5 Types of Data You Should be Using Your Phone to Track

In contact centers, the importance of the phone cannot be overstated. Despite the current prevalence of other avenues of support, such as chat, social media, and email, customers continue to reach for their phones when they need help. And no wonder! A conversation with a customer service representative is so much more immediate and personal than an email. But the bread and butter of a contact center, the desktop phone, is only one piece of the puzzle. What about the one in your pocket?

Your smartphone could be doing so much more for your business. With VoIP, or Voice over Internet Protocol, your smartphone can easily be linked into your business’s phone system. You can get updates via a web-based user interface, make changes to the system, or even make and receive calls with a business number. Through your VoIP interface, you can track various data, then use what you learn to make both long-term and immediate changes. By utilizing this convenient access to measure and analyze the data coming from your call center, you can help improve efficiency anywhere.

1. Volume of Calls

Knowing how many calls your business is receiving now can help you predict how many you’ll receive in the future. Forecast accuracy is vital to optimizing your spending, as you can make informed decisions about how many people to staff on certain shifts, after a product launch or other event, and during different times of the year. Keep track of when your call volume is abnormally high as well as slow periods for long-term payoff.

2. Call Duration

Some customer service centers try to keep customers on the line for as long as possible, while others attempt to solve the problem quickly and move on. Regardless of how long you expect your calls to be, knowing whether or not they fall into the acceptable range can help you improve the efficiency of your representatives. If calls are too long or too short, try to pinpoint reasons: is a new product or service causing confusion? Are the representatives receiving enough training on how to effectively deal with customers?

3. Representative Knowledge

Using VoIP features like conference calling, “whispering,” which allows a manager or supervisor to listen in and speak to a customer service representative without the customer hearing, and call recording, you can determine how well your representatives know the product or service your business offers. If there are gaps in their knowledge, additional training may be required to make them more efficient and effective.

4. Number of Call Transfers

If a customer is being moved around between several different departments and representatives, it can cause frustration from both sides. Watching how many times a call is transferred before the customer receives a solution and pairing it with their problem can help you see where the confusion is coming from. If someone calls demanding a refund, but really needed help with replacing a broken product, the support process could be streamlined by detailing a replacement policy on your company’s website. On the business side, tracking the number of call transfers can help you pinpoint ineffective representatives, leading to better customer service.

5. Call Quality

An unclear connection is difficult for both customers and representatives, and could make for an unhappy experience. Tracking trends in call quality can help you determine what action needs to be taken. In a VoIP system, your network could be overwhelmed by the load, requiring you to dedicate more resources to achieving call clarity.

When you put your smartphone to work, it becomes simple to observe and improve your business with a tap of your finger. Use the rich variety of data coming from your contact center in conjunction with VoIP and other business IT solutions to improve both the customer and work experience, and you will see your business thrive.

We can help you achieve these insights and more! Check out our eBook on 5 common business problems that can be solved with unified communications:

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