Accessibility is an essential aspect of providing excellent customer service. Your business must provide the right channels to customers who have problems. Phone channels provide customers with immediate service.
Many companies will adopt a phone centre to handle customer service complaints and requests. These call centres manage phone support queues and distribute calls equally to the representatives on the service team. Although call centres are an essential part of customer service teams everywhere, setting one up for your company can be difficult.
What are Inbound Calls?
Inbound calls are calls made to a company’s customer support or customer service team by customers. These calls are usually handled by the company’s help desk or call center, who then responds to the customer’s request or complaint. Inbound calls are a major function of customer service teams who want to improve customer experience.
Inbound calls are an essential part of customer support and call centers. Customers can call a company’s phone number to complain or request assistance. The companies have either an in-house or remote call center that answers the calls. Remote call centers are available for employees who work from their homes. Because employees work in different time zones, it makes it easier to provide 24/7 support for customers.
Call center staff will use call center tools to distribute inbound calls. Call systems can be used to screen calls and analyze customer requests, depending on their industry. The software then transfers the call to the representative who is most qualified to solve the problem. This can increase the productivity of a call center while improving customer experience.
After the inbound call has been connected, the rep will attempt to resolve the issue within the first interaction. If this is not possible, the rep will follow up via email or, if necessary, over the telephone with the customer. The rep can establish expectations for communication and continue to work on the case until the matter is resolved.
Although most customer service representatives will receive inbound calls daily, this is not the only type of call they may take. Many customer service departments offer both outbound and inbound calling options to their call centers.
Calling inbound and outbound
Most customer service and support staff perform two important functions: inbound and outbound calls. Inbound calls are initiated by customers, while outbound calls occur when a representative of the company calls the customer. This is proactive support and makes it easier for customers connect with customer service departments.
Outbound calling is a way for customer service representatives to increase their availability to customers. Customers can arrange to meet with a representative to discuss their issue if they are in urgent need of assistance or support. To give the rep time to find a solution, the customer must describe the problem before they call. Customers will be able to communicate with customer service more easily and won’t be placed on hold for too long. Customers can send their issues ahead of time, and they can continue working while your customer service team examines the issue.
The industry and business of a call center can have a significant impact on its inbound call volume. Some call centers receive high calls volumes and are active all day. Your daily call center metrics will give you an idea of the number of calls agents should be taking each day.
How many calls should an inbound agent make?
It can be hard to predict how many calls your customer service representatives should receive. Inbound calls are a reactive function and can be influenced by many external and internal factors. HubSpot’s support team noticed a spike in calls about this issue after GDPR legislation was implemented. HubSpot’s customer support managers had to devise a strategy that would prepare reps for dealing with GDPR-related questions and problems.
Unexpected roadblocks can make it difficult for reps to estimate the number of calls they should take. However, some metrics from call centers can help you to get a rough estimate. Begin by taking a look at the monthly call volume of your entire call center. Divide that number by the total number of representatives to find out how many calls each rep takes in a given month. Divide that number by the number of days in the month and you will get the daily average call time for each rep.
Let’s take, for instance, that my company receives 10K calls per month in January. I have 25 agents working in my call center. This would mean that each agent averages 400 calls per month (10000/25 = 400). Divide that number by the number days in January and I see that my agents average about 13 calls per day (400/31 = 12.9). This number can be used as a base for setting the call quota of my customer service representatives.
You now know how many calls your reps should be making each day. It’s time for you to start calling. Not quite. You still have to complete a few steps before your call center is fully operational. In the next section, we’ll go over what you need to do in order to set up a call center.