Caller Hang Up
By The Ohvo Team Customer Service • Marketing • Phone Voiceovers for Business • • 0 Comments

Abandoned calls

Are you tracking your abandoned calls? You should be. A high rate of abandoned calls indicates dissatisfied customers, which will directly affect your image and inevitably your bottom line.

Calls abandoned before the customer speaks to a service rep usually results from one of two things. A confusing or faulty direction system, or a lengthy hold period.

With automated direction systems generally the customer who gives up is simply annoyed at the procedure. It is possible that they missed their prompt, but most of the time the process is simply too confusing and they find themselves pressing any number at all in the hopes of speaking to someone. Most of the time they will just hang up intending to call again.

Customers who give up while waiting on hold can be put off by bad music choices, irritating messages or long hold times. In todays age of instant service via online contact centres and social media, tolerance levels for wait times has gone way down.

Imagine now that those customers try to reach your business a number of times and experience the same problems, those who finally manage to get a hold of a customer service rep will be going in with an already negative attitude which does not set up the best environment for a good customer interaction. Others will simply give up, take their business elsewhere and potentially result in damaging feedback.

To remedy this is simple. Take a proactive approach to tracking your abandoned calls and commit yourself to on-going improvement.

Take a look at utilising analytical software to see where your calls are being lost, all businesses who experience a high caller volume will be losing calls, don’t assume because you don’t hear about it that it isn’t happening to you.

Using this software you will be able to identify exactly where in the process calls are being terminated. After a confusing set of instructions, an annoying message, or at the 2 minute holding mark for example. From here you will be able to directly pin point the moment you lost your customers and work to improve their experience.

Some businesses choose to go the extra mile to keep customers happy and offer a call back option which is perfect for those who experience dropped calls due to long holds. Others utilize special number recording technology which enables them to call back customers who hung up during instructions, asking them how they could help and improve the experience.

As wonderful as it would be to have enough staff to instantly pick up every call that came through, it just isn’t a reality for busy companies. Using and monitoring an effective messaging or auto direction system is the only way to combat those dreaded abandoned calls.

Angry On Hold
By The Ohvo Team Customer Service • Phone Voiceovers for Business • • • 0 Comments

How to defuse an angry customer on hold

Angry customers happen to every business but if your company regularly deals with a high ratio of complaints or problem solving calls, then you need to know how to use your on hold system properly. There are a number of things that you can do with messaging and music to calm or inform the customer, and in some cases even straight up eliminate their problem.

Stop saying ‘your call is important to us’. It’s an empty statement even at the best of times, and to an angry customer it’s infuriating. They may already be feeling betrayed by your company – a faux recorded message trying to placate them will only further stoke the fire. They just want help with the problem they are experiencing.

In the same way, on hold is not the time to start talking up the company or product. A message talking about all the great features of your star product will only aggravate the caller who is ringing about their faulty model. As will a grand proclamation of all your charitable donations if they are ringing to dispute a large bill.

If there is a common problem with an easy fix, you may be able to head them off with a short message detailing the solution, or forward them to your website with more information.

Switch the music up to create the perception of a shorter waiting time. Try to have a number of shorter tracks on rotation as the same song on repeat will only succeed in annoying callers with a long wait time. If they are calling with complaints, the last thing you’ll want to do is irritate them further.

Choose the right music. Let OHVO guide you in selecting the right lyrics and tempo to soothe your caller. Anything that is too loud, affronting or clashing creates a sense of discordance, not the best state for an angry customer to be in when they finally get to an operator.

Consider a call back option. If your phone system is capable and you regularly have lengthy hold times utilising the call back option is invaluable. This places less pressure on your team, and more convenience for the customer. Place the call back message after your regular messages, so any important information will still be presented to the caller.

Customer management is key. Try implementing these ideas today, your in-bound customer care team will thank you for it!

 

On Hold Music
By The Ohvo Team Customer Service • Marketing • Phone Voiceovers for Business • • • • • • • • 0 Comments

Think about the lyrics on hold

Do you know what music is piping down the line when your customer is on hold? Is the music suitable to enhance and respect the product or service that you provide?

Keep in mind the plus size clothing company who felt safe playing a medley of Queen songs, only to have their clientele get an earful of ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’ as they waited.

Or customers hearing ‘I think it’s gonna be a long, long time’ as they waited listening to Elton John’s classic song ‘Rocket Man’.

Absolutely hilarious, but actual things that have happened to real companies like yours. I’ll wait here while you go and check what’s on your music rotation….

The number one best way to prevent this type of unfortunate situation is to enlist the services of a professional messaging and on hold music service. Not only have the songs been vetted for suitability, every song used will be at the right tempo and style to match your business.

It’s not enough to simply play a local radio station or top 40 hits. Customers are forming an opinion about your company in those precious minutes before they speak to a representative, your choice in hold music and the lyrics they contain can make a lot of difference to the upcoming conversation.

You’ll also need to be aware of other hold music pitfalls like outdated messages. That Christmas message better be off rotation 26th December, and don’t let customers hear promotions or deals that have expired.
Distorted sound is another no-no, most audio files are not calibrated to suit phone speaker limits, be sure your music is coming out the other end cleanly and clearly.
Have a big pool of songs on rotation, and regularly switch them up. Even the nicest song can get grating to repeat callers if they hear it over and over again.

Hold music can be a valuable tool for businesses, but if you get it wrong it can be damaging. Cut out the uncertainty and mistakes by consulting hold experts and your customers will thank you for it.