What You Can Learn From Your Call Abandonment Numbers

Losing phone calls is bad for business. When callers hang up before they have a chance to talk to one of your employees, your customer satisfaction ratings drop and you miss out on an opportunity for a sale. Yet, these lost calls provide valuable information about your team’s performance if you take the time to understand the reasons behind the call abandonment.

1. Your customers don’t like to wait.
One of the most common reasons customers hang up before talking to a representative is the wait time. It doesn’t matter how many times you have the automated message say, “Your call is important to us.” The more time they spend on hold, the less valued they feel.

Take a closer look at your call data and identify the average wait times of your abandoned calls. Then experiment with ways to reduce that wait time. An automatic call distributor can queue calls in a virtual waiting room where you can entertain them with music or trivia games. An intelligent call routing system can identify priority callers and let them skip the queue.

2. Your customers need options.
For many people, waiting is frustrating because they have other things to do. Chances are that they’re trying to juggle work and family obligations while they’re on hold. The longer they wait to talk to someone, the less time they have for everything else.

There are a few ways to give your customers options so they have more control over their time. Set up call management software that lets customers request a return call when an agent is available. You also may want to set up a self-service menu for callers who need to take care of tasks that don’t require assistance, such as getting directions or paying a bill.

3. Your customers want to talk to someone.
Some callers actually need to talk to someone. These callers usually have an immediate issue they need to correct. Although they tend to stay on hold longer than callers with less pressing needs, they still get frustrated if they wait too long. To provide better service to these customers, analyze your call patterns and identify peak times for these types of calls.

Then adjust staffing accordingly. For example, you may notice that service calls spike on Saturday mornings but drop on Friday afternoons. You can rearrange the schedule so you have more representatives available to answer calls on Saturdays and cut back on Friday hours. The staffing increase should reduce wait time for callers during peak hours.

Stop telling customers that their calls are important and show them that you mean it. Explore the suite of call management products and services available at CallerReady.com or call 877-800-4844 to speak with a member of our team.