Even if you were the best business in the world, call wait times would be a problem. The more popular you are, the more trouble you’ll have here. You have a finite number of staff, after all. As such, there are going to be times when you aren’t physically able to answer new calls. There are, of course, steps you can take. Providing phones for everyone can help, as can a target call time. But, it would be unrealistic to expect you can do away with wait times altogether.
The good news is, your customers will understand. Few people phone a company and expect to get through straight away. Still, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t spare any thought here. While wait times are inevitable, the experience customers have during that wait time is still crucial to success.
So, how do you get this right? The secret is to make wait times as pleasurable as possible. Not sure how you could do that? Read on to find out.
Install auto-response
Customers will lose their cool if they have to wait for one department, only to go onto the waiting list for another. Hence why you should set up auto-attendants. If you’re unsure how, the unified communications services of companies like Single Point Global can set these up for you. Either way, an automated service ensures customers are in the right queue from the start. Thus, you can halve their wait time and avoid frustration.
Let customers know where they are in the queue
Nothing’s worse than not knowing when someone will answer. This uncertainty will leave customers unable to do anything else. That’s why you should consider call queues. This is a simple system which lets customers know how many callers are in front of them. You could keep this on a loop, or update customers when they move forward a slot. Either way, this frees callers up to leave the phone on loudspeaker while they get on with other things. It also gives them some idea of how long they might wait, and whether it’s worth trying again later.
Consider the quality of your hold music
Dead dial tones can kill a business, so you need to fill this wait time with some form of music. This will help occupy customers, as well as letting them know their call is active. Yet, so many companies get their hold music wrong. We’ve all had tiny music blasted into our ears at some point. It’s not pleasant and can lead to instant hang-ups. So, spare a thought here. For one, make sure that you keep the volume at a decent level so the music doesn’t distort. Think, too, about which music would work best for your target audience. Older customers would appreciate classic songs, while a teen audience may like top hits. Bear in mind that you may need to pay licensing fees before using some songs. But, that’s a price worth paying if your music keeps customers holding on.
