Why Callbacks?

 Callbacks are a crucial component of effective customer service, and their significance cannot be overstated. When considering the question, “Why Callbacks?” one must think of a “callback” as part of the promise of customer service that a company makes to their callers to ensure a great customer experience.

 

Customers call a company’s contact center to receive service and a callback is a critical element that allows a company to “promise” service even if an agent isn’t available because of excess callers or the contact center is closed.  Therefore, returning a callback is just as critical as the initial inbound call. After all, a customer that is expecting a callback has already made the effort to contact the company for support. Failing to follow through on a callback promise can be severely damaging to a company’s reputation, eroding customer trust and loyalty.

 

Callback tools are a great investment to help reduce call abandonment rates by ensuring that customers don’t have to wait in a queue, listening to music, effectively “trapped” in line hoping to have an agent answer.  They give customers options to carry on with their day until an agent is available. Every customer who hangs up frustrated or angry before reaching an agent is potentially a lost customer. So, callbacks play a pivotal role in improving the customer experience, resulting in higher customer retention rates.

 

In addition, callbacks increase agent productivity by allowing them to manage their time more efficiently and focus on resolving customer issues (rather than playing telephone tag!), contributing to higher first-call resolution rates and reducing the need for customers to make multiple calls to address the same problem.

 

Finally, callback tools aid in managing call traffic efficiently, evening-out peaks and valleys, and ensuring that no customer is left waiting for an extended period. This becomes extra important during those high traffic (and high revenue) times – like the holidays!

 

What can go wrong and whose fault is it?

 

Ensuring reliable service through a call center’s callback application is vital, especially when agents might not be immediately available. To fulfill its purpose, the application must be fully operational at all times. However, several issues could compromise its effectiveness:

 

• The callback system and the inbound call-routing services must be consistently operational to prevent any disruption to incoming and outgoing calls, maintaining dependable execution.
• Inbound services that channel calls to the agents and the callback system, as well as the outbound callbacks that can potentially be impeded, need uninterrupted availability to uphold service promises.
• DTMF (Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency) issues pose a significant hurdle. If customers can’t effectively use the phone’s keypad to interact with automated prompts or if their input isn’t properly detected, this can prevent them from reaching an agent, resulting in frustration and a loss of confidence in the service.
• The callback application’s availability could be hindered by internal complications within the Telecom Server’s environment, such as networking glitches or access problems.
• The timing of callbacks is essential. Promises made about callback times set customer expectations. If calls arrive unexpectedly or at inconvenient times, they may be missed or diverted to voicemail, leading to a prolonged and inefficient cycle of missed communications, otherwise known as “telephone tag.”

 

These issues have a direct impact on the customer experience and often, the first sign there is a problem isn’t until a customer complains (or worse, doesn’t, because they never got the call back!).  Figuring out exactly where the problem is occurring isn’t always easy and too much time is spent finger pointing at the possible culprits.

 

Many organizations try to manually replicate the issue to determine if it’s a one-off sporadic problem or a wide-spread issue, but that takes a lot of resources. Ideally, a testing tool like Nectar’s CX Assurance is used to automate the testing of all the customer touchpoints, which will:

 

• Reduce costs by moving people from manual testing and putting them to work serving your customers.
• Ensure this is done daily (or even hourly) to make sure you contact center including inbound voice, callback options, and actual callbacks are functioning properly.
• Have a scientific measurement (by taking out a person’s perceptions during manual testing).
• Apply best practices around how to inbound and callbacks should work together and make sure they are ready for service.
• Provide recorded two-way audio test calls give you a true “voice of the customer” experience.

 

Tools give your staff peace of mind through automated testing for the IVR, Callback, and other customer facing applications to fully ensure a great customer experience, but adding experienced professional services ensures these tools are used correctly.

 

What Swampfox and Nectar provided together

A leading fortune 50 Telecom Company has long partnered with Swampfox Professional Services and Managed Services in serving and assisting and improving their overall customer experience. In this capacity, Swampfox has employed Nectar CX Assurance to closely monitor the customer’s initial engagement with their Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems and the subsequent delivery to their agent queues.

 

About three years ago, the telecom company faced challenges with their existing callback solution. Previous solutions had proven to be lacking in functionality, suffered from performance issues, and struggled to integrate seamlessly into their contact center and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) operations. In response to these issues, the company decided to migrate to Swampfox’s First-in-Line (FIL) callback tool, implementing it across multiple areas within their enterprise.

 

During a daily keep-alive call the team at Swampfox was alerted of an issue with the callback process. While the FIL Callback application-initiated callbacks as intended, there appeared to be a problem along the path between the initiation and the customer receiving the callback. To investigate and pinpoint the root cause of the issue, Swampfox turned to Nectar’s CX Assurance platform and User-Centric Diagnostics (UCD).

 

Using CX Assurance and UCD, Swampfox and the telecom company’s team conducted rigorous testing of the callback process. They scheduled FIL callback requests and monitored the responsiveness to ensure that every callback request resulted in successful customer interaction. Through detailed reports and email alerts, they observed a discrepancy between the number of callbacks requested and the number successfully delivered. This recurring issue indicated a systematic problem rather than an isolated incident.

 

Thanks to Nectar’s tools and Swampfox expertise, the issue was identified and resolved. It was determined that the problem did not originate from the client’s FIL application, but instead stemmed from a carrier-related issue. This discovery was pivotal, as it allowed the client to engage with the carrier to address and rectify the underlying problem.

 

Nectar’s tools were instrumental in identifying and resolving the issue. The addition of UCD was a significant differentiator in this partnership. UCD seamlessly integrates with CXA and offers a unique perspective… while CXA tests from the outside-in, replicating the customer experience, UCD looks inside the organization, allowing for better issue isolation. This combination is unmatched in the market, providing a comprehensive view of call-back systems.

 

Conclusion

The partnership between Nectar and Swampfox showcases the power of collaboration and the solutions that can be developed to address complex contact center issues in the enterprise. By using a combination of tools and expertise, they not only resolved the client’s problem but also provided a way for the client to monitor and manage their customer experience, including their First In Line call-back systems, more effectively. This case study highlights the importance of proactive automated testing and the invaluable role that technology plays in maintaining the seamless operation of telecommunications networks. For large telecom companies, addressing call-back issues is not just about preventing customer frustration; it’s about ensuring the continued success and growth of their business. Interested in seeing any of this in action?  Please contact us.