Although there are more online-only businesses today than ever before, customers still expect a real person to be available at the end of a phone line when needed. Because of this, it’s a good idea to set up a customer contact center for your company.
Even if you offer your customers a range of other methods for getting in touch such as email or live web chat, today’s shoppers still prefer to sort things out over a telephone conversation. Therefore, we’ve listed some of the main reasons why your online business needs a contact center.
Reason #1. It Will Improve Customer Satisfaction
As mentioned above, today’s customers still like to get in touch via telephone and speak to a customer service representative who can help. If you do not offer this option to your customers, but your competitors do, you could be putting yourself in a riskier position than you realize.
To keep your customers happy, it’s vital that you meet their needs and requirements. You should also take your target demographic into account – for example, the average age of your typical customers will help you to determine whether a contact center is necessary for them.
Reason #2. It Can Increase Your Competitiveness
To stay competitive in the fast-paced world of online business, it’s important to provide the best possible service to your customers. When possible, you should be offering just as much as your competitors do, and then some.
Without a contact center for your customers to get in touch with, you’ll be running the risk of losing your business to companies that provide this option. As a result, you may even begin to see your profits drop as customers choose to go elsewhere.
Reason #3. It Can Boost Your Online Reputation
What your company does offline is just as important to your online reputation as the things that you do on the web. Even though a contact center may not be a full online service, it’s important to remember that your customers are likely to come across your brand online.
If you don’t have a number available for a contact center and customers must find other methods of getting in touch, you’ll be risking them leaving a negative review about their experience. To give your online reputation a boost, it’s vital that you are constantly considering the customer experience and making it as easy as possible for your shoppers to get what they need from you.
Reason #4. You Can Detect Website Problems Earlier
Did you know that according to research, over 75% of companies today find out about issues on their website through their contact center? Although you may have a team of professionals looking after your website, it can be easy for certain faults to go undetected on your end.
When you have a contact center, customers who experience issues with your website can quickly call to get in touch and let you know. This will allow you to speak with the customer and apologize to them, helping to keep your reputation intact. Then, you will be able to fix the issue as quickly as possible to avoid any further problems.
Reason #5. It’s Usually Easy to Set-up
You might be putting off starting a contact center for your business because you are worried that it will cost too much to set up. In addition, you could also be concerned that setting up a contact center will take a lot of time, taking away from business processes and productivity.
However, this doesn’t have to be the case. Today, there are many innovative methods of getting a contact center set up and ready to go with minimal effort. For example, you could outsource the work to a reputable contact center company, or use VoIP phone system features, which tend to be easier and simpler to set up.
Reason #6. It’ll Be Cheaper Than You Think to Run
If business expenses are another reason deterring you from starting a company contact center, then there’s no need to worry. Depending on the type of system that you use, your contact center doesn’t have to take a large chunk out of your business budget.
For example, many modern VoIP systems will only require you to purchase handsets; these will run on your company’s current broadband connection, and there is usually nothing to pay in the way of line rental.
Reason #7. It Will Improve Customer Service
Starting a company contact center will make it easier for you to determine the standard of service that you are providing to your customers, and make improvements where necessary. When customers call a contact center, you can record the calls to play back later, allowing you to see what your customer service agents are doing well, and what can be improved.
Using this feature, you can also determine which topics your customers tend to call in about the most, helping you to make more informed decisions when it comes to the areas of your business to improve as a priority.
Reason #8. It Can Improve Your Profit Margin
Running a contact center might come at an extra cost to your company, but this will certainly pay off in the long run. In fact, a fully-operative, friendly contact center where your customers can raise their concerns, problems and opinions can have a very positive effect on the profit that you turn over.
When customers are given a high standard of service and offered as many options as possible for getting in touch, there’s a much higher chance of them coming back. Providing an awesome level of service and ensuring an easy and enjoyable customer experience can turn your one-time shoppers into loyal, long-term customers. In turn, you’ll enjoy more sales leading to a higher profit turnover.
Reason #9. It Can Improve Employee Satisfaction
It’s not just your customer satisfaction that you can improve by implementing a contact center. When you set up a contact center in your business, you will provide more jobs. In turn, this means more options for career changes, progression, training and promotion for your employees.
Today, one of the main things that employees want when they start a new job is career progression and development. By starting a whole new department in your company, you can offer new management and supervisory positions to the excellent members of your workforce. This can also help to improve your employee turnover.
Reason #10. You Can Get to Know Your Customers Better
With online communications, there is only so much that you can get to know about your customers. On the other hand, speaking to somebody over the telephone is much more personal as you can learn a great deal more about them from a spoken conversation.
A contact center will not only help you to improve the standard of customer service that you provide, but it’ll also mean that you can strengthen your relationships with your customers on a more personal level. For example, it’s not uncommon for call center conversations to occasionally trail off onto topics such as what the customer is doing today, for example. Use this to your advantage for better rapport.
Reason #11. You Can Improve Company Efficiency
While online methods of getting in touch such as email, webchat and social media are great and definitely shouldn’t be ignored, trailing through hundreds of customer messages in your inbox can lead to poor company efficiency.
On the other hand, customers calling through to your contact center will be put in touch with a single person who can deal with the issue at hand straight away. This will not only be more efficient for your business, but also for your customers, who’ll be able to have their problem dealt with and get on with their day as quickly as possible.
Reason #12. Your Customers Expect One
Even in the digital age where we can do almost everything online, customers still expect a contact number to be available. Failing to provide a telephone contact detail on your website could lead to frustration, resulting in a bad customer experience.
As a business owner, you will know just how important it is to give your customers what they expect from you. Not doing so will lead to a damaged reputation and could even influence the kind of profit you make, or how quickly your business can develop and grow. Since your customers expect to be able to get in touch over the phone, don’t let them down.
Although there are many ways to contact a company online, giving them a call is still often the most convenient option. When it comes to keeping your customers happy, providing a contact center is a must. Even if your business operates only online, your customers will want to know that they can get in touch and speak to a representative if they have a problem.
What are your opinions on company contact centers? Does it put you off if a business does not have one? We’d love to hear from you in the comments.
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