5 min
Many companies focus on acquiring new customers while neglecting current ones. This approach does not take into account lifetime customer value (CLV), which is a measure of average revenue per customer over the duration of your relationship with a company.
Why Is CLV Important?
- Acquiring new customers is expensive.
- Loyal customers can be the best prescribers.
- Existing customers are a platform for growth.
An Investment in Contact Center Software Can Help You Retain More Customers
Modern call center software can transform the customer experience (CX). The functionality that used to be available only to large companies is now available to small ones as well. This has evened the playing field when it comes to competing in CX. It also means that organizations using the best cloud contact center software can leverage its capabilities to strengthen relationships with their customers.
Many of the most loyal customers have changing preferences for how they want to interact with a business. For this reason, customer service has to be constantly updated and adapted to the new needs and expectations of users.
In addition to phone support, today’s consumers, including older customers, also want to interact with businesses through digital channels like chat, text messages, and apps like WhatsApp. Moreover, they want self-service options that allow them to solve their own problems quickly and easily.
Companies that don’t modernize their customer service run the risk of becoming obsolete. A poor CX will alienate even the most loyal users. The office phone systems that many small businesses use in their call centers are not flexible enough to react to changing consumer demands. To stay relevant and keep customers, businesses need the best cloud-based call center platform.
8 Contact Center Software Capabilities That Build Customer Loyalty
1) Optimized Staff Levels
Modern workforce management (WFM) software increases customer satisfaction and CLV by ensuring you have the correct number of recruited and scheduled agents to minimize the possibility of long wait times. The WFM software makes intraday adjustments very simple and also allows agents to have information about their schedules.
2) Development Tools for Agent Training
If you are in the process of selecting software, consider including agent development capabilities in your requirements. The best cloud solutions include agent dashboards that provide visibility into individual metrics and allow them to self-manage their results.
In addition, performance management applications can motivate agents to change their behavior and improve their performance with features such as gamification, which rewards agents for completing development tasks and achieving their goals. Additionally, quality management software can help identify skills and behavior gaps, which can be used to create training plans to improve agent performance.
3) Capacities Involving Agents
Engagement-enhancing tools make agents more engaged in helping your business meet its CX and CLV goals. An excellent example of a factor that increases engagement is the ability to work from home. With cloud-based software, agents only need a computer and a good Internet connection to work remotely.
Telecommuters will appreciate the increased work-life balance, thus improving interactions with customers. Additionally, features like gamification (described above) can increase agent engagement, especially when used to create friendly competition between teammates.
4) Unified Agent Interface
The best agent interfaces consolidate applications so that everything they need is in one place. This requires a call center platform that is easily integrated with other systems, such as CRM, ticketing, and database applications. This will put the customer history at the fingertips of agents, allowing them to personalize interactions. Additionally, the agent interface must support all channels and include a universal inbox for streamlined contact management.
Eliminating the need for agents to switch between multiple applications will streamline interactions and improve first contact resolution. To power agent tools, consider Artificial Intelligence (AI) features, such as automated agent assistants, who can detect customer sentiment, guide agents through next steps, and assist with subsequent tasks to interaction.
5) Intelligent Call Routing
The Automatic Call Distributor (ACD) is the call routing engine. Modern ACDs can be configured to be routed according to a multitude of rules, ranging from simple (queuing time) to complex (skill-based routing). More advanced ACDs can even use predictive behavior routing to direct a customer to an agent that best suits her personality.
6) Customer Choice and Convenience
A good way to increase customer loyalty and CLV is to offer self-service and digital options so customers can interact with your business. An example of this is interactive voice response (IVR) systems that include self-service capabilities and can be easily integrated with voice bots. Additionally, the cloud call center platform must include seamlessly integrated voice and digital channels to deliver omnichannel experiences.
7) Proactive Notifications
Research by Microsoft revealed that 70% of consumers have a favorable opinion of brands that send proactive notifications to customers. Notifications can range from appointment reminders to event cancellations and product recalls via bookmarks that can send notifications by phone, email, and text message (SMS). For a more interactive CX, an outbound IVR that sends notifications and then allows customers to interact with a menu that can, for example, lead to an agent connection or a self-service transaction.
8) Monitoring and Managing Results
To ensure that efforts result in better CX and higher CLV, tools are needed to solicit customer feedback and monitor key metrics. Contact center software must be available that includes configurable surveys so that the NPS (Net Promoter Score) and customer satisfaction can be periodically calculated.
In addition, the chosen solution should have quality monitoring capabilities that allow you to record audio and agent screens, easily extract samples for evaluation, configure your own quality dashboards, and make quality scores visible at the agent, team and organization levels.
How to Choose the Best Contact Center Software?
As you begin your contact center software selection process, consider new capabilities to improve customer loyalty such as self-service options, intelligent routing, and a unified agent interface. The new software should be seen as an investment in transforming the CX and creating more customers for life.
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