agents as it can and most times it is a pretty boring stuff, more so, they cannot use the guidance provided by call center reps in real time if the need arises.

With smartphones, along with talking to the agents, customers can use their mobiles for other purposes or simply to verify online about the solution the agents are providing in real time.

• Multi-channel

Another benefit for smartphone is its ability to provide multiple channels to its customers for communication purposes, be it calling, text/SMS or online chatting.

It is more of a two-way process which allows both agents and customers to share information, photos, videos etc to each other for better understanding and solution of the problems.

• Video Chat

Video chatting is another one of the revolutionary service facilitated by the advancement of smartphone technology. Video calling provides a humanly touch to the otherwise disappointing experience of interacting with a robot-like voice while talking to call center agents.

It further leads to a strong brand-consumer relationship by providing a more personal experience for its customers.

Conclusion

Smartphones are the evolution of basic landline phones just as call centers are the evolution of earlier telemarketing services, and both are nothing less than a necessity of today. Combining both have transformed drastically the experience of communication for both companies and its consumers.

Recently call centers have evolved rapidly in many sectors such as banking, retail, Government, tourism etc. from being a simple add-on, customer-facing service to an important differentiator. In today’s race for competition and internationalization, customer satisfaction can have a serious impact on a company’s bottom line where, though one can easily calculate the direct loss of losing a customer, he often ignores the damage caused due to customer sharing his negative experience in his immediate social circle. Before diving further into the ‘how’,

Let’s take a look at ‘why’ customer satisfaction is so crucial for your business-

– Happy customers will always interact with your brand over and over again resulting in higher revenue.

– Because offering terrible customer service can make them switch over to the competition in a heartbeat.

– Great customer experience leads to brand promotion via satisfied customers sharing content across social media.

– Providing better service quality than your competitors will also give you an edge over the competition.

So, it doesn’t matter whether you run an in-house customer care team or availing your services from an Indian outsourcing company or any such, as long as you are ignoring the fundamentally interactive nature of customer service transactions, chances of improving customer satisfaction in your call center will always be slim. Below are some such transformative ideas to help you along the way toward generating the virtuous circle that customer service is always meant to create.

Abstain from the Agent Maze

Don’t waste time by escalating or passing over the problem to multiple agents who cannot help them and, in the process, leave unsatisfied customers and frazzled agents. Instead, install data-directed routing system to your contact center platform to automatically directs the calls to the best possible agent. Also encourage operators to handle situations on their own by spending time with the customers, thus taking full ownership of the problem.

Provide Multiple Support Channels

Making yourself available on as many support channels as possible and providing multi-support channels such as telephone, email, live-chat, social media etc. to your customers goes a long way toward improving customer satisfaction and higher retention. It not only offers a seamless transition between channels but also works well for customers who want greater flexibility and real-time interactivity.

Bestow a Human Touch

Providing a humanly touch to your customer service is the best way to make sure all your customers get equal and excellent service. You can do this by

• Engaging customers proactively
• Keeping your agents accessible at all times
• Keeping your language simple
• Always ask for a feedback
• Offer personalized recommendations
• Treat customers as individuals rather than demographics

Use KPIs to Measure Satisfaction

Choosing the right KPIs or Key Performance Indicators such as Net Promoter Score, Overall Satisfaction, Brand Attributes etc. to measure key metrics and analytics is crucial to building a service footprint that delights customers and delivers insanely great experiences by gathering actionable insights to guide long-term planning, smoothing out the kinks in the system along with fostering goals and objectives among staff.

Monitor Performance through CSAT Scores

CSAT or Customer Satisfaction Surveys is a form of research based on your customer’s reviews regarding your company’s performance. It’s a great way of understanding your customer’s requirements and concerns in order to improve the quality of your products and the standards of your service to that of the customer’s needs which in turn will improve customer loyalty and generate revenue and profitability.

Never Underestimate the Importance of Critical Moments

Creating meaningful relationships is a sure shot way of standing out from the crowd. Though there are numerous ways of showing your appreciation but keeping track of and acknowledging critical moments such as anniversaries, birthdays and other important achievements with the help of various tools available in the market will help strengthen the relationship and take you long ways towards your journey to success.

Wrapping Up

Customers’ expectations are constantly on the rise, sometimes even faster than the speed with which call centers in India and elsewhere can improve their customer satisfaction service. The important thing to understand here is that customer service is an area that needs great nurturing and care with focus and in due time, you will be rewarded with a positive impact on customer loyalty, increased revenues and higher retention.

Original Source: https://www.theoctopustech.com/how-to-improve-customer-satisfaction-in-your-call-center/