The first true call centers opened in the 1970s, and through the decades that followed, they all operated in similar ways. In the 21st century, however, things are changing fast, and statistics highlight some surprising facts about call centers. Here are six surprising statistics every call center operator should know.
Gamification is strategically important
Gamification is simply using our natural, human desire for motivation to help employees engage better with their work. Gamification injects elements of competition and fun into your work, rewarding your people in a way that incentivises them to give it their all. This is a proven method for boosting employee performance and customer satisfaction at the same time.
How much does gamification help? When Yahoo started using gamification for their customer service team, productivity and quality went up by 10 percent in just two weeks.
Texting is more important than you think
Lots of people want to communicate by phone or email, but for a long time, texting wasn’t considered an appropriate channel for real business communication.
Fortunately, those days are gone. Surveys by RingCentral show that 80 percent of people are already using texts for business communication. A full 15 percent say that half or more of their texting is about business.
You should go omnichannel
If you’re not already integrating all methods of communication within your call center, you’re falling behind. The best call center software allows your customers to reach you by any method and keeps your agents up-to-date on customer communication from all channels.
Why is this important? Research shows that 74 percent of people are already using three or more different communication channels when they talk to a business. More importantly, 45 percent of people will abandon a chat and go straight to a voice call if they aren’t getting the resolution they demand. Omnichannel solutions allow call center agents to connect with customers across their preferred channels and effortlessly switch from one form of communication to another with no trouble to either party.
Happy customers talk
This is the age of social media and people who have a good experience love to talk about it. It is more than worth your while to provide the best possible customer service experience.
How important? In 2011, 85 percent of surveyed consumers said they were more likely to do business with a company if they saw an online recommendation. In the restaurant business alone, just one star’s difference in reviews has a 5-9 percent impact on revenue.
Unhappy customers talk even more
Unfortunately, people who have a poor customer service experience are even more likely to talk about it than people who have a good one. This is a devastating reality, given that it takes about 40 good reviews to undo the negative effects of just one poor review.
The average unhappy customer is going to tell at least 15 people about their experience. And while 42 percent of people will do business with you again if they had a good experience, 86 percent won’t come back after a negative one.
Retaining is better than acquiring
Are you hyper-focused on getting new customers? Maybe it’s time to put a bit more of that energy into pleasing the customers you already have. Most companies recognize that it’s cheaper to keep a customer than to get a new one, but the stats go deeper than this.
When you target someone to make a sale, you get a 60 percent to 70 percent likelihood of converting an existing customer. If you’re reaching out to someone new with that same sales pitch, your chances drop to just 5 percent to 20 percent.
Knowing just a few of these surprising stats and how to respond to them can help you deliver a better experience to your customers. Doing this is the key in growing your business and expanding your bottom line.