On a daily basis, contact centres handle a long list of calls. In addition to the quality of service, the rate at which issues get resolved must also be considered. No doubt, agents regularly face pressure on the need to efficiently resolve issues through calls. In a discussion with David Rolf of Cymphony, he pointed out that as many as 30 calls per hour can be received by an agent.
Of course, call centres always want to maximize efficiency with a call volume as high as such. This is why they adopt interactive call scripting as a strategy. What is call scripting? This is when the interaction between the customers and the agents are planned. With this strategy, agents will already know questions they must ask, and answers that are predetermined.
Now, the nature of the call is what determines the degree to which call scripting is possible. It is worthy of note that for outbound calling, scripting is often more relevant. This happens because an agent is aware of the purpose of the contact in advance. But the same can’t be said for inbound call. The caller is the only one that knows the topic. Although, the responses agents can give to queries, can be scripted.
There are different reasons why call centres employ the use of call scripting:
- For centre-wide compliance
- To reduce complexity and training time
- To make call evaluation simpler
- To boost the speed of call handling and efficiency
- To aid consistency
A contact centre can be assured that callers would be getting consistent service with call scripting software in place. Operators know that each caller gets told the same thing, by defining the answers agents give. Importantly, if they call the centre more than once, customers won’t get frustrated at getting conflicting information.
As aforementioned, call scripting software helps speed up call handling. A prompt or script is always ready for the use of the agent. Operators can answer callers’ questions faster, with the right information available to them. This approach won’t make the agent spend time searching for information or solutions to offer each customer.
Now, what would the future of call centre call scripting look like in the future?
74% of customers use three or more channels to access customer support, which is according to the International Customer Management Institute.
What this statistics simply means is that contact centres are exploring different technologies to meet different avenues, and with this, they won’t go into extinction.
Customers and businesses are being connected with the primary link of a call centre, which has made call centres start adopting ML and AI technologies to serve customers better.
So to give customers a satisfactory experience, call centres need to evolve. What will the call centres of the future look like?
1. Quality Over Quantity Will Be the New Customer Service Goal
A key aspect of customer service is personalization. When interacting with a business, millennials are hopping between channels and devices thanks to the advent of multiple technology devices.
Social networking and new apps channels are launched almost every time. Companies don’t have to worry about device/channel switching, they need to keep evolving with the technology as well.
Customers expect to be able to interact with businesses on their preferred channel, as the popularity of these channels grows. A typical of such example is WhatsApp.
This will then bring about a change in the primary goal of the agent, which is not to pick as many calls as possible but to offer timely and quality responses across customers’ preferred platforms.
2. The Redefining of Customer Experience with IoT
IoT, which means the Internet of Things is the interconnectedness between physical devices sharing information via the internet.
Your smart home is powered by an IoT device. This is how the IoT Will redefine how the face of contact centres:
If you didn’t notice that your smart home TV is malfunctioning as a result of limited usage, in this situation, the IoT, gives you a sign, and even initiate contact with the appropriate support centre to get the issue resolved.
All these might happen without your knowledge at the back end, and you will people receive a call from a support representative to get it fixed.
This will therefore increase the adoption of AI in call centres to be able to handle the sophistication of IoT.
3. Replacement of Standard Security Questions by Voice Biometrics and Speech Analytics
In the next ten years, customers may not need to wait for an agent to find a solution to issues like account activation or password reset.
Security question such as: “what’s your high school nickname?” will not be useful. Validation of customers is likely to happen through voice biometrics for customers to answer their security concerns.
4. Contact Centres Will Fully Become Remote
Remote working has commenced earlier than it would have under normal circumstances, thanks to the coronavirus and the cloud. With a cloud-based phone, working anywhere in the world has become flexible, which means contact centres might not need an office again.
With agents working from all over the world, fully remote teams will eventually become the norm, bringing about location-based services. If there is any requirement for field service, callers will be predictively routed to the agent in their locality.