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.

A thousand new leads mean nothing to your business if you don’t know the art of conversions.

While new leads serve nothing less than the lifeblood of every sales team, only less than half of all the leads get converted into sales.

Its prime goal is to educate the prospect of your company’s products or services, building their awareness and trust along the way, to help them make the purchasing decision in favor of your company.

d) Start the nurturing process without any delay, as soon as you get the notion that they are taking interest in your business even if its just your blog articles.

And it seems like an obvious question since call centers are mostly known for providing lead generation services which is an entirely different process.

Research also proves that using targeted content to strategically nurture your needs can have significant impacts on your overall sales.

Original Source: https://www.theoctopustech.com/nurture-leads-better-using-call-center-services/

The BPO sector has seen many changes over the past decade. There are several call center services that have been added to an ever-growing list of offerings that contact centers are now offering businesses across the globe. There was a time when a call center was only synonymous with answering calls of troubled customers. While that is still a big part of the inbound call center services that are offered, many new additions have been made to the services.

Contact centers have adapted to the changing times and the changing needs of businesses. Outsourcing has been an important cost-cutting measure for companies for over two decades. The list of tasks to outsource to India has grown significantly. Inbound services have always been significant as they help businesses provide customer service in a cost-effective manner, all the while being able to focus on their core objectives.  We shall now understand what other inbound call center services businesses today need.

1. Technical Support Services

Technical support or as it’s also known as – help desk services, are inbound services that are outsourced by companies that usually sell some sort of hardware. An OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) usually outsources this service to provide support to those customers that face challenges using their products after making the purchase. These organizations can include – desktop manufacturers, laptop manufacturers, mobile, and tablet manufacturers to name a few.

Even though outsourcing help desk services is more common for hardware companies, there are certain software companies who do it as well. Whether they have utility software or a web-based application, whenever customers face any challenges with it, they need technical support. With the growing number of applications that are released every year, I believe 2017 can be the year that software companies will overtake device manufacturers in availing inbound call center services.

2. Inbound Sales

Inbound sales can be considered an extension of telemarketing services. The whole concept is to try and convert a potential customer who calls in with a business inquiry into a paying customer. This inbound sales service enhances the revenue of the company and is a business model that many service providers offer. These inbound sales can be generally of three types –

Up-selling – Up-selling refers to when an existing customer calls in for information about any aspect of their service and you try to sell them on a higher plan or a costlier plan than the one they are already subscribed to.

Cross-selling – This is a similar concept to up-selling but here you do not try to sell a more expensive plan, you try to sell a service or product that is related to the one a customer already uses.

Customer Acquisition – Unlike up-selling and cross-selling, here the individual that calls you is not an existing customer. They are just someone that saw your company’s number on its website or social media page and called in for information. The goal here is to educate the caller on the products and services of the company and their various benefits in order to convert them into customers by making a sale.

3. Booking Orders

As the name suggests, this inbound process involves booking orders from customers when they call in. There are so many websites that sell their products online these days. However, there are situations where your customers may not be able to order online for the products. That is where order booking processes come in. Inbound calls are received from customers who want to place their orders over the phone. Their details like product number, product description, shipping address, payment method etc are confirmed and their order is booked over the phone.  Just like inbound sales process, this process also helps enhance the revenue of the business.

4. Customer Service

Even though customer service has been mentioned above in the beginning of this post, it deserves a mention in this list as well. Customer service remains the most important and widely outsourced service as far as inbound call center services are concerned. Providing customers with good customer service ensures their loyalty with the brand and keeps them retained. That is why this aspect is never over-looked and companies outsource their customer support to reliable inbound call center services providers.

Original Source: https://www.theoctopustech.com/common-inbound-call-center-services-businesses-today-need/

Below we will see some of the ways you can enhance customer satisfaction and customer experience –Real-Time SolutionsWe live in a fast-paced world and the modern customer cannot be expected to wait for you to find a solution and get back to you.

They want quick results, real-time solutions and if they do not get it from you, they will go to your competition.

Train your agents well so that they have the responses to some of the customer’s common questions at their fingertips.Proactively Identify Their NeedsUnderstanding the pain points of your customers goes a long way towards resolving those pain points.

Once you gain insight into what your customers truly want, delivering on those expectations becomes relevantly easier.

Loyal customers always bring repeat business to you and you have to spend less on acquiring new customers.Integrating Social Media into your StrategySocial media is so important for managing customer experience these days.

It is where your customers go to complain about you, ask you questions and expect answers.

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/

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/

Everything from the very first contact with them to keeping them engaged with the brand needs to be carefully managed to provide them the best experience needed.

In this post, we will discuss how businesses can utilize call center services to help improve their customer lifecycle management.

Before we can go into the ways that call center services can, we must understand what exactly is customer lifecycle management and the various stages that are involved in it.

Stages of Customer Lifecycle Management

There are mainly four stages of CLM (Customer Lifecycle Management). These stages can differ based on each organization and its business goals. In this post, we will discuss the four stages that will be recognized by most of the companies out there.

Stage 1 – Customer Acquisition

As it is clear from the name, this activity refers to acquiring new customers for the business. This is the primary stage where your business establishes contact with a new customer for the first time with the hopes of converting them from a prospect to a paying customer or client.  This activity is necessary for the growth of any business. You need to grow your customer base in order to maintain a constant growth of the organization.

Stage 2- Customer Engagement

The second stage of CLM is customer engagement. When you acquire a customer and they have been with the brand for a while but now their usage of your product or service has declined, you need to increase their engagement with your brand. It could be in the form of using your app more or visiting your website more often. Customer engagement ensures a customer’s loyalty to the brand and puts the business at ease about whether customers will stay with the brand or not.

Stage 3 – Customer Retention

Retaining your existing customers is an extremely import part of customer lifecycle management. If you lose your customers, it will have a negative impact on your business’s bottom line. It will also lead to the increase in marketing costs and customer acquisition costs. A good customer retention strategy can not only save costs but lead to stronger brand profile overall.

Stage 4 – Customer Feedback

This stage lets a business understand how loyal a customer is to their brand. You get to know what they feel about your product or services, what they like, what they dislike and most importantly, the changes they would like to see. It helps a business become better by implementing the changes that customers want and it makes the customers feel appreciated when they see their opinions have been valued.

Call Center Services and Customer Lifecycle Management

All the above four stages or the entire CLM process requires a company to have dedicated teams of professionals that have experience dealing with each and every such stage. Outsourcing call center services help a business handle these complex stages using experienced staff and techniques.

A right outsourcing company can provide a business with customer acquisition services using outbound and inbound telemarketing and lead generation services that help a business increase its customer base thus increasing overall revenues. Similarly, that same company can handle customer engagement by reaching out to customers and informing them of new features as well as offers related to a business’s services.

Customer retention processes are also carried out by call center services. Customers that wish to leave your services will be contacted by the call center team to understand the root cause of them leaving and provide those customers with the required incentives to stick by the brand. The fourth stage of CLM, getting feedback from the customers is also handled by call centers through their customer survey process where customers are contacted to conduct a quick survey to know the overall level of satisfaction they have with the services.

Conclusion:

In the end, what really matters is finding the right call center partner that can deploy a team that can get your customers through all entire customer lifecycle management process efficiently thus helping businesses reduce their costs and boost profits

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.