Why You Should Switch to a Receptionist Console

Have you ever wondered how your organization can improve its customer service, and why it's important? The first thing you should analyze is how your company communicates, and which channels are made available to customers. Phone communication remains one of the preferred methods customers use to communicate with customer service, so it's important to evaluate your company's customer experience via telephone. Customer service is the backbone of any business, regardless of size or industry. By providing quality customer service, you not only increase customer satisfaction but also boost customer retention while gaining a positive reputation within your industry. Here are a few tips to help improve the quality of your customer phone communication experience in your company.

Minimize Missed Calls

It can be frustrating when you're trying to reach a company for help or support and no one answers. For the company, it can also represent the loss of sales or opportunities. This can be avoided with call forwarding options offered by business phone features, which help reduce the risk of missed calls, even if the call volume is high. A feature like Cloudli Connect's Receptionist Console allows you to ensure that every call is handled properly and efficiently, with an easy-to-use set of functionalities based on your preferences.

Answer Quickly

Regardless of the call volume, it's best to answer quickly, even if it's simply to confirm that you received the customer's call. If you're not able to take your calls immediately, a call queue service allows you to place the calls in a queue and prioritize them. You can also create separate queues depending on criteria you choose, such as language, the region the call is coming from, or any other criteria that best fits your company needs. Another benefit of a call queue service is that any employee can connect to a call queue and answer customers during peak periods, allowing organizations to manage regular or occasional peak hours without wasting on-call resources.

Provide an Interactive Menu

Don't let customers call your company and be transferred from one department to another before their request is finally processed. Find colleagues who handle different service areas in your company so customers can get assistance by the right person from the start. Setting up an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) menu allows callers to be routed to the right destination. It significantly reduces callers to be transferred from one department to another as they simply choose the department or extension they wish to contact via the interactive menu. The proper configuration of an IVR like Cloudli's automated receptionist also saves your team time and money by routing callers directly to the right destination.

Enable Voicemails

If you think people hate voicemail, think again! Most callers will leave a voicemail with the expectation that their call is returned within a reasonable time. As a best practice, your voicemail message can include a timeframe in which you'll return the call, or how long you plan on being unavailable.

Use Waiting Time Strategically

You should never miss an opportunity to promote your company or products, so take advantage of your customers' waiting time to record messages that are impactful. Information like your company's address, opening hours and website domain are always of interest. You can also adapt these messages to promote your products and services or provide other information that's relevant, like a limited time offer.

Set Up a Contact Center

If your call volume is high and your business is growing, a Contact Center may be the solution for you. Cloud-based business phone systems offer contact center modules that provide intelligent routing between agents and customers, regardless of communication channel. This solution allows for a wide range of strategies, including directing calls to specific agents based on specific skillset, like language or technical expertise. A cloud-based contact center also optimizes the time of your contact center agents as it provides work-from-anywhere capabilities.

Customer Experience is Key 

Phone communication remains a preferred communication channel for reaching a customer service department, so the calling experience should be simple and pleasant. The time your customers spend on the phone with your company, whether on hold or talking to an employee, represents a golden opportunity for creating lasting, profitable relationships that will have an impact on your company's success. Contact a Cloudli expert today to find out how Cloudli can help you orchestrate a cloud telephony strategy that best suits your needs.