Contact Center Summit 2022: Takeaways for Turning Your Virtual Call Center into a Revenue Machine
It was an exciting couple of days for AVOXI at BINA's virtual 2022 Contact Center Summit. While we got to share the value in cloud technology for remote teams, we also got to hear from others on their ideas for creating a harmonious and profitable customer experience. And we wanted to expand on those thoughts and share them with you.
Customers are demanding a lot from the brands they purchase from. And if you don’t deliver the experience they expect, they’re good as gone. This is the sentiment that echoed throughout the BinaConf 2022 Europe Contact Center Summit.
It bears repeating. 80% of customers find the experience equally important as the product or service itself - so it's worth the investment. According to Forrester and Adobe, experience-driven businesses see 1.5X higher YoY growth in customer retention, repeat purchase rates, and customer lifetime value.
In this two-day conference, we watched, listened, and absorbed the knowledge to provide a better, more impactful experience that drives value for our customers. We wanted to share what we learned and how you can apply the same tips to your global communications strategy.
Application modernization is driving down cost, accelerating team agility
As the ongoing labor shortage drives more global hires, international companies are taking a deeper dive into their technology infrastructure and re-evaluating components that are outdated, expensive to maintain, and lack support for their remote workforce.
Application modernization is the movement many are embracing within their international landscape to reduce contact center costs and boost agent productivity. It’s a way for companies to “lift and shift” to the cloud - taking legacy architecture and enhancing its operations through cloud-native applications.
International voice services are a simple, cost-effective solution in a cloud environment. Businesses can easily evolve their existing technologies at their own pace, eliminating costly on-prem maintenance debts and supporting remote teams with reliable tools and more coverage for productive conversations. With a near-instantaneous setup and minimal-to-no business disruption, scalable and flexible centralized communications infrastructure is lowering costs and accelerating team agility for businesses worldwide.
See what our COO Barbara Dondiego had to say on this topic.
AI virtual assistants streamlining intelligence decisions and increasing revenue
AI-powered virtual assistants are actively driving the customer experience and digitization of call centers. With customers demanding the world from their brands, business leaders are relying on this technology to automate call workflows for better revenue opportunities and actionable insights.
Chatbots are essential touchpoints for a fully omnichannel experience. These applications use artificial intelligence (AI) to personalize every conversation and resolve inquiries quickly and accurately without directly involving an agent. With virtual assistants as an alternative first point of contact, and the ability to navigate customers where they need to go for information, agents are able to effectively manage their call queues and focus on more complex customer issues.
More than 60% of companies that have implemented AI have seen vast improvements in their call center satisfaction scores. It’s fueling more than just service, but also revenue potential through:
- Fraud Detection. As machine learning (ML) studies behavior, AI can detect fraud trends and flag activity for investigation.
- Sentiment Analysis. Using emotional intelligence technology to analyze voice tones, AI can provide agents insight into how customers are responding to the live interaction in real-time.
- Skills-Based Routing. AI matches customers to agents best equipped to handle specific questions using natural dispositions and communication habits. This is also referred to as predictive call routing.
AI is already playing a leading role in transforming the customer experience, with business leaders driving more impactful and intelligent decisions from data-backed trends. And with chatbots able to take on simpler questions, agents can better apply their expertise to calls that yield high-stakes returns.
Part of the customer experience includes self-sourcing information, reducing cost-per-call
Furthermore, self-sourcing information is a critical part of the customer experience and one that can be accomplished through a comprehensive knowledge base. It’s essential to the way customers do business, and organizations can leverage their resources effectively to display topics their audiences are most interested in.
One of the leading customer pain points (34%) is when an agent doesn’t have an answer to their question. 69% of customers rather find it on their own and expect a self-service option from the brands they use. If you don’t have the necessary tool, you could be missing out on improving metrics that could lead to higher ROI, including FCR, NPS, and lowering Call Abandonment Rate.
By reducing unnecessary calls that tie up the phone lines, global businesses have saved as much as $11 per call with a self-sourcing solution. Companies with virtual assistant technology can suggest content to those engaging with the chatbots, empowering customers to locate the answers before requiring live assistance.
A profitable contact center team needs consistent coaching
A take-charge kind of contact center not only has the right tools to do the job but goal-driven agents with skills that provide an impactful conversation to the caller and the organization.
Agents have a tough job, especially when the topic of conversation is a product or service issue. Consistent and passionate coaching is key to keeping your teams highly trained, motivated, and engaged on the phones. This training approach is called “coaching for change,” and it directly impacts your revenue and service goals.
The corporate culture is a pillar for effective change management. To begin, you first need to unlearn, empathize, display courage, and coach your teams. Here’s how it was explained to us:
- Unlearn. Take a step back to unlearn and then relearn the case of your agent. Ask questions so you can better understand and assist their needs.
- Empathize. Empower training sessions and try to understand their frustrations.
- Courage. Faults are part of the transformation process. Share stories of how failures led to success stories in the end.
- Coach. Active coaching helps to clarify and align messaging, educate to make decisive, informed decisions, and reach extraordinary potential.
Actively and passionately coaching your remote teams is paramount for excellent customer satisfaction, smooth operations, and growth within the organization. When agents are happier and feel supported, that same energy is reflected in their customer conversations and helps build long-term and more profitable relationships.
Transform Your Contact Center into a Revenue Machine with Global Cloud Communications
Call centers are not just a means of contacting your organization but a way to create value for your customers. With modern applications integrated into legacy phone systems, businesses are able to accelerate their remote teams’ services and turn those automations into revenue.
A robust cloud communications platform empowers seamless, smooth contact center operations through leading-edge technologies. We’re AVOXI, and we help global brands better connect to their customers with reliable voice, messaging, and contact center solutions from within one intuitive platform, spanning high-quality coverage across 170+ countries and counting.
Leverage the Cloud for Improved CX
Interested in transforming your contact center experience into a revenue-driving profit center? See just how easy it is to reduce TCO and increase overall profitability with AVOXI!
