2020 was a tough year for small businesses, most business owners have had to close down their businesses, and some of the businesses affected the most were SME in the personal service sector such as salons, barbershops, and med spas.
Most small businesses have downsized due to COVID19, and smart business owners are finding ways to adapt and keep their businesses running.
One such example is Revive Salon and Medical Spa who are using the Reachify.io all-in-one customer experience solution to keep in touch with their existing customers and with features like call deflection to reduce Inbound call volume by 10 percent and save up to 80 percent in cost.
Our all-in-one communication platform has assisted Revive Salon and Med Spa reach their goal of creating a better customer experience with the added benefit of making their customer support team faster and more agile.
The importance of communication with customers cannot be over-emphasized, communication is an integral part of a business and can positively impact the growth of a business if efficiently executed.
However, it can be difficult for the customer support team to answer all incoming calls, and while people are on hold and waiting to speak with an agent, it will cost money and most customers do not like to wait for long before reaching live agents.
An effective way to solve this problem and save cost is by using the Call Deflection phone feature.
What Is Call Deflection All About?
Call Deflection is a phone feature for managing high volume inbound calls by adding a feature for customers to be directed towards a self-service channel such as chatbots and text messages. This way customers won’t have to wait for a live agent to attend to them and you can save expenditure by up to 80%.
Call deflection is an essential part of any customer care experience strategy and a great way to facilitate your digital transformation.
Reachify provides Call Deflection where we add in a call menu option to allow callers to receive text messages with a URL link to do an action like fill out a contact form.
Businesses are using the call deflection phone feature to reduce the expenditure of inbound call volume, with this feature businesses can efficiently manage communication with their customers and also save costs.
Call deflection is best for quick providing solutions for quick queries and providing a quick option of self-help for frequently asked questions.
Benefits of Call Deflection Rate:
Improved first contact resolution or first call resolution- Improved customer satisfaction score by up to 90%
- With the call deflection feature, you get fewer repeat calls and callbacks
- The call deflection feature helps boost the usage of your knowledge base and the adoption of automated self-help
- With the call deflection feature, you can learn what your customers are calling about so you can optimize your knowledge base
- With call deflection, you can cut down average handling time and customer wait time
- Call deflection can aid a cut down call center nonattendance and employee turnover as your business customer support team will be more delighted when they answer less repetitive calls.
- Most importantly, you can cut down costs by up to 80% as text messages and self-help channels cost less.
The Outdated Call Deflection Strategy
Before now, the most commonly used method for call deflection is a pre-recorded voice message offering the option to utilize other channels. This pre-recorded message is repeated during customer wait times, and is usually in this format.
“Dear customer, thank you for calling! Did you know that you can also reach us via email or chat with us on our website? Our customer service agents are busy at the moment please hold for the next available agent…”
This technique of call deflection is outdated and not very effective when it comes to solving the needs of customers in today’s world. Almost everyone in today’s world owns a smartphone that is capable of accessing a self-service channel. Therefore instead of suggesting that they should hang up and start searching for an alternate channel to get aid to assist them.
You can send a direct link they can employ to switch to your self-service channel and get assistance or perform a specific action, instantly. With Reachify’s Call Deflection phone feature this process is made easy and it is very efficient for today’s use.
Call Deflection Tactics for Improving Customer Experience
To boost your customer experience, you should utilize Reachify.io’s improved call deflection service. This adds in a call menu option which allows callers to receive text messages with a direct link where they can get assistance and perform specific actions.
The Reachify.io call deflection feature can be:
- Customized to fit your business and brand’s copy
- Set to be activated at a specified time of the day, especially when the customer support line is closed or when the agents are busy and call wait time takes longer.
- Send links to your messaging channels like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, SMS, or the self-help option for order status and returns.
Reachify.io Call deflection is fully customizable and easy to use, business owners can easily gain advantages by incorporating this strategy for digital transformation, and customers can quickly access assistance using self-serve tools.
Ways you can use Call Deflection
If you are wondering how you can utilize call deflection phone features for your business, then we have listed some case studies below where you can incorporate call deflection and enhance your customer service experience.
1. Exchanges and Returns Phone Calls
If you are running a business that sells physical products, then your customers will likely call you for exchanges and returns. This is whether they want to exchange the product for a different variation or maybe they want to order in different sizes to see what fits and they’re calling to return after making a decision.
With the call deflection feature, you can customize a self-help channel for this purpose so that customers can be sent a link to perform this action, without having to endure long call wait times when your support team is busy attending to other calls or out of the office.
2. Order Status
Most business owners receive tons of inbound calls from customers who want to ask about the status of order. In this case, a call deflection menu can be added for customers to switch to self-help tools and a direct link will be sent to them via text messaging so they can check their order status.
This will encourage the customers to utilize this tool and your customer support team won’t have to handle calls for this task in their limited time.
3. Digital Channels transformation: Facebook Messenger, Chat, SMS, WhatsApp, Chatbots, or Mobile App
If you run a business and prefer that your customers contact you via digital channels such as Facebook Messenger, Chat, SMS, WhatsApp, Chatbots, or Mobile App then you can use call deflection to redirect your customers to these channels.
Also, if you feel like your customers will feel uncomfortable having certain conversations on call –say a conversation about underwear and tampon if you are in that line of business-, then you can make the most of the Reachify.io call deflection to suggest digital channels where they’ll feel more comfortable.
As stated at the beginning of this blog post, most small businesses have had to downsize due to COVID19. Most support teams are not available to answer phone calls and assist customers who need guidance or want to make an inquiry or place an order.
Businesses that get tons of calls during the COVID deflect inbound calls and suggest chat options and self-serve to customers. This way they can keep serving their customers when the customer support team is not available.
Conclusion
There are different methods you can use Call deflection to enhance your customer experience.
With Reachify’s all-in-one communication platform, you can cut down your customer wait time, keep your customers happy and reduce inbound calls and cost (as other digital channels are cheaper and more efficient).
In turn, making your customer support team more agile and fast.
