6 Proven Approaches to Reduce Your Customer Service Queues
Marketing Insights for Professionals
The latest thought leadership for Marketing pros
Constantly improving customer experience should be a priority for all businesses. One guaranteed way to raise satisfaction levels is by reducing the amount of time people have to wait to speak to you.
12 December 2022
The standard of customer experience (CX) you're able to deliver is a crucial factor in the broader performance and success of your business.
Many companies are currently focusing on this as a priority. Insights for Professionals surveyed 230 organizations for our research report The State of Customer Experience in 2022/23, revealing key findings including:
- 45% of businesses intend to invest in CX over the coming year with the aim of improving customer satisfaction
- Two-thirds (66%) see building customer understanding as their biggest CX challenge
- Nearly one in ten (9%) aren't confident in their customer service abilities
- Poor communication (14%) was cited as one of the biggest reasons why firms fail to retain customers, along with lack of personalization (16%)
The results also showed that nearly one in four respondents (23%) left callers waiting for an average of five to ten minutes to speak to a customer service agent.
For most people, this will be far too long to wait. Those who are left disappointed might not be with you for much longer, with separate research showing that 58% of American consumers would switch companies because of poor customer service.
To keep your audience happy, make sure you have a strategy to keep queuing times to a minimum.
1. Develop a knowledge base
Six out of ten professionals surveyed by IFP said they planned to reduce waiting times by building a customer service knowledge base.
This gives you a central repository where you can store a range of relevant and useful information, which could prove just as valuable for your staff as for your customers.
If resources such as a database of answers to commonly raised queries are easily accessible to your support agents and customers alike, for example, you'll drastically reduce the time required for people to get the information they need.
2. Be proactive
An ideal scenario for your customers and for you is your support team being so in tune with audience needs and priorities that they can pre-empt requests.
Helpdesk agents who can predict potential issues and contact customers before they call you will reduce queues and drive up overall experience standards. You'll also benefit from higher levels of brand loyalty and advocacy.
This relies on a high level of audience and industry knowledge. Make sure you're giving your employees the time and resources they need to build a deep and evolving understanding of your customer base.
3. Empower your customer service agents
There are many things you can do to help your customer support team do their jobs as effectively as possible.
Delivering specialist training, for example, will help your staff develop skills that are essential to efficient customer service, such as active listening, problem solving, communication and product knowledge.
Frontline workers should also have reliable access to tools and resources that make it easier for them to provide the answers callers are looking for as quickly as possible.
