Top 100+ Customer Service Statistics and Trends in 2023

We’ve scoured reports from industry leaders and compiled a complete list of the most compelling customer support statistics that will up-level your customer service.

Table of contents:

• 15 key customer service takeaways
• What are customers willing to pay for
• How poor customer service impacts your business
• Creating customer loyalty through excellent service
• The importance of privacy in customer service
• How customer service varies by channel and medium
• Even more ways that customer experience impacts your business
• Links to studies

If you’re looking for more information on meeting the service needs of modern customers, don’t forget to check out our other content:

• Leadership Talk: The Modern State of Customer Support
• How to Deal with Angry Customers: 12+ Tips that Always Work
• Cloud vs. Traditional Contact Centers: 5+ Reasons to Embrace Cloud-based Technology

15 Key Customer Service Takeaways

When customers are willing to pay more for good service

16. ​​​​A significant 63% of Gen Z individuals are willing to pay a premium for a quality mobile experience (PWC).

17. Among those with an annual income under $50,000, 50% express a willingness to pay more for exceptional customer service, compared to only 19% who are unwilling (Hyken).

18. In a group of people earning over $100,000 annually, a substantial 66% state their willingness to pay more, while nearly 15% express unwillingness to do so (Hyken).

19. Nearly 70% of customers are open to paying more for a convenient experience (Hyken).

20. More than 40% of customers are willing to pay extra for the convenience of same-day delivery (PWC).

21. Convenience in delivery is a priority for over 90% of customers, who are willing to pay extra for this service (Hyken).

22. Only 15% of customers are willing to pay more for engaging design, and 12% would do the same for a great atmosphere (PWC).

23. A notable 72% of organizations have a clearly defined customer success strategy in place (Regalix).

24. Nearly 80% of business leaders affirm that customers spend more (34% on average) when they receive a personalized experience (Segment).

How poor customer service impacts your business

25. After encountering more than one negative experience, approximately 80% of consumers prefer doing business with a competitor (Zendesk).

26. It takes a total of 12 positive customer experiences to compensate for a single negative one, according to Ruby Newell-Legner’s “Understanding Customers.”

27. Across all industries, there is a 38% gap between customer expectations and actual service delivery (Hyken).

28. Only one in five consumers is willing to forgive a bad experience at a company with customer service rated as “very poor.” However, nearly 80% are forgiving if they rate the service team as “very good” (Qualtrics XM Institute).

29. A significant 78% of customers have abandoned a purchase due to a poor customer experience (Glance).

30. Approximately 70% of the customer’s journey is shaped by how the customer perceives their treatment (McKinsey).

31. If a problem is service-based, a customer is four times more likely to switch to a competitor (Bain and Company).

32. 61% of customers indicate they would switch to a competitor after just one bad customer service experience (Zendesk).

33. For 72% of customers, explaining a problem to multiple people results in a bad customer service interaction (Zendesk).

34. A noteworthy 79% of high-income households avoid brands for at least two years after a negative experience (Zendesk).

35. If they receive unfriendly service, 60% of customers would cease buying from a brand (PWC).

36. A staggering 96% of customers leave a brand due to poor customer service (Hyken).

37. When employees lack knowledge, 46% of all customers stop doing business with a brand (PWC).

38. Globally, 59% of consumers believe that companies no longer understand the human element of customer experience (PWC).

39. A significant 95% of customers share a bad experience with others, while 87% share a good customer service experience (Zendesk).

Creating customer loyalty through excellent service

The importance of privacy in customer service

50. A significant 88% of individuals trust companies that commit to not sharing their personal information without permission (Salesforce).

51. An overwhelming 92% of customers value companies that grant them control over the information collected about them (Salesforce).

52. Social media is employed as a data collection and analysis tool by 23% of businesses (Gartner).

53. An impressive 79% of customers are willing to provide relevant information about themselves in exchange for personalized interactions that immediately recognize and understand their needs (Salesforce).

54. For 56% of customers, sharing personal information in exchange for improved service is acceptable (Salesforce).

55. A solid 90% of people are more inclined to trust a company if it has a robust privacy policy (Salesforce).

56. A majority (63%) of customers would be more open to sharing their data if they truly value the service (PWC).

57. A significant 61% of customers feel that they’ve lost control over how their personal information is used (Salesforce).

58. Only 40% of customers trust brands to securely and responsibly handle their personal data (Segment).

59. Just 27% of customers have a complete understanding of how companies utilize their personal information (Salesforce).

How customer service varies by channel and medium

60. For 67% of customers aged under 40, the preferred mode of communication is texting (Hyken).

61. Chatbots are employed for customer service by 67% of organizations (Salesforce).

62. Among customers over the age of 40, the easiest means of communication for 66% is through telephone and email (Hyken).

63. Social media (preferred by 12% of customers) and websites (preferred by 10% of customers) rank as the least-preferred customer engagement channels (Regalix).

64. Agent consoles or computers are utilized for managing the majority (54%) of customer calls (Salesforce).

65. Simple issues could be addressed through interaction with a bot, according to 69% of customers (Zendesk).

66. An impressive 98% of customers make use of FAQ, help centers, or other self-service online resources (Zendesk).

67. Digital channels are the preferred mode of engagement for 57% of customers (Salesforce).

68. In comparison to in-store purchases, 53% of customers prefer buying products online (Salesforce).

69. On average, 35% of consumers find the self-service option highly important (Emplifi).

70. For simple matters, 65% of customers prefer self-service options (Salesforce).

71. Contacting customer service through social media is considered convenient by 67% of customers (Zendesk).

72. A substantial 76% of clients expect to receive a response within 24 hours when contacting a brand on social media (Sproutsocial).

Even more ways that customer experience impacts your business

73. Customer experience is a critical factor in purchasing decisions for 73% of clients (PWC).

74. A remarkable 90% of consumers trust a company that they’ve rated as “very good” to cater to their needs (Qualtrics XM Institute).

75. For 70% of customers, the awareness of sales interactions by service agents is pivotal in retaining their business (Salesforce).

76. The expectation that businesses know their unique needs and expectations is held by 63% of consumers, and 76% of B2B buyers share the same expectation (Salesforce Research).

77. Providing cutting-edge digital experiences is seen as necessary by 59% of customers to maintain their business relationships with companies (Salesforce).

78. Including personalized consumer experiences can improve your online conversion rate by approximately 8% (Trust Pilot).

79. An overwhelming 88% of customers today have higher expectations compared to the past (HubSpot).

80. While nearly 76% expect consistent interactions across departments, 54% believe that sales, marketing, and customer service teams don’t share information (Salesforce).

81. Understanding their unique needs and expectations is desired by 73% of customers (Salesforce).

82. A significant 76% of customers expect to engage with a customer representative immediately upon first contact with a company (Zendesk).

83. A friendly, welcoming service defines industry success for 48% of U.S. consumers (PWC).

84. A quick response to the initial inquiry impacts the choice of the company to buy from for 89% of clients (Zendesk).

85. The speed at which their problem is resolved defines good customer service for 69% of consumers (Zendesk).

86. For almost 80% of American consumers, the most important elements of a good customer experience are speed, convenience, knowledgeable help, and friendly service (PWC).

87. Company employees have a significant impact on the experience for 71% of customers (PWC).

88. The experience a company provides is as important as its products and services for 80% of customers (Salesforce).

89. 87% of companies believe that customer success programs have aided clients in adopting products and services (Regalix).

90. Customer support having access to the status of their most recent order is expected by 64% of Baby Boomers (Epsilon).

91. A satisfying experience with a company is reported by 77% of customers (Hyken).

92. Sales reps who understand their goals are more likely to be chosen by 84% of customers (Salesforce).

93. Poor quality of product or service leads a 34% decrease in continued customer purchases from a brand (Morning Consult).

94. The experiences with one industry influence the expectations for others for 62% of customers (Salesforce).

95. Loyalty is driven for 63% of customers when they receive a discount within an hour of interacting with a brand (Segment).

96. Personalization is attractive to 90% of customers (Epsilon).

97. A 5% increase in customer retention results in more than a 25% increase in profit (Bain & Company).

98. On average, customer service agents only ask for a customer’s name 21% of the time (Glance).

99. The pandemic has raised customer service expectations for 48% of clients (Zendesk).

100. Despite technological advances, 55% of customers believe we will still need support agents for positive customer experiences (PWC).

Enhanced customer service with PlivoCX

Looking to level-up your customer service motion? Our modern cloud contact center offers a simple workspace for customer service teams that seamlessly combines your customer conversations with your existing systems.

Set up some time with us to share your business needs and get started with a free trial.

Other articles you might be interested in:

• Leadership Talk: The Modern State of Customer Support
• How to Deal with Angry Customers: 12+ Tips that Always Work
• Cloud vs. Traditional Contact Centers: 5+ Reasons to Embrace Cloud-based Technology

References:

• 15 Customer Self-Service and Experience Stats To Know (2020) – Vanilla Forum
• Emplifi Consumer Expectations Report
• Zendesk CX Trends Report 2022 – AI and automation
• Connect employee engagement with performance – Gallup
• Americans Have Increased Their Impulse Spending by 14% in 2022 Compared to 2021, According to Annual Survey Commissioned by Slickdeals
• Customer journey needs statistics
• Customer Onboarding Statistics 2020
• Customer Service and Business Results: A Survey of Customer Service from Mid-Size Companies
• Customer Service and Customer Experience Report
• Customer service is worse than ever and so is consumers’ rage
• CUSTOMERS 2020: A PROGRESS REPORT
• Employee Motivation in the United States
• Experience is everything: Here’s how to get it right
• Global State of Customer Service
• Global study: Consumer engagement best practices for 2020
• Local Consumer Review Survey 2020
• New Epsilon research indicates 80% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase when brands offer personalized experiences
• Prescription for Cutting Costs
• State of customer success
• STATE OF SERVICE
• The State of Customer Service in 2020
• The Value of Online Customer Loyalty and How You Can Capture It
• What Are Customer Expectations, and How Have They Changed?
• WHAT DRIVES BRAND LOYALTY TODAY
• What is the impact of customer service on lifetime customer value?
• Zendesk Customer Experience Trends Report 2020
• The State of Customer Service in 2022 [HubSpot Data]
• Salesforce Report: Nearly 90% Of Buyers Say Experience a Company Provides Matters as Much as Products or Services
• Zendesk CX Trends Report 2022 – Challenges
• Salesforce State of the Connected Customer 4th Edition
• Live Chat Exposes a Fatal Flaw in Your Go-to-Market
• Zendesk research: customer satisfaction
• Zendesk CX Trends Report 2022 – Growth Areas
• The social media customer service statistics brands need to know in 2022
• Forrester’s US 2022 Customer Experience Index: Nearly 20% Of Brands See Drop In Customer Experience Quality – Forrester

Within a Cloud Contact Center where hundreds, if not thousands, of tickets flow in, managing angry customers isn’t a simple task.

Successfully navigating these situations, however, plays a critical role in fostering customer loyalty and reducing friction.

Dealing with Angry Customers

Imagine you’re a customer support agent in a bustling Cloud Contact Center. The phone rings, and on the other end is a disgruntled customer, venting about an unresolved issue they’ve faced multiple times. The pressure is on to pacify them and find a solution, all while maintaining the image and reputation of your company.

To sail smoothly through the stormy waters of customer complaints, we must take a look at what makes a customer angry in the first place.

What Makes a Customer Angry?

Every customer is different, with unique preferences and pain points. However, there are some common threads that seem to ignite frustration among the majority.

Understanding these can give agents a proactive edge in tackling issues even before they escalate. Here are some typical triggers:

1. Unresolved issues: When a customer faces the same problem repeatedly without a clear resolution, it can lead to mounting frustration.
2. Long wait times: We’ve all been here — nobody enjoys waiting, especially when they need immediate assistance. For customers seeking urgent support, prolonged waiting periods can heighten their agitation.
3. Miscommunication: When promises don’t match deliverables, it’s a recipe for disappointment. Miscommunication can stem from ambiguous terms, misinformation, or even language barriers, leading to a mismatch in expectations.
4. Feeling undervalued: Every customer, regardless of the size of their purchase or the frequency of their engagement, wants to feel important and valued. If they sense indifference or a lack of respect, it can rapidly sour their experience.

Understanding these triggers and the underlying concerns of your angry customer is a crucial step toward resolution.

How to deal with angry customers: 12 tips

Now that we’ve covered why your customers might be angry to begin with, we must take a look at how to resolve their frustrations.

Fortunately, there are time-tested and proven methods for dealing with upset customers that can turn a negative customer experience into a positive customer experience.

Tip #1: Listen Actively The foremost step is to listen. More than a solution, sometimes the customer just wants to be heard. Let them share their grievances without interruptions. For example, say, “I apologize and understand your concern. Please tell me more about your issue, so I can best help you.”

Tip #2: Empathize with Their Situation Show genuine concern for their issues. A simple statement like, “I’ve been there,” or, “I can imagine that was frustrating,” can bridge the gap between the company and the customer.

Tip #3: Stay Calm and Professional No matter how heated the situation, maintain your cool. Responding with calm reassures the customer. Instead of saying, “You’re wrong,” you might say, “Let’s find out what went wrong.”

Tip #4: Use Positive Language Focus on what can be done rather than what cannot. Instead of “We can’t immediately process your refund,” say, “We will process your refund within 48 hours.”

Tip #5: Offer Solutions, Not Blame Shifting the blame doesn’t help. Focus on finding a viable solution for the customer. Offer them a workaround if an immediate solution isn’t available.

Tip #6: Apologize Sincerely An honest apology can go a long way. “I’m truly sorry for the inconvenience you’ve faced,” conveys empathy and acknowledgment.

Tip #7: Offer Follow-Up Check-ins After resolving an issue, make a note to follow up with the customer after a day or two. This shows proactive concern and might prevent future grievances.

Tip #8: Stay Informed Know your product or service inside out. If you’re unsure about something, tell the customer, “Give me a moment. I’ll find out for you.”

Tip #9: Offer Alternative Solutions If a direct solution isn’t possible, offer alternatives. “Although X isn’t available right now, may I suggest trying Y?”

Tip #10: Stay Patient and Don’t Take Offense It’s essential to remember that the customer isn’t angry with you, but with the situation. Patience can help in understanding the core issue better.

Tip #11: Seek Feedback Post-resolution, request feedback. Simply asking “Is there anything else I can help you with?” or “How can we serve you better next time?” can provide key insights.

Tip #12: Document the Interaction Ensure that every interaction is logged and available for review down the line. This will help in future communications and will serve as a reference for recurrent issues.

More tips for dealing with angry customers

Bonus Tip #1: Avoid Over-Promising It’s crucial to set realistic expectations. If you cannot guarantee a resolution within a specific timeframe, don’t promise it. Instead, give a timeframe you’re sure you can meet, and if possible, try to exceed that expectation.

Bonus Tip #2: Use Their Name Personalize the conversation by using the customer’s name during the interaction. This small touch can make the conversation feel more human and let the customer know they’re not just another ticket number.

Bonus Tip #3: Continuous Training The world of customer service is constantly evolving. Regularly train your team on new tools, techniques, and soft skills. This ensures they’re always prepared with the latest knowledge to handle a variety of situations.

Reduce Customer Friction to Create Loyalty

Resolving a customer’s issue promptly can transform their experience from frustrating to fantastic. It’s all about the approach and perspective. A satisfied customer not only sticks around but also becomes a brand ambassador, spreading positive word-of-mouth.

Conclusion

Dealing with angry customers can be challenging, but with the correct approach, it can be turned into an opportunity to cultivate customer loyalty. Patience, empathy, and a problem-solving mindset can provide even the most irate customer with a positive customer experience.

Looking to level-up your customer service motion? Our cloud contact center offers a simple workspace for customer service teams that seamlessly combines your customer conversations with your existing systems.

Set up some time with us to share your business needs and get started with a free trial.

Other articles you might be interested in:

• How to Reduce Customer Friction and Remove Common Hurdles
• Leadership Talk: The Modern State of Customer Support
• Simple Ways to Improve the Ecommerce Customer Experience

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Telecommunications fraud costs billions of dollars each year — estimates put global losses from telecom fraud between $25-40 billion annually — and every business is a potential victim. That’s because every organization uses telecom services — voice calls, SMS, even website click-to-call — which means they’re targets for sophisticated criminals looking to exploit vulnerabilities and rack up unauthorized charges.

Types of telecom fraud

What constitutes telecom fraud? There are many common types of telecom scams.

1. SMS pumping: This involves sending high volumes of SMS messages to premium rate numbers owned by the fraudster. They make money off the interconnect fees paid by the operator.
2. International revenue share fraud (ISRF): Fraudsters hack into business PBX systems or cloud services and make expensive international calls that terminate on high tariff destinations. The revenue is shared between fraudsters.
3. SIM box or SIM farm fraud: This uses SIM boxes with multiple prepaid SIM cards to terminate international calls as local calls, bypassing international rates.
4. Subscription fraud: Getting postpaid connections using fake identities to make calls and default on payments.
5. PBX hacking: Gaining access to enterprise phone systems to make unauthorized calls.
6. Robocalls: Illicit robocalls may use your numbers without your consent, harming brand reputation.

Telecom fraud prevention

Fighting fraud takes the combined efforts of governments, carriers, cloud providers like Plivo, and businesses. A number of tools and techniques are available from each of these entities to detect and mitigate telecom fraud.

✔ Government measures

At the government level, in the last couple of years we’ve seen a mandate for the use of the STIR/SHAKEN framework for caller ID authentication to verify originating numbers and identify spoofed calls in the US and Canada. Information from STIR/SHAKEN gives individuals more information about whether they should pick up an incoming call.

Governments can take other measures as well. In addition to making it harder to spoof phone numbers, the UK government plans to ban cold calls on all financial products, and ban SIM farms, which criminals use as a way to bypass legitimate communications platforms to send thousands of scam texts at once. In India, officials are working on a bill to mandate that the identity of a person sending a message or calling be visible to the receiver irrespective of the platform used for communication.

✔ Carrier measures

At the carrier level, US carriers have mandated businesses register their brands and use 10-digit long codes (10DLC) for application-to-person texting over long codes — regular 10-digit phone numbers. Similarly, toll-free numbers must be verified before being used for texting, and short codes have to meet carrier-mandated conditions when they’re set up. All of these measures are designed to mitigate unwanted robocalls.

Carriers have several other tools at their disposal.

• Real-time fraud management, in which carriers use AI and ML to analyze call patterns and identify fraud immediately through rule-based scoring.
• Fraud analytics, which uses historical data to identify fraud trends, high-risk periods, and fraud hotspots through geospatial analytics.
• Blockchain, in testing now by some operators, may provide immutable caller ID verification between networks.

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✔ Service provider measures

Cloud providers help combat fraud by offering geo permissions to disable call routes to countries and regions in which a business has no presence, thereby avoiding potential ISRF. Plivo, for instance, lets you filter calls to specific countries and continents, and block high-risk voice network groups.

Service providers also offer tools businesses can use to lower the risk of fraud. Two-factor authentication (2FA) is a critical tool for keeping unauthorized individuals out of company accounts and away from company resources.

✔ Customer measures

As a business you can adopt several practices on your own to counter telecom fraud:

• Work with telecom providers to implement STIR/SHAKEN caller authentication and trace back spoofed calls originating from your numbers.
• Use CAPTCHA as appropriate to deter bots from exploiting systems.
• Conduct regular dark web scans to check whether any numbers you use are being sold to scammers.
• Deploy tools to block high-risk traffic identified through telecom fraud analytics.
• Have your application server or content delivery network set rate limits by user, IP address, or device identifier, to prevent sending more than 1 message per n seconds to the same mobile number range or prefix. You can also limit call duration or the number of concurrent calls.
• Monitor customer complaints about receiving robocalls/spam from your numbers.
• Require 2FA for all account and data access. Confirm users’ email addresses and/or phone numbers before enrolling them in 2FA.
• Audit telecom invoices frequently for unusual spikes.

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✔ Individual awareness

All of those techniques can cut the risk of fraud for businesses and limit risks for their customers as well. However, individuals still have to stay alert and cautious to avoid being targeted by fraud that slips past all of the defenses. Number spoofing may be the most common scammer technique, in which fraudsters mimic legitimate numbers to socially engineer victims. Advanced telecom analytics solutions can help detect unusual calling patterns associated with these scams, providing an additional layer of protection.Another is Wangiri fraud, where scammers call phone numbers and hang up after one ring to bait recipients into calling back premium rate numbers. The more cautious your customers are, the less likely they are to become victims of telecom fraud.

Stay safe out there

Telecom fraud has been around for about as long as the telephone itself. As calling technology changes and evolves, so do scammers’ techniques. Businesses need to take advantage of layered fraud prevention provided by governments and carriers and continuously refine their own anti-fraud practices. With proactive participation from the business side, carriers can often trace, flag, and block fraudulent telecom activity being conducted over your platforms and numbers.

Plivo is committed to complying with all national and carrier regulations and best practices reducing telecom fraud. Our goal is to help you keep your customers safe from phone scams while controlling unauthorized telecom charges.

Cloud contact centers are revolutionizing how businesses serve customers, offering enhanced flexibility, scalability, and cost-efficiency compared to on-premise contact center solutions.

Read on to explore the differences between cloud and on-premise contact centers, cloud benefits, and to determine if cloud technology is the right fit for your business.

What is a Cloud Contact Center?

A cloud contact center is a centralized online platform hosted by a third-party service provider, accessible over the internet, which manages both inbound and outbound customer interactions across various communication channels.

Unlike traditional on-premise contact centers, cloud contact centers enable agents to access the system from anywhere with an internet connection, while the vendor handles system administration and maintenance.

What is a Traditional On-Premise Contact Center?

A traditional on-premise contact center relies on physical infrastructure located within a business’s premises. It involves owning and managing the hardware, software, and networking components required for customer interactions.

With traditional, on-premise contact centers, agents are required to work from the designated facility, limiting flexibility and scalability.

Key Differences: Cloud vs. Traditional Contact Centers

The main difference between cloud and traditional contact centers comes down to where they reside — in the cloud or on-site.

However, this distinction has far-reaching implications that shape the overall efficiency, scalability, and adaptability of these contact center models.

Benefits of Using a Cloud Contact Center:

1. Anywhere, Anytime Accessibility: Cloud contact centers allow agents to work remotely, enhancing flexibility and job satisfaction while reducing overhead costs associated with maintaining a physical facility.
2. Predictable Costs: Monthly subscription models of cloud contact centers facilitate accurate financial forecasts, eliminating unexpected expenses for hardware repairs or upgrades.
3. Scalability: Cloud-based solutions offer the flexibility to expand or contract resources as needed, allowing businesses to accommodate fluctuating demands without substantial investments.
4. Omnichannel Approach: Cloud contact centers seamlessly integrate multiple communication channels, providing agents with a holistic view of customer interactions and enabling efficient problem resolution.
5. Quick Deployment: Cloud solutions are rapidly deployed without the need for extensive installation, resulting in shorter setup times compared to traditional counterparts.
6. Stress-Free IT: Third-party providers manage maintenance, updates, and integrations, freeing up internal resources for core customer service tasks.

Considerations for Traditional Contact Centers:

1. Sunk Cost Fallacy: Businesses heavily invested in on-premise systems may resist change due to sunk costs. However, focusing solely on past investments overlooks the benefits of modern cloud technology.
2. Control and Security: Some businesses prioritize on-premise setups for data security and customization control. However, cloud contact centers are enhancing security measures and customization options.

Choosing the Right Contact Center Solution for Your Business

Choosing between cloud and traditional contact centers hinges on your business’s unique requirements, goals, and constraints. Here are some scenarios where a cloud contact center could be the optimal choice:

1. Rapid Scalability: If your business is poised for growth and needs to swiftly expand its customer support operations, a cloud contact center offers agility and scalability.
2. Flexibility: For businesses that need to adapt quickly to changing customer demands and industry trends, the cloud’s flexibility allows for swift adjustments.
3. Limited Resources: Smaller businesses with restricted time, internal resources, and IT expertise can benefit from the ease of deployment and maintenance offered by cloud solutions.
4. Multichannel Approach: If your business intends to engage customers through various channels, a cloud contact center’s omnichannel capabilities streamline communication and problem-solving.
5. Advanced Features: Cloud contact centers provide access to cutting-edge technologies, from AI-powered chatbots to sophisticated analytics, enabling enhanced customer experiences.

Conclusion

The evolution of contact centers from traditional on-premise setups to cloud-based solutions signifies a transformation in customer service. Cloud contact centers offer unprecedented flexibility, scalability, and cost-efficiency, empowering agents to provide exceptional experiences regardless of their physical location.

If you’re ready to transition to a cloud contact center and position your customer service operations for success in the digital age, Contacto makes automation and omnichannel communication simple.

Set up some time with us to share your business needs and get started with a free trial.

Chatbots have been making waves in the customer service industry, providing a range of advantages that can enhance the customer experience by reducing customer friction, increasing revenue, and alleviating pressure on human agents.

From providing 24/7 availability to offering personalized recommendations, chatbots have the potential to revolutionize the way businesses interact with their customers.

What is a Chatbot?

Put simply, a chatbot is a computer program designed to quickly respond to and assist customers with their questions. Whenever a customer initiates contact through a communication channel, a chatbot will attempt to identify and resolve the customer’s issue by offering solutions to common problems.

Modern chatbots like Contacto’s can even be configured to trigger customized workflows dynamically based on customer responses, enhancing your business’ ability to gather relevant information from your customers before they connect with an agent.

Benefits of Chatbots

We’ve compiled 10 benefits of chatbots, and tips for how you can use automation to enhance the customer service experience, while also alleviating pressure on customer service agents, increasing revenue, and creating repeat business:

1. 24/7 Availability: Chatbots can provide 24/7 availability to customers, which is not always possible with human agents. This means customers can receive immediate assistance, regardless of the time of day or night. This can increase customer satisfaction and reduce the likelihood of negative reviews or customer churn due to unaddressed concerns.
   
2. Quick Response Times: Chatbots are capable of responding to customer inquiries in seconds, providing instant answers and minimizing the waiting time for customers. This can reduce frustration and increase overall customer satisfaction, while also freeing up customer service agents to handle more complex issues.
   
3. Cost-Effective: Chatbots can help companies save on labor costs, as they can handle a large volume of customer inquiries simultaneously. This can allow companies to allocate their resources more efficiently and effectively, while also reducing the need to hire additional staff to handle customer service inquiries.
   
4. Reduced Pressure on Human Agents: Chatbots can handle routine inquiries, allowing human agents to focus on more complex issues. This can reduce burnout and turnover among customer service agents, while also increasing the likelihood of positive customer interactions.
   
5. Improved Context for Issue Resolution: Chatbots can gather information from customers and provide context to customer service agents before the customer is transferred to a human agent. This can help agents provide more efficient and effective solutions, as they will have a better understanding of the customer’s issue before the interaction begins.
   
6. Increased Revenue: Chatbots can increase customer engagement by providing answers to questions that prospective customers may have while evaluating your product. This can increase revenue and customer loyalty, while also improving the overall customer experience.
   
7. Multilingual Support: Chatbots can provide support in multiple languages, making it easier for companies to expand into international markets. This can increase customer satisfaction and reduce language barriers for customers.
   
8. Consistent and Accurate Responses: Chatbots can provide consistent and accurate responses to customer inquiries, reducing the likelihood of miscommunications or misunderstandings. This can increase customer confidence in the company and its products or services.
   
9. Improved Data Collection: Chatbots can gather customer data and provide insights into customer behavior, preferences, and pain points. This can help companies improve their products or services, as well as their overall customer service strategy.
   
10. Creating Repeat Business: A positive customer service experience, facilitated in part by chatbots, can create repeat business and increase customer loyalty. Customers who have had a positive interaction with a chatbot are more likely to return to a company for future purchases or services.

So we ask the question again: what is a chatbot? A chatbot is a useful self-service tool that is evolving the modern customer service experience by providing 24/7 availability, reducing the pressure on your human agents, and decreasing the time to ticket resolution for your customers.

The Importance of Self-Service in Customer Support

In our recent Leadership Talk on the Modern State of Customer Support, Plivo’s head of support Renu Yadav highlighted the importance of self-service tools:

“Self-service options are a great way to reduce the number of queries coming to support agents and allow them to focus on more complex problems. I also think that it is important to build an extensive FAQ section so that customers can easily find answers to common questions.

I also think that chatbots and AI can be valuable tools for customer support. They can provide instant, 24/7 support for simple inquiries or issues, and they can also gather initial information before escalating more complex issues to human agents.”

How PlivoCX’s Chatbot can automate your customer service

PlivoCX’s modern chatbot leverages advanced automation technology to enhance the customer service experience for businesses of all sizes. With features like 24/7 availability, quick response times, and multilingual support, Contacto’s chatbot is an excellent example of the potential that this technology can bring to your business.

By embracing chatbot technology in your contact center, companies can provide better customer service, reduce costs, and increase revenue, all while freeing up their human agents to focus on more complex tasks.

With the rapid advancements in AI technology, chatbots are only going to become more sophisticated and capable of handling even more tasks, making them an essential tool for any modern business looking to stay ahead of the competition.

So why wait? Start exploring the benefits of chatbots today and see how they can revolutionize your customer service experience.

Leadership Talk: The Modern State of Customer Support

The customer service industry has undergone a revolution these last few years—teams have embraced remote and hybrid operations as standard, and sophisticated contact center technology has enabled businesses to push beyond the established limits of customer support.

We sat down with Renu Yadav, the head of customer support of the #1-rated cloud communications platform on the market, for a candid discussion about the modern state of customer support and the evolution of technology trends within the industry.​

Contacto: How has the landscape of the Customer Support industry evolved in the past few years, and what key factors were most impactful?

Renu: Significantly.

Ten years ago, phone support was the only option because businesses just wanted to have people that customers can talk to. Now there are so many choices that if a business makes it hard to get help, customers will take their business elsewhere.

Support is not limited to just phone or email support. Customers are now using multiple channels to interact with businesses, including live chat, and social media. Social media is no longer just a marketing platform, it has become a major channel for customers to interact with businesses.

There is also a need to have a global approach to support, and they need to be able to provide support in multiple languages and time zones.

AI and automation are being used to automate tasks, such as answering FAQs and answering routine questions. This frees up support agents to focus on resolving more complex issues.

There is a shift from transactional, reactive support to proactive, personalized, and experience-driven support. It is no longer seen as a cost center, but rather as an opportunity to differentiate from competitors and build customer loyalty.

Support is moving to a strategic department, capable of driving improvements across the business.

What are the biggest challenges that Customer Support reps face today, and how can they be overcome?

Renu: The responsibilities of a support agent look very different compared to a few years ago. Support teams are not required to just follow processes and perform routine tasks. Those can be achieved via automation. They need to come up with customized and tailored solutions to resolve issues faster.

• Keeping up with product changes: Companies and products are rapidly innovating and updating their offerings. Support agents need to stay current with the latest product features and changes. Regular product training, refreshers, and product assessments can help support teams stay updated with product changes. At Plivo, we also review ticket trends to plan out refreshers on a biweekly basis.
• Meeting rising customer expectations: Today’s customers expect fast, personalized support. Customers value getting their issues resolved in their first interaction with the support team. However, this can be a challenge if the issue is complex or if the representative doesn’t have the right information or authority to resolve it. To address this, companies can empower their representatives with the right resources, enable them with decision-making tools, and streamline their escalation processes. Cultivating a customer-centric culture across the organization can help align all departments toward meeting and exceeding customer expectations.
• Working remotely: While remote work has impacted everyone, the impact is more on teams that need to work in groups. It was way easier to train, identify ticket trends, outages, coordinate with other stakeholders, manage escalations, and even get help on any issues in real-time. The shift to remote work has brought new challenges for customer support representatives, such as isolation, burnout, and communication difficulties. This can be mitigated by promoting a strong remote work culture, encouraging regular communication and team-building activities like off-work catchups so that the teams get to build a rapport and not all discussions are work-related.

Overcoming these challenges often requires a combined approach of people, process, and technology.

In your opinion, what are the most important qualities or skills that a customer support rep should possess to excel in their role?

Renu: That’s a great question, one that when I am interviewing candidates for my team I always like to ask. From my perspective, the most important skills vary by customer and situation:

• Resilience, empathy, and patience: Dealing with customer complaints and issues can be stressful, and not every interaction is positive. Resilience and the ability to handle stress are key to maintaining a positive attitude and a high level of service. So is the ability to understand and share the feelings of customers. Customers often reach out when they are frustrated or upset, and an empathetic response can help calm them down and assure them that their concerns are being taken seriously.
• Time management skills: Unlike other teams, Support work is not project/timeline based. It’s the number of calls/tickets they can handle in a day. This number is not stable and keeps changing on a day-to-day basis. They need to be able to prioritize and juggle multiple tasks at the same time. So time management is a crucial skill.
• Business communication: Representatives need the ability to explain complex solutions in simple terms, as well as deep attention to detail to ensure they don’t miss any critical points while debugging an issue.
• Teamwork: Support is often a team effort, and representatives need to work well with their colleagues to solve customer issues, share knowledge, and improve service processes.
• Problem-solving & decision-making skills: Support teams also need to be able to think critically and come up with effective solutions to customer problems. This is becoming more and more critical in today’s fast-paced world. Agents are expected to be quick on their feet and able to come up with innovative solutions.

With that said, how can the right tool elevate a customer support representative’s ability to properly address a customer’s needs?

Renu: Without the right tool, a support rep would have to do way more work than necessary. In the right hands, an effective tool can:

• Streamline routine tasks: Things such as ticket assignment to representatives, tracking the status of tickets, and adding options to have views on which tickets need to be prioritized. This frees up representatives’ time so that they can focus on resolving issues.
• Provide a comprehensive view of the customer: Tools that integrate with various channels and systems can provide a comprehensive view of the customer. This includes the customer’s history, preferences, and previous interactions. This information can help representatives provide personalized and informed support.
• Collect feedback from customers: Tools that allow customers to provide feedback can help organizations understand how their customers are experiencing their support. This feedback can be used to improve the support process and make it more customer-centric.
• Provide a knowledge base or FAQ section: An detailed knowledge base or FAQ section can help customers find answers to their questions without having to contact a support representative.
• Enable collaboration and escalation: Tools should also enable collaboration and escalation. This can help ensure that issues are escalated to the appropriate people when necessary.
• Offer in-depth reporting and analytics: A support tool should not only be able to generate basic reports but also have the ability to create custom reports that can help organizations analyze customer interactions and identify trends. This data can be used in so many powerful ways.

With the rise of self-service options and automation, how do you see the role of Customer Support representatives evolving in the near and distant future?

Renu: It will have both positive and negative impacts, right?

The size of the teams will become smaller and smaller. AI and automation will be expected to handle routing queries. So the agents will be required to work on complex problems that require a human touch.

At the same time, the work is becoming more challenging so the focus going forward will be on the quality of teams and not the size of the teams.

Support is evolving from transactional to consultative support, from handling simple issues to resolving complex problems, and from being order takers to being customer advocates. They are now expected to be product experts who can help customers solve problems and help differentiate between competition.

Representatives are now tasked with resolving more complex issues which require them to think critically and creatively to solve problems. The insights gained from support interactions with customers influence product development, marketing, and other areas of the business.

These changes will free representatives from routine tasks and enable them to focus on the complex, challenging aspects of customer support that require a human touch but this also means that support agents will need to be committed to continual learning and adaptation.

So the overall contributions of the support teams will become increasingly valuable.

How do you think the increasing importance of customer experience and satisfaction has shaped the Customer Support industry, and what steps should companies take to prioritize these areas?

Renu: From a business perspective, it is not just important to get a customer on contract, it is more critical to retain the customer. That is where customer experience and satisfaction play a huge role. Companies can use customer support to differentiate themselves in a crowded market, and foster customer loyalty, and positive word-of-mouth.

Any company looking to prioritize customer experience and satisfaction within their business should:

• Understand customer expectations: Regularly survey customers, monitor feedback, and stay abreast of market trends to understand what customers expect from their support experience.
• Implement the right technology: Leverage technology to automate routine tasks, provide omnichannel support, personalize customer interactions, and gain insights from customer data.
• Measure the right metrics: Look beyond traditional efficiency metrics (like average handle time) and measure metrics that reflect the quality of the customer experience, such as Customer Satisfaction (CSAT), Net Promoter Score (NPS), and Customer Effort Score (CES).
• Foster a customer-centric culture: Make customer satisfaction a company-wide goal. All departments, not just customer support, should understand their role in contributing to the customer experience.
• Review and improve: Regularly review your customer support operations and use customer feedback and data to identify areas for improvement. This process of continuous improvement is crucial in maintaining a high-quality customer experience.

With more options available to customers than ever before, how have customer expectations changed over the past few years?

Renu: Customers today expect businesses to provide instant, 24/7, multi-channel support with self-service options and transparency.

• Customers expect more convenience: Customers today are accustomed to getting what they want when they want it, and how they want it. This means that businesses need to offer convenient customer support options, such as 24/7 support, live chat, and self-service options.
• Customers expect more personalization: Customers today expect a personalized experience, and this is no different in customer support. Businesses are using data and analytics to personalize their customer support interactions, tailoring them to the individual customer’s needs and preferences. This can help to improve customer satisfaction and loyalty.
• Customers expect more transparency: Customers today want to be kept informed about the status of their issue and what is being done to resolve it. Businesses need to be transparent with their customers and communicate with them throughout the customer support process.
• Customers expect more empathy: Customers today want to feel like they are being heard and understood. Businesses need to be empathetic to their customers and understand their frustration. This will help to build trust and rapport with customers.
• Customers expect more speed: Customers today expect their issues to be resolved quickly. Businesses need to be responsive and resolve customer issues as quickly as possible.

Can you share any insight on the use of data and analytics in customer support? How can data-driven approaches enhance the overall customer experience?

Renu: Data is huge right now. And I am not talking about customer data. I am talking about issue data and ticket data. If used the right way, there is so much key information to be pulled:

• What kind of issues do we receive on a daily, weekly, monthly basis?
• What product are we facing the most issues on?
• Are there any enhancements required in the product?
• Which support channel do customers find most convenient?
• To track escalations.
• To find which customers are raising the most queries.
• What are our response and resolution times?
• What training do we need to create for our teams?
• How satisfied are our customers?

By using data, support can move from a reactive function to a strategic one, capable of driving improvements across the business.

What channels do you personally find to be the most effective for resolving the support needs of your customers?

Renu: The effectiveness of different customer support channels depends on the nature of the customer’s issue and the customer’s preferences. Phone support is not a great tool for customers if they need to be put on hold for a long time. On the other hand, though, email support won’t necessarily be the best tool for customers who have an urgent issue that needs to be looked into immediately.

In my opinion, using a combination of tools can ensure that businesses are able to provide support that meets the needs of all of their customers.

Self-service options are a great way to reduce the number of queries coming to support agents and allow them to focus on more complex problems. I also think that it is important to build an extensive FAQ section so that customers can easily find answers to common questions.

I also think that chatbots and AI can be valuable tools for customer support. They can provide instant, 24/7 support for simple inquiries or issues, and they can also gather initial information before escalating more complex issues to human agents.

I have one final question for you before I let you go. If you had one feature on your customer support tool wishlist, what would that be and why?

Renu: It would be the ability to integrate with other tools and systems. This would allow customer support representatives to have a single view of the customer, which would make it easier to resolve issues and provide better support.

For example, if a customer has a problem with their order, the customer support representative could see the customer’s order history, shipping information, and payment information. This would allow the representative to quickly identify the issue and resolve it.

The ability to create custom reports is a close second. It is not enough to only work on issues and meet KPIs. It is also essential to find trends and patterns. This can help in so many ways, such as improving product offerings, streamlining processes, reducing response and resolution times, collaborating with internal teams, and so on.

Thank you for taking the time to chat with us—it sounds like you and your team are doing some amazing things at Plivo with the tools available to you. I look forward to speaking with you again soon!

Renu: Of course, my pleasure!

What is Call Quality? How to Monitor it in Your Contact Center

These days, contact center managers can find answers to questions about call strategy with a much more analytically rigorous approach than a reflection on their personal experience.  

Thanks to the proliferation of cloud contact center solutions, collecting and analyzing conversational data from calls between customers and agents has never been easier.

With call recordings and call metrics, contact center managers can routinely identify low-quality calls, listen to them, spot weaknesses, and help the agent and team address these shortcomings through personalized training plans and alterations to call processes and scripts.  

In this article, we’ll explain what call quality is, why monitoring it is so essential for contact centers, and how busy managers can do it efficiently and intelligently with the help of technology.

What is Call Quality?

Call quality is a measure of the effectiveness of phone call conversations between a business’s contact center agents and its customers.

Each contact center has its own set of standards that determine call quality. But, in general, high-quality conversations are those in which the contact center agent is polite and helpful and leaves the customer satisfied with a clear solution to their problem.

Call quality monitoring, on the other hand, is the ongoing process of gathering data about customer service phone calls and analyzing that data to find ways to improve a contact center’s performance.

Importance of Call Quality Monitoring in a Contact Center

When customer service has such a large effect on customer experience, sales, and customer retention, contact center managers have to work towards optimizing their team’s performance on the phones, and call quality monitoring is the most effective way to do that. The following analogy will explain why.

A top-tier sports coach adjusts their training regiment based on the weaknesses they perceive through closely observing players in action. They know that assigning dribbling practice to a forward with already dizzying foot skills is a failure to use training time as efficiently as possible.

The contact center manager must follow the same coaching strategy in order to consistently improve agent performance. They have to uncover the various weaknesses of each agent, as well as the overall team, through effective call quality monitoring.

By identifying shortcomings in how agents handle calls, the manager can give personalized training assignments or reference material to agents, such as a specific technical white paper or objection handling script.

Managers can also change their contact center processes to eliminate the shortcoming across the entire team.

For example, after diving into contact center analytics, you might find that calls tend to fail when customers ask about “technical issue X”. You could then educate their agents on that product problem and update the call script with language they can easily reference mid-call.

How Contact/Call Center Teams can Monitor Call Quality

The ultimate aim of call quality monitoring is to increase agent performance by identifying weaknesses in call handling and then implementing corrective action.

To monitor call quality, contact center managers set up systems to collect and analyze information about customer interactions to uncover insights about how to improve customer service.

They may use the following to collect information about customer calls:

• Call recordings
• Customer surveys
• Social media mentions
• Data from other channels — live chat, email, etc.

To visualize this in practice, imagine that you record all of the agents’ phone calls, along with the customer survey results about those conversations, in a contact center platform.

Whenever a customer leaves a poor review, you listen to the phone call with the agent, pinpoint the reasons why the call failed, and then instruct the agent on how to improve next time around.

If the issue is common enough, you may also update your team’s standard operating procedures or script to prevent it from happening again. You might also share the advice you gave the individual agent to the entire team in a team meeting.

As you can imagine, call quality monitoring gets tricky when there is a large number of calls to track. It’s impossible to listen to all of them, and difficult to tease out the most common flaws in agent call handling.  With that in mind, here are some best practices to follow to ensure you monitor call quality efficiently:

Automate Call Data Collection & Analysis

Call data consists of call recordings, live metrics, historical reporting, and other call-related metrics like average handle time (AHT).

Many companies use a cloud contact center solution to capture this data automatically during conversations. The software also helps them analyze that data, making it easier to identify calls that failed, as well as why they failed.

In sum, automating data collection and analysis with the right software is an essential step in creating a systematic approach to call quality monitoring.

Listen Critically to the Recordings

On their own, the metrics you collect through automation won’t give you the entire picture of how the agent, or your process, is falling short.

To truly understand the nature of the problem, you need to listen to call recordings, asking questions like the following:

• Is the agent following the script?
• What causes customer friction? Are there certain talking points that come before it?
• What types of questions is the agent asking?
• When does the call seem to fall apart?
• Were there any missed opportunities to provide clarity?
• Is it evident that the agent is lacking some fundamental knowledge about the product?

A close, critical listen to an agent’s conversation with a customer can uncover subtle issues with the agent’s technique that you can help them overcome to unlock their true potential.

Track the Impact of New Processes

Whenever you implement a new call handling process or make changes to your script, it’s crucial that you track the impact of that shift. That way, you’ll come to know if your plan is actually paying off, or if you need to go back to the drawing board.

To track the impact, compare team-wide metrics like average handle time or average CSAT from before and after the implementation. Ask yourself whether there is a significant bump in these numbers. If it’s succeeding, great job. If not, you may have misdiagnosed the issue.

Conclusion

Monitoring call quality with an eye toward improvement in agent performance is an essential practice for leaders in contact centers. Only through ongoing call quality measurement and analysis can true progress occur.

If you’re looking for a tool that will help you monitor call quality and bolster agent performance with features like call whispering and agent dashboards, check out how PlivoCX can help.

Call Queuing: Benefits, Best Practices, and How It Works

If people get frustrated waiting in lines for something as fun as a roller coaster ride at an amusement park, imagine their agitation while waiting to speak with a vendor about technical issues and billing errors. Yikes.

As humans, patience is not our strong suit, especially when it comes to things we don’t necessarily enjoy in the first place. But, fortunately, we have tools and technologies at our disposal to alleviate the challenges or frustrations associated with customer service experiences.

These days, businesses have access to call queuing technology that ensures their customers can quickly reach an agent and have a satisfactory experience.

We’re here to offer you the basics of call queuing—how it works, why it’s so effective, and best practices for managing it.

What is call queuing?

Call queuing allows callers to virtually wait in line for their turn to speak with a customer service representative. This call queuing system allows contact centers to follow the social rule of first come, first served, mimicking what would occur in a physical place of business.

Implemented correctly with the right technology, call queuing leads to happier customers, more satisfied agents, and lower call-abandonment rates.

How does call queuing work in a contact center?

When a customer calls into a contact center, the call-queue feature assigns them a spot in line where they wait on hold, often listening to music, until it’s their turn to speak with an agent. This process is mostly consistent across systems—the specifics of the call-queue process, however, depend on which technologies the business uses.

For example, some cloud-based contact centers have a feature called automated callback, which enables the customer the option to hang up without losing their spot in the queue. When the customer reaches the front of the line, the phone software automatically calls them back and connects them with an agent.

Many call-queue software tools utilize an automated voice message to greet callers and tell them their spot in the line or the expected wait time. This gives customers a sense of control and helps to manage expectations—without this feature, 60% of customers are likely to abandon the call within the 2-5 minute range.

Five ways call queuing benefits your business

There are many benefits to using call queuing in your contact center, all of which lead to greater revenue numbers and lower customer churn for your business.

• Reduce customer wait time: IVR technology, a necessity for effective call queueing, routes customers to agents based on factors such as: availability, skill or specialty, region or time zone, language, and others. This distributes calls evenly and appropriately among agents and can significantly reduce average handle time.
• Keep customers engaged: Call-queuing software enables you to upload music files, greetings, and other messages to entertain or educate the customer during the wait.
• Improve brand loyalty: Customers are grateful to businesses that prioritize their time. They take it as a gesture of respect and value.
• Lower call abandonment: When customers can visualize how long the line is in front of them, they can more easily handle the wait. The automated callback feature makes it so they don’t even have to stay on the line.
• Increase customer satisfaction: Aside from shortening the wait, call-queueing software also often uses intelligent call routing to send customers to agents best equipped to answer their inquiry, which leads to faster resolution.

Call queuing isn’t just about keeping current customers happy—it’s also effective for securing new ones. If a new customer calls your business and then abandons the call because they cannot reach a service agent, it’s unlikely they’ll ever call back. They’ll take their business to a competitor instead.

Software for call queuing can reduce call abandonment rates via various features and therefore ensure that you avoid losing new, interested leads who call your business.

4 best practices of call queue management

Call queueing needs to be set up appropriately using the right software to effectively reduce the wait for your customers. Let’s go over four best practices for call queue management.  

Provide self-service options to reduce the queue

The fewer people there are in line, the faster the queue moves. Find an omnichannel contact center solution that enables you to offer self-service options to your customers, such as chatbots and interactive voice response (IVR).

That way, customers with simple questions can get their answers quickly without calling your contact center and taking up a spot in the line that could go to a customer with a more complex issue.

Always use an IVR system

Most contact center solutions with call queuing offer an IVR system, which automatically greets inbound calls with an automated voice message and, based on caller input, routes them to the right department, team, or skill group.  

You’ve likely been on the customer end of an IVR system before. The system begins by prompting you to select from a list of options (“dial 1 for customer service, 2 for sales”, etc.). Then, based on your response, it routes the call to the right department, where you may have to wait in a queue.

Or, if the question is a simple one like “what are the business hours,” the IVR can provide the caller with an answer, thereby eliminating their need to wait in line and shortening the queue for other customers.

Set up automated callbacks

Automated callback is a feature that allows customers to maintain their place in line without staying on the phone call. Depending on how costs are structured for outbound calling, businesses may opt to only use this feature during peak call volume periods.

If the customer opts into an automated callback, the phone system software will keep track of their spot, and when an agent becomes available, automatically place the outbound call.

Minimize customers’ hold time

According to HubSpot, 90% of customers rate an “immediate” response to a customer service question as being extremely important to their experience.  One of the best ways to reduce hold time and get customers the fast service they want is to improve agent productivity.

Alongside call queuing, a cloud contact center solution will give your agents tools that enable them to more effectively handle customer calls, from call whispering to a unified agent dashboard - where they can review the customer’s details and past conversations, call scripting, and conversation analytics.

Conclusion

Customers just can’t stand waiting in line, so it’s essential that your business uses call queuing in your contact center to shorten the wait time or at least make it less painful.

If you’re looking for a tool that offers not only call queuing but also IVR, automated callbacks, and other features that help you improve your call handle time, check out PlivoCX, a cloud contact center platform that’s easy to use.

Why do businesses need ticketing software?

In today’s hyper-personalized market, customers are seeking to be understood. Quick resolution, regardless of the issue, and emotionally intelligent service staff are paramount to small and medium business success. Investing in tools that facilitate an efficient agent experience and a frictionless customer experience will elevate your business.

To accomplish this, consider your ticketing or customer relationship management (CRM) software and how well (if at all) it can integrate with your customer service software. In the short term, your customer service staff need to solve customer issues fast. Looking at the midterm, you need to track customer interactions with your brand and derive insights from those interactions. Monitoring patterns of customer behavior and agent “hacks” or workarounds to overcome points of friction in your systems and workflows can make a huge difference in customer experience. From a long-term strategy viewpoint, the insights from one quarter can inform forecasting to scale staffing, product, or support activities in the next.

In any case, a ticketing system coupled with a customer service solution will help enable you to find where customer relationships can improve and to position your business for continued growth.

Benefits of integrating your ticketing system and contact center

Consider critical tools used in other areas of your business: accounting software, inventory management, point of sale, and so on, each to manage a certain function of your business and give you insight as to what is happening. A ticketing system helps you manage internal or external issues that need resolution. For external customer interactions, that ticketing system coupled with an integrated contact center platform or customer service workspace will enable you to receive, process, and resolve customer inquiries. With robust integration between these two systems, the following are just a few examples of the benefits:

• Single source of truth and synchronized data across systems
• Efficient and effective business processes
• Improved agent experience and satisfaction
• Reduced duplication and errors
• Insights for agent coaching
• Historical data to inform forward-looking strategy

Who would benefit from integrating ticketing system and contact center

In general, any business that interfaces with customers would benefit from a ticketing system. Some signs or symptoms indicating you might need to make the investment could be:

• You frequently apologize for not getting back to customers
• Email is your customer service system
• Currently you have no way to calculate average issue-resolution time

If you currently have dedicated staff or agents for customer service inquiries and you do not have a ticketing system, your business is a prime candidate.

For support teams utilizing a multichannel approach—meaning your contact channels (phone, email, text, WhatsApp) are distinct or siloed, or you have to “swivel chair” from system to system to manage communications on each channel—a unified omnichannel customer service platform integrated with a ticketing system can be a game-changer for your business.

Contact center features to look for when integrating with ticketing systems

For businesses that are just beginning to unify and mature their customer service—perhaps from that multichannel approach to an omnichannel approach—or for businesses that are evaluating a system upgrade or replacement for their long-standing customer service practice, there are really two primary features to consider:

• API integration: Does the ticketing system provide an application programming interface (API) that can integrate with your customer service workbench?
• Automations: Are time-saving automations possible with my customer service, e.g., callbacks, sending reminders or notifications, queues, and routing

Why Contacto’s integration with ticketing systems can help

When considering the benefits of this type of integration, those most directly impacted are undoubtedly the customer and the agent. But simply tracking issues is not enough. You need a system to interface with customers and track those interactions for internal use. Let’s take a look at how a ticketing system coupled with a contact center can not only alleviate pain points, but offer added value as well.

Customer

Above customer satisfaction and net promoter score, customer effort has the most direct impact to top line revenue. The following pain/gain approach illustrates the benefits of various customer conversation channels coupled with a ticketing system:

Agent

Streamlined agent workflow makes efficient use of precious time and resources and increases agent satisfaction as a result. There are many agent experience enhancements a business might prioritize, but we recommend the following as the top two pain points to alleviate:  

Conclusion

No matter where you are on the journey to improving, scaling, or maturing your customer service motion, a ticketing solution coupled with a contact center platform will drastically improve your business workflows, employee performance, and customer satisfaction.