08.29.2023 Jonathan Kirkland
New customer service strategies and innovative contact center technologies are changing the game when it comes to improving the customer experience (CX) and achieving new call center efficiencies.
There are two huge benefits that come with the use of technology within your customer service program.
Firstly, you’ll be able to provide a customer experience that focuses on self-service and reducing the customer effort. Secondly, you can reduce call center volume, lessening the workload on your customer service representatives (CSRs) and allowing them to focus their time on higher-value tasks.
There’s one customer service technique that can help your brand achieve both of these benefits - call deflection.
What is call deflection?
In its most simple definition, call deflection is the process of routing a customer inquiry away from your call center and towards an alternative service channel. The aim is to not only reduce costs and gain efficiencies in your customer service program, but to also provide the customer with a more convenient solution.
Call deflection aims at redirecting your customers towards a self-service channel, such as a chat bot, live chat, FAQ, website page or any other way that you provide self-service options for your customers.
The most important aspect to remember is that, with call deflection, your customer remains in control. Call deflection doesn’t mean that you force a customer to a different channel, you simply present them with the opportunity to move to a more convenient channel that reduces customer effort and improves the customer experience.
If your customer doesn’t want to use a different solution, then they can proceed with their initial call.
How does call deflection work?
The aim of call deflection is to reduce the number of phone calls to your CSRs in favour of alternative channels of customer care that allow your customers to seamlessly answer their own queries.
The way to do that is to use speech analytics to learn the most common reasons why people are calling your customer service team, and then use technology to direct them to alternative channels to answer those questions.
Call deflection doesn’t necessarily have to happen after a customer has called you. The most proactive call deflection occurs by reducing the number of inbound calls to your brand’s call center before the customer even has to call you.
Call deflection can take the form of:
- Interactive voice response to automate easy customer call queries.
- Optimizing your brand’s website for improved self-service.
- Offering omnichannel support, from live chat, chatbots, social media and messaging support.
What are the benefits of call deflection?
So, how does call deflection benefit both your business and your customer? We’ve listed just a few of the top benefits here:
Lower costs and improved efficiencies: Reducing the volume of calls to your call center can save you a significant amount of money. But not only will you be able to reduce costs, you’ll be able to free up your CSRs to work on tasks that offer higher-value to your customers at the same time.
Provide more convenient service for your customers: There’s no denying it, customer service strategies have changed dramatically over the past few years. Customers now want 24/7 support on their favourite channel. They no longer want to always have to call into a call center. Call deflection can be used to drive customers to their channel of choice. This improves customer satisfaction, drives up customer loyalty and builds a customer base of brand ambassadors.
Are you interested in learning more about called reflection and other effective customer service strategies? Contact Advantage Communications today. We would love to discuss some of the contact center techniques we implement with our clients for a superior customer experience and significant cost savings.
