Sales and customer service are the life force of every business. Both go hand in hand. If customers are satisfied with a company’s offering as well as its support, they will buy more from it. Good customer service leads to greater customer satisfaction, which results in higher sales.
In such a scenario, the role of sophisticated call center software is extremely crucial for businesses intending to take their customer service and support to the next level. The right call center software not only can delight customers but also increase the company’s sales and revenue.
This article explores how the right call center software can benefit customer-facing businesses and how businesses can select suitable call center software from a crowded market. Read on to get valuable insights.
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1. Provides timely customer support and service
As per a study by Khoros, four out of every five customers consider customer service and experience as one of the most important factors that influence their purchase decision. As per American Express, customers are likely to spend 17 percent more on a brand that has excellent customer service.
As an entrepreneur or a senior management executive, you must make sure that your customers are satisfied, if not delighted, by the support and service you provide. And to make that happen, you not only need a team of competent customer support agents but also the right tools such as sophisticated call center software.
2. Connects customers with the right agents
Equipped with sophisticated features such as skill-based routing and automatic call distribution (ACD), high-quality call center software can connect customers to agents who have the right skills and expertise to handle their queries and resolve their issues.
By doing so, the right call center software plays a huge role in enhancing the first call resolution (FCR) rate of a call center. A recent study found a direct relation between FCR rate and customer satisfaction. As per the research, each percent rise in FCR results in a percent increase in the customer satisfaction score.
3. Streamlines customers’ queries
As an entrepreneur or a customer service professional, you won’t be surprised to know that customers want prompt and clear responses to their queries. And by the queries, we don’t mean just the ones that pertain to their orders and issues with their purchases. As per smallbiztrends, four out of every five customers want an instant reply to their marketing and sales queries.
When it comes to streamlining customers’ queries, call center software can play a massive role. Apart from organizing calls into queues and routing them to specific agents with relevant skills, it also automates several customer support processes and enables agents to handle more calls in less time.
4. Provides customers with a wide range of self-service options
Providing self-service options to customers can indeed increase their satisfaction levels and can help them resolve their issues in a much faster and more efficient manner. Here are some studies and stats to prove it.
As per a study conducted by Nuance, over two-thirds of the respondents said that they prefer self-service over speaking to an agent. Another study found that two out of every five customers said that by using self-service options they can resolve their issues much faster than using other customer service channels.
Sophisticated call center software comes with interactive voice response (IVR) that enables callers to interact with pre-recorded and automated telephone systems by using their voice or pressing specific numbers on their dial pad. It also provides knowledge bases and customer portals.
When customers can resolve their issues on their own (in a much faster, better, and more efficient manner than they ever could have by speaking with any customer service representative) they are more likely to buy more from the brand. Sophisticated call center software also provides automated customer service, such as order status updates and automated order tracking.
5. Helps in conducting surveys, marketing campaigns, and cross-selling and upselling
Apart from enabling small and medium businesses in handling inbound calls, sophisticated call center software also enable companies to make outbound calls for various marketing and research purposes.
Businesses can conduct marketing campaigns and surveys by leveraging outbound call center software. Call center software can help in identifying opportunities to cross-sell and upsell products by providing businesses with valuable data and insights. That gives managers and agents a better understanding of customers’ needs and preferences.
6. Data and insights
Call center software comes with various sophisticated features such as call recording, CRM integration, analytics and reporting, and more. All these can provide a lot of valuable data and insights, which will help businesses and customer service representatives to know their organization’s performance and tailor their responses as per the available data.
For instance, the call recording feature will record all incoming and outgoing calls and will help managers and supervisors assess call quality and find out the areas for improvement. From the analytics and reporting tools, call center managers can find out various call centers metrics such as FCR, average handling time (AHT), and on-hold time, just to name a few.
After integrating data from various sources, call center software can provide a complete view of customers, allowing agents to provide better customer service.
7. WebRTC video and audio
WebRTC provides callers with a wide range of options starting from audio, video, or chat. This enables callers to select the most suitable channel for them, which results in enhanced customer satisfaction.
Call center software that has built-in WebRTC features in them, don’t necessitate the need to invest in expensive hardware to make audio and video calls as well as chat. WebRTC can provide customers with a more personalized experience as it provides more tailored solutions.
Tips For Selecting The Right Call Center Software
Now that you have learned how sophisticated call center software can help businesses provide excellent customer support and register higher sales, it’s time to know the steps to select the right call center software in a highly crowded market.
1. Determine the features you want in your call center software and set a budget
After deciding to invest in call center software, you must determine the features you want in your software.
If you are planning to handle incoming calls for your business, then you must focus on the inbound software features such as ACD, skills-based routing, IVR, call recording, analytics, and reporting. If you intend to handle outgoing calls, focus on features such as the automatic dialer, predictive dialer, and more such outbound features.
After deciding on the features you want, set a reasonable budget.
2. Leverage the internet to look for various options available in the market
After deciding on the features and the budget, it’s time to look for the best available software in the market. For that, a quick web search is good enough to generate useful results.
Type in search terms such as “best call center software,” “top 10 call center software for small business,” or “20 best call center software for small business.” You also can use location-specific search terms such as “best call center software in the US,” “best call center software in the UK,” “best call center software in Canada,” or “best call center software in India.”
3. Go to various websites and shortlist the service providers
After entering the search terms, you will get about 10-11 websites on the search engine result page. Visit about five to six of the websites to make an informed choice.
If you find the websites of reputable aggregators such as Software Suggest or G2, then it would help you find the software, features, pros, and cons, as well as ratings and reviews of top software providers in one place.
You can also visit individual websites to dig deep into the products as well as the contact information.
4. Contact a handful of service providers and know more from them
After short-listing some promising call center software providers, call them and ask more about their software and pricing plans. Also, ask if they provide free demos.
A majority, if not all, software providers provide free demos so that prospective clients can make informed choices before they invest their hard-earned money. It will also help the service providers to show their authority and confidence, which will build trust.
If a company is unwilling to provide a free demo, then move on to the next service provider without wasting any time.
5. Avail of the free demo and seek your team’s feedback
After a service provider agrees to provide a free demo, introduce the software to your customer service department and ask your team to use it and provide their regular feedback on it.
After the demo period is over, take the decision based on the software’s performance. Along with it, you can also search top 5 software for Forex trading in 2023 in which you can learn more about trading easily.
Taking everything into account,
When it comes to ensuring customer satisfaction and increasing sales, nothing can beat the power of effective communication and prompt customer service. That is the reason why businesses, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, must never compromise on their communication tools and choose the right call center software.