How to Choose the Right Contact Center Solution

The software you use to run your contact center should support both your customers and your customer support team. Naturally, you want an application that helps customers submit requests and get fast solutions to their problems, but that’s only half the equation. The other half is having an application that helps your customer service team receive, categorize, assign, document, and respond to support requests.

Does your current software miss the mark? Here are some tips if you’re looking for a better contact center solution.

1. Look for automation features

Your customer service representatives will be more effective when your contact center solution software supports their workflow. For example, reps will need to perform a large number of repetitive tasks throughout the day, many of which can be automated. You don’t have to look hard to find this feature since automation has become the standard.

For example, HGS offers a contact center solution that automates several key processes, including assigning tasks to departments or people. This solution also uses machine learning and natural language processing (NLP) to review and redesign processes for the purpose of enhancing automation output.

The bottom line is that automating repetitive tasks frees up your support team to give their attention to more pressing matters. On the back end, the combination of machine learning, NLP, and automation helps to improve your system from the inside out.

2. Look for an easy ticket submission system

When your contact center solution is effective, you’ll have an easier time retaining your customers. Customer retention leads to repeat purchases, and it’s cheaper than acquiring new customers on a continual basis. According to Hubspot, investing in customer service can decrease your churn rate, which ultimately leads to increased sales at a decreased cost. In other words, you won’t have to spend so much money getting new customers because your existing customers will become repeat buyers and will generate additional customers for you through word-of-mouth.

When your contact center solution is user-friendly to both existing customers and people who have pre-sale questions, you make your customers happy, and you’re more likely to convert those curious, potential customers.

Before settling on a contact center application, make sure you thoroughly examine your options by testing them out first-hand. Reading reviews and summaries is helpful, but nothing beats logging into the system to see what your customers will experience if you use a particular product.

A user-friendly ticket submissions system will generally have the following traits:

· Existing customers can log in to their account, but non-customers don’t need to create an account just to get support.
· Your support requests show up cross-platform. For example, when someone communicates with you on Facebook or through your website’s chatbot, their request is turned into a ticket through your contact center solution.
· People can respond directly to emails to respond to updates on their ticket. They can also log in to comment, but it’s not necessary.
· Updates are sent via email.
· Users can upload screenshots with their support request.

These are just some of the features that make a contact center solution user-friendly. Try all of your options and choose the application that you find the easiest to use.

3. Look for back-end organization

On the back end of your call center solution, you want your service reps to have an easy time responding to customers. The following features will help your team:

· Automated routing. All support requests are automatically routed to the appropriate department based on selections made by the user as well as keywords in the body of the request.
· The ability to make notes on every support request. With notes, each time a new representative takes over, they’ll have all the information and the customer won’t need to repeat their story multiple times.
· Support requests that are connected to a customer’s account or CRM entry so that all information about each customer is visible to service reps. For example, your reps should be able to see past purchases, past support requests, and all other customer data.
· A system that automatically assigned unrouted support tickets so requests don’t fall through the cracks.

Just as it’s important to test out the front-end of an application, test the back end as well. If you have to sign up for a demo to try out the back end, it’s worth the effort.

Your contact center solution is your best customer service asset

Having an amazing customer support team is essential, but they need to be equipped with the right tools for the job. When your contact center solution supports your customers and service reps, you’ll be able to provide the kind of customer service that will make people love and respect your brand.