5 Tips for Modernizing Your Contact Center

Traditionally, sales as a business domain has always remained detached from the service domain. It’s because of the fact that these two organizational functions were thought to be diverse in nature, which needed a separate set of skills altogether. However, the modern approach towards contact center has revolutionized this archaic notion.

The service call offers many opportunities to start the sales process. This is the reason why many businesses are looking at the channel as a prospect to generate additional revenue. The contact center staff is no more meant to handle mere service related issues. They are efficiently trained to perform the dual tasks of sales and service together. By preparing them in various selling techniques along with skills to handle service issues, organizations have also enabled these employees to up-sell and cross-sell proficiently.

Discussed below are some of the best practices being followed by organizations to modernize their contact center. These tips can go a long way in helping businesses to turn their traditional setup into revenue-generating profit centers.

Website Integration

A company’s website is a source of vital information that can be helpful for its target audience. By integrating the corporate website with its contact center, several service-driven options like Web chat can be proactively utilized. These options can then utilize the opportunities for customer retention and acquisition. The innovative features in the latest Web chat options combined with detailed information on the products along with positive testimonials from the existing customers can drastically reduce the abandonment rates on the e-commerce portal.

Incentivizing Wait Times

Managing the incoming call traffic can be tricky even for advanced contact centers. Latest features are being constantly implemented to minimize the wait-times of the customers. The usage of advanced IVR solutions is also one of them. By adding promotional announcements on the IVR when customers are waiting in the queue or on hold, the engagement levels can be enhanced. The process also opens up new opportunities to attract the customers who can be fast-tracked to the new offer page on the company’s website.

Social Media Integration

Social Media has now become an integral part of customer engagement and marketing strategy. To drive the engagement further, integrating the social platforms on which the company has an active presence, complements the agenda of modernizing the contact center. The newly evolved technique of conversational marketing also mixes well with the interactive setup of a contact center. Brands can leverage the power of social channels to initiate personalized communication with individual customers and boost the overall customer experience. This strategy can be mutually beneficial and get the best returns on investments in both social media and advanced service center.

Incorporating ECM

Businesses looking to expedite the process of customer interaction can implement a layer of ECM (Enterprise Content Management) above the ERP and CRM systems. The system also improves the efficiency in managing corporate information. Accessing customer information is much easier through simplified techniques to store and retrieve data. Reduced costs and improved efficiency are some of the several benefits that can be offered by the successful implementation of ECM.

Advanced Analytics

A massive amount of data is collected at contact centers. This data can be effectively utilized to extract actionable insights. However, this can be achieved through advanced analytical tools. These tools can be used to maximize other vital aspects of product improvement and loyalty management. Speech Analytics platforms are some of the game-changing tools that can also improve the mechanism of customer communication.

The idea of creating a contact center that is a well-oiled machine and is driven by insightful data can be achieved through continuous benchmarking. An enhanced query handling mechanism instantiated with Six Sigma methodologies can evolve to a modernized setup. This can optimize performance and also achieve the ultimate objective of improved customer experience.

Key Takeaways

• Investments made in modernizing the contact centers can reap multiple benefits.
• Integrating the social platforms on which the company has an active presence, complements the agenda of modernizing the contact center.