Call Abandonment Rate & Importance – How to reduce it

Call Abandonment Rate & Importance – How to reduce it

Introduction

We all have sometimes connected with the customer support line and must wait a long before interacting with the agent. It becomes quite frustrating, and if the waiting period is long, we all hang up the call before even talking to the call center agent. Such calls are categorized as “abandoned calls”.

Call abandonment is considered evil for the call center business. This occurs more than one can imagine. Those who manage the customer support services could blame the customers; however, sometimes, it may be an agent’s fault. One cannot assume whom to blame as various factors are at play. It is difficult to eradicate such calls. However, the management team can strive to reduce the abandonment rate and move toward customer satisfaction.

Abandoned Call

Before learning about the call abandonment rate, we must learn about abandoned calls and what it is.

Abandoned calls can be defined as the calls that the customers disconnect before being connected with the call center agents. The reasons behind such calls are mostly the unclear interactive voice response systems and the irritation of long waiting times. Such calls look bad and have a negative impact on the call center business.

Call Abandonment Rate

Call abandonment rate means the percentage of customers disconnect calls before being connected. This rate is an important metric to evaluate the call center’s performance and to measure the customer satisfaction rate and the customer experience.

Importance of Reducing Abandoned Calls

By reducing the call abandonment rate, the call center business will be able to manage more calls and give excellent customer service. Customer retention may eventually suffer due to long waiting times, which harms customer satisfaction.

How to Reduce Call Abandonment Rate?

1. Virtual Queue

During the busiest times for the call centers, virtual queuing technology enables customers to hang up and get a callback when the next agent becomes available. If virtual queuing is chosen, customers can maintain their position in the line (or queue) without continuing to speak on the phone. Virtual queuing increases customer happiness and reduces costs because callbacks are made using less expensive outbound calls as opposed to incoming toll-free calls.

2. Callbacks

Customers should not initially be made to wait on hold for an agent, as this can help prevent abandoned calls. Customers’ time is saved and has a far better service experience when given the option of a callback rather than holding on to the phone for the agent. Customers also prefer a callback option vital as they don’t have to wait in long waiting lines.

3. Staff Management

The workforce is essential in providing amazing customer services and accomplishing organizational goals. Managing the workforce is also crucial for performing operational and functional tasks. As the agents are responsible for attending to the customers’ calls and offering resolutions, effectively scheduling the work shifts and the call loads help minimize the call abandonment rate. The leadership team must have enough staff to manage the call load. If not, the waiting period may increase, increasing the call abandoned rate and reducing the satisfaction rate. Staff and call scheduling can be done by monitoring past call trends and ensuring that the agents handle customers effectively.

4. Automation of the Repetitive Tasks

Repetitive tasks make the call center agents feel bored, making the work monotonous. Significantly, the repetitive tasks are automated to free up the agents to focus on customer interactions and solving their problems. This also improves the agents’ performance and boosts their morale, ultimately leading to effective customer-agent interactions and reducing the call abandonment rate.

5. Digitalization

In these digital times, organizations are using advanced call center tools and technology to ease the workload of their agents. Moreover, using the right tool and technology helps the agents to perform their duties or tasks effectively and efficiently. This improves their productivity and allows them to achieve their tasks quickly.

Using advanced call center technologies also includes the organizational presence on the internet through their well-versed websites. Such websites have FAQ pages allowing customers to find the right solutions to their problems.

6. Occupy Customer’s Time

Call centers can reduce the perceived waiting period by keeping the customer busy with a job or request. Callers are more likely to be productive if they are busy compiling all necessary data beforehand or looking up account numbers for identification. For example, rather than waiting, getting bored, wondering when they will speak to someone, or worse, getting irritated. Being ready for the call also helps reduce the time spent on the call itself. Customers may rapidly offer helpful information to the agents, cutting down on the time spent obtaining data.

Filling out a form with customers’ inquiries and any other relevant information before the interaction is allowed can be one way to fill out customers’ time.

Two Cents

Long waiting or hold period reduces the customers’ satisfaction and overall experience, ultimately impacting the customer retention rate. By reducing abandoned calls, businesses can handle more calls to resolve the customer’s issue, improving customer services quickly. Various tools like NEQQO allow the managing team to perform multiple tasks, including scheduling, monitoring agents’ performance, etc.