Why Your Company Should Spend Time In Optimising IVR

Acefone Editor

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Contact Center

June 4, 2020

5 mins read eye

Table of content

An IVR (Interactive Voice Response) system is not just another amazing feature on your hosted phone system, it can be an integral part of your marketing and sales strategy if you invest some time into optimising it so it works for your business and your customers.

In this article, we take a look at how your company can optimise your IVR system and why spending your time optimising this feature is well worth it.

Improve Customer Experience

Customers today expect a smooth experience when dealing with your business, with the rise of social media and businesses becoming more accessible to customers.

The experience a potential customer has can really set you apart from your competitors; encouraging word of mouth referrals and much more.

Customer experience is a significant deciding factor in any purchases for the time-poor customers of today – so by spending some time optimising your IVR system you can ensure that customers have a great experience every time they call your business.

You can use the IVR system to lead customers to the correct team for their enquiry, meaning they can skip any unnecessary queues on the phones and go straight through to the person best placed to deal with their enquiry.

Many customers want a solution quickly, and do not have the time to be sitting around in queues – so the quicker a problem can be resolved the happier a customer will be.

An IVR system goes a long way to helping customers fast track their way to the right person, as they can choose from your carefully curated range of options and decide who they would like to speak to.

There is nothing more frustrating for a customer than being passed from agent to agent with no resolution, so your IVR system is key in ensuring that this does not happen.

An IVR system can display important information about your business 24 hours a day, seven days a week – so customers can always access the information they need even if your business is closed for the day.

This helps customers who may not be in your time zone, or who have problems outside of hours to remain happy with your service without having to hire extra staff to man the phone lines.

Save Staff Time

Your staff’s time is valuable too and should be treated as such!

A cleverly optimised IVR system with clear instructions to customers on how to get through to each of your departments can save your staff time as they will not need to speak to every single customer and direct them to the right place.

Most customers will be able to self-select and will be automatically directed to the department they need, so staff will only answer calls they are equipped to deal with and no other calls to waste their time.

It may be that you can give customers all the information they need on your IVR system, for example, you could add some frequently asked questions onto your system and play these to customers who have made the relevant selections.

This could cut out the need to speak to your staff at all and customers will be pleased that their issue is solved.

This is particularly useful if your services are experiencing widespread issues or outages – a simple message on your IVR system can stop multiple customers from calling in while your staff can work on the problem.

Earn More Money

A well-optimised IVR system can also earn you money. An improved customer experience will mean your customers are more likely to make repeat purchases, or new customers are more likely to make a purchase with you.

If they have confidence in being able to reach your business whenever they need to and the process is not a gruelling one, then customers will be more inclined to use your business – and to recommend you to other customers through word of mouth.

The lower the amount of barriers between your business and your customers the better, and a well-optimised IVR system takes down another barrier making it simple for customers to contact you – which will lead to increased sales and happy customers.

How To Make The Most Of Your IVR System

We have set out why optimising your IVR system is a great idea for your business to save money and increase customer satisfaction, but there are some practical steps you can take to make your IVR system work for your business and your customers.

You should ensure that the options are clear and that customers who have never heard of your business before would be able to navigate them easily.

If the options are confusing then customers will end up coming through to the incorrect department and this causes long waiting times and can actually damage your customer experience.

You should also ensure that you update your system regularly with any new departments or important information your customers might need to know about your services.

This way customers can be kept informed and this will make conversations much easier for your agents.

Finally, finding out what your customers most frequently call your business for and using this information to answer frequently asked questions on your IVR system is a great way to help customer experience and stop customers coming through to your agents unnecessarily.

Each IVR system will be different, and what works for one company may not work for you – so keep adapting your system based on customer feedback and based on agent feedback and you will create a highly optimised system which works brilliantly for your business and your customers.

If your competitors do not have an optimised system but you do, you can be sure that potential customers will notice the difference in service and may choose your business to purchase from based on their experience, so it is important to keep your IVR updated.

To find out more about IVR systems and how you could optimise yours, call on 1888-859-0450 and speak to our expert team.

If you're interested in improving your business communication solution

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Acefone provides a broad range of cloud communication services to businesses of all sizes, which includes Hosted Phone Systems, Free Phone Numbers, and Cloud Contact Center Solutions. Being the UK's leading provider of VoIP service provider, we always strive to provide excellent customer service and high-quality custom solutions to our customers.

Business Virtual Phone Number: A Solution for Smarter Sales and Support

Acefone Editor

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Business Phone Numbers

May 26, 2020

7 mins read eye

Table of content

Picture this: Business is booming and your company is welcoming a heavy inflow of phone calls. Unfortunately, your separate phone lines are constantly engaged and thus, customers cannot communicate with your agents. In this scenario, you may be potentially encouraging your consumers to trust your competitors instead. How can the matter be rectified?

It’s as simple as a single phone number. Switch to a virtual mobile number to better manage the calls received by your agents. By enabling call transfers, remote working and performance monitoring, you can enhance sales, productivity and consumer experience.

What is a virtual phone number?

Before discussing how a virtual mobile number is beneficial for your sales and customer support departments, we must understand what the technology entails.

A virtual number is essentially one that is not limited to a particular device. Also known as Direct Inward Dialling or DID, it is an internet-based telephone system that allows the company to route the phone number to multiple devices. This means any call can be received by different agents or departments. Additionally, you now have a unique contact to provide to your customers, avoiding any confusion and streamlining the process.

A virtual number also shows professionalism and creates a single and easy path to communicate with the representative of your business. There are many features that accompany the employment of a virtual phone number:

Features of virtual phone numbers

Companies that employ this calling system are empowered to conduct various operations beyond the capabilities of a traditional phone line:

- No hardware: Traditional telephones are set up using power lines from the service providers to the user device. This increases an organization’s cost on tangible infrastructure. A virtual phone number is beneficial as it eliminates the need for the same by using cloud services for its operations. All you require are an internet connection and a device to host calls.
- Assorted numbers: Companies lose opportunities to connect with their users when hundreds of calls clog their distinct phone numbers. Virtual numbers allow you to purchase multiple extensions for diverse departments. You can market a unique number to avoid confusion amongst the masses.
- Rerouting calls: You can divert a call to a preferred agent by using IVR (Interactive Voice Response) along with your virtual phone number. This allows for first-point conflict resolution. Make your consumer happy while showing that you care.
- Procuring local area numbers: Showcase a local number in areas with a concentrated consumer base. This builds trust and enables effortless communication with your business. Additionally, you avoid the requirement of buying office space in multiple geographic areas. Virtual phone number allows you to centralize your work operations to limited workspaces.
- Call recording: There is no provision for the management of calls in conventional communication structures. Fortunately, you can use business cloud phone service to enforce call recording settings. You can keep track of individual performances of your employees—an undeniable advantage during appraisals and for maintaining accountability.
- Call Monitoring: There is no provision for the management of calls in conventional communication structures. Fortunately, you can monitor all your communication lines on a web admin portal on a system that utilizes the internet. You can keep track of individual performances of your employees—an undeniable advantage during appraisals and for maintaining accountability.
- Toll-free number: Toll-free numbers have been known to be effective, catchy and convenient. Attach a toll-free number to your virtual phone number and ease the process of communication for your customers. The same can be added to promotional campaigns with a memorable jingle to create recall value.

How to use virtual numbers in sales and customer support?

One could easily argue for the installation of virtual phone numbers by an organization. However, can the same be employed in the sales and support department for better results?

Following are ways whereby a company can strengthen its sales and support staff with a virtual number.

Track progress of marketing campaigns

Consumers are made aware of fresh products and updates through advertising and marketing efforts. They constitute a vital portion of sales forces. However, different strings of marketing can be hard to track with no established program. So, how can you determine the success of a promotional endeavor with no help of a third-party?

When you purchase a virtual phone number, you can also buy various extensions for different agents or departments. You can allot certain extensions to individual marketing campaigns and evaluate the responses and feedback for each. This will save you money and effort otherwise spent on outsourcing. You can use this information to invest or pull back from a campaign according to the success rate. You can also understand the patterns of customer demand by analyzing the data you gather.

Improve customer satisfaction

Effective customer support ensures repeat orders and a superior brand image, which eventually will lead to higher sales.

Every consumer you have is a potential query you might receive. To appease your user base, you must ensure that everyone feels heard. With classic call settings, you might lose their attention on account of busy phone lines. However, with a virtual phone number, you could queue devices so as to connect each call to numerous agents. By doing so, available agents can make use of their time while simultaneously freeing up those who are busy. Constant reception also shapes trust in your consumers.

By using IVR Integration, you can ensure that each caller is guided to the best-suited department. This avoids unnecessarily reroutes that might annoy a caller and solves queries quickly, promising a delighted customer.

Ensure better quality connectivity

Nobody wishes to be on a call with bad reception. It wastes time and also leaves a bitter taste of the communication. Several external forces can deter the quality of calls on the telephone. However, no such issue is required to be addressed on the internet. Virtual calls are not subject to any physical forces, and thus are more likely to enable better quality communication.

Your customers will be pleased, hot having to repeat themselves or face consistent interruptions. Seamless connection lets you address them without wasting time on both fronts.

Do not forget: a bad support experience is a lot more memorable than a satisfactory one.

Evaluate employee performance

A drop of water is enough to create a ripple effect through the ocean—the same can be said about a business. Every individual effort is responsible for the larger success of an organization. Hence, each employee must contribute towards their target.

With a virtual phone number, you can observe the performance of each employee using the call tracking dashboard. You can also make use of call recordings for the same. The surveillance acts as a tri-forked operation: your workers are more vigilant under notice, you can analyze and delegate accountability where required, an award system can be implemented to boost employee morale. With the improved work ethic and increased efficiency, you can cater to your audience better as well as reach sales targets.

Ensure convenient remote working

The events of 2020 have boosted the trend of work from home or remote working. It has been a rather challenging shift for many companies on account of dependence on hardware. A virtual number, however, is not tied to any particular device. This means that you can rearrange the destinations of communication lines yourself. The setup is extremely convenient, considering no infrastructure is required to be relocated.

You can hire people based on expertise with no geographic restrictions. This also allows for work on-the-go. Travelling employees can still clock in hours of work. Increased productivity and widespread communication are easily achieved.

Conclusion

Sales and support services go hand in hand in an organization. Better customer service eventually leads to a higher sell-through rate. Hence, you must ensure an unparalleled customer experience. Virtual phone numbers allow you to streamline your communication services and save time for both, you and your customer. First-point resolution and better distribution of calls will enhance customer satisfaction, eliminating long wait times and unnecessary back and forth.

Ensure an unbeatable sales and support force for the success of your organization. To get a virtual number for your business contact us today.

If you're interested in improving your business communication solution

Give us a call on

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How UCaaS Is Redefining The Way We Do Business

Acefone Editor

Author

Contact Center

May 21, 2020

5 mins read eye

Table of content

Unified Communications-as-a-Service (UCaaS) is redefining the way business is done in many ways, all for the benefit of business owners and customers alike.

Coronavirus has forced many businesses’ hands on the subject of remote working, but those with a UCaaS solution already in place were able to adapt quickly where some businesses struggled.

The future of business lies in more flexible working, working from home and opening your business to the world; but how do you do this without sacrificing productivity?

UCaaS Gives Your Business Flexibility And Productivity

In one package, your UCaaS system can provide everything you and your staff need to work flexibly without missing a beat.

We understand that, if you have not worked flexibly before, it can be a daunting prospect to let your staff work from wherever they need to be unmonitored.

However, it does not have to be scary as UCaaS solutions come with plenty of analytics and monitoring software which are easy for anyone to get to grips with.

These tools let you see exactly what your team is doing, see their call waiting times, access recordings of their calls and much more so you can run your business remotely from anywhere in the world.

UCaaS solutions give business owners the confidence they need to let their staff work flexibly, therefore keeping up with more modern ways of working.

Large corporations like Twitter are now letting staff work from home whenever they want on the back of successes seen during Coronavirus.

So it is important that when lockdown restrictions are lifted in your area that you can match your competitors by offering staff the flexibility to work as they wish.

Giving staff freedom shows you trust them and can also boost their productivity, which is a win-win for both parties!

UCaaS Increases Collaboration

When your staff can easily connect with each other to share their expertise, you foster a team environment – even if that team is spread across the world.

With a few simple clicks, staff can connect with any of their colleagues right in your phone system, through video calling or simply a voice call.

They can share ideas and come up with innovative ideas which might not have been shared by a staff member on their own.

Customers can also benefit as staff will learn from each other and therefore each agent will become more knowledgeable.

With staff all over the world, it could be difficult to make teams inclusive and build a team spirit between staff members.

However, staff can connect for free whenever they want with conference calling – with crystal clear communications over your internet connection, there is no annoying lag, just productive team meetings and brilliant idea-sharing.

If you have many different branches in your business, this provides another opportunity to connect them through UCaaS.

Staff can simply dial the extension and be put through to the other branch at a low cost-sharing customer, stock, ideas and much more in a few clicks on their phone systems.

Track Customer Journeys Through UCaaS

Gone are the days where lots of paperwork was needed for customer files, with UCaaS you can simply let your phone system track the customer through from call to purchase and beyond!

Integrating seamlessly with your CRM system, UCaaS solutions can give you detailed insights into the customer journey, with the opportunity for your staff to make detailed notes so any staff member can pick up where they left off.

With no need for the customer to wait for a dedicated salesperson who may be away or dealing with another client.

With knowledge of your customer journey, your marketing team can step in and make tweaks and changes to your website to ensure everything is as user friendly as possible.

If customers are having difficulty on a certain page and end up calling you rather than processing the order online, the information you have can help your marketing team identify and rectify this easily.

You can also keep track of your marketing campaign performance, by seeing exactly where customers came from and whether they were more likely to make a purchase after clicking one of your campaigns.

UCaaS Makes The World More Accessible

Before UCaaS it may have been difficult to deal with clients in other countries across the world due to time differences, language barriers and more.

With UCaaS this is no issue, as you can hire customer service or sales representatives throughout the world.

These remote workers can connect to your phone system using their internet connection and can work seamlessly with your team as if they are sat in the office with them.

These workers mean you can break into new markets and have people who speak the same language on the other end of the phone.

Your small business could potentially become multinational in just a few clicks on your phone system, revolutionizing the way you do business and opening up all-new markets with a minimal cost to your business.

Wherever your clients are based, you can have someone at the end of the phone when they need them and can even set up local numbers in different cities or countries.

This increase trust and give potential clients a local number to call rather than making an international call which might make them think twice about calling.

UCaaS opens up so many doors to your business and gives you the opportunity to completely revolutionize your marketing and sales campaigns to include a worldwide audience.

Clearly, UCaaS is revolutionizing businesses across the globe and has proven to be essential during the Coronavirus pandemic to keep business moving.

Going forward, when the world returns to normal, workers are going to expect to be able to work flexibly where possible and a UCaaS system ensures that this is not only possible but is productive.

If you would like to know more about this exciting new development for your business, speak to our expert team on 1888-859-0450.

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5 Traits You Should Have To Improve Sales Success

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Customer Service

5 mins read eye

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Sales success depends on a number of factors, from the quality of your product to the need for your product or service in the marketplace.

However, even with high quality and in-demand product, your sales team need to have the right traits to connect with your customer and sell the products to them.

If the customer does not relate to your salesperson they are unlikely to buy from your business, so here are the top 5 traits successful salespeople should have to help your business improve its sales success.

Ability To Listen

A salesperson should always listen carefully to the customer and their needs and base their recommendations on what the customer wants.

If customers feel listened to, they will trust the salesperson more and will be more likely to build up a working relationship with them; which means a more profitable business relationship for you as a business owner.

The ability to connect and relate to customers only comes when the salesperson is a good listener if they are too pushy trying to gain more money from the client without hearing the clients problems and providing them with a solution.

Connecting with customers is aided by a great communication system, which is reliable and can provide the crystal clear communications your customers expect.

A hosted phone system can give you this reliable communication system so your staff can confidently listen to customer’s needs without fear of missing a minute.

With Acefone’s online portal, salespeople can save information about customers to refer back to on their accounts – so everything you need is at your fingertips.

Resilience

Salespeople will often face rejection and difficult sales, so they must be resilient and able to keep going even in the face of adversity.

Salespeople need to be resilient and be willing to put in extra work to gain the trust of customers and this may mean going out to their homes or businesses to meet face to face to sell their products or services.

When a salesperson needs to go out into the community to sell their products or services, they need to have a phone system which can keep up.

A cloud phone system is fully portable and can transfer to any device, so your sales team are free to go wherever your customers are which will give you the best chance of sales success.

The Ability To Multitask

The sales team must have the ability to multitask; they may have multiple client accounts to manage, client meetings, new business enquiries and more to juggle at once.

So it is important that they are confident at multitasking so they can cope with all the challenges a fast-paced career in sales can throw at your team.

When a sales team can multitask your business can run smoothly and you will experience greater sales success.

Your sales team should not be held back by your phone system, they should be able to work from wherever they need to be without fear of missing a call or lead.

A hosted phone system forwards all your voicemails to your email address so your sales team never miss a lead and can follow up with customers when they are next free.

Their daily task list may require them to juggle multiple tasks at once, but this should not mean they miss out on any new leads coming in – a hosted phone system makes keeping up to date much more manageable.

Adaptability

Sales professionals should be adaptable to any situation.

Customer needs and expectations will be different with every person they deal with, so they should be able to adapt their approach based on the person or business they are talking to.

A salesperson should be confident listening to customers and then choosing their approach accordingly.

To sell a product successfully, your sales team should be prepared to go the extra mile to make customers feel valued and built that all-important trust – so they need a phone system which can adapt as quickly as they can.

Most enquiries from business to business will come in over the phone, or an online enquiry which is followed up by a phone call.

So it is really important that your team are well trained in using all the features of your phone system to help serve your customers and cater to their needs.

If a customer has a question they do not have the expertise to answer, they can be transferred in a few clicks to another salesperson who can help answer the query effectively.

They can also switch onto different, compatible devices to access their files and continue speaking with customers in a way which works for them.

This portability also means that sales professionals can go wherever they are needed to make a sale, with nothing holding them back.

Communication skills

Finally, the most important skill a sales professional can have is great communication skills.

Sales professionals must be able to communicate freely and openly with anyone who calls your business and must be able to deal with people from all walks of life.

If a sales team fail to communicate with customers accurately, this can lead to problems further down the line and unsatisfied customers who feel they have been mis-sold a product or service; which can decrease your sales success in the future.

Further to this, sales teams should have the ability to communicate internally with each other too.

Sharing expertise and experiences will help the team as a whole grow stronger and deliver better customer service, while also seeing improved sales figures.

A useful feature on your hosted phone system is call recordings, where you can access all recorded calls with a click of a button on the online portal and can share this with other sales professionals who can learn from the experience of their colleagues.

To find out more about how a cloud phone system can help improve your sales success, call our team on 1888-859-0450.

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How To Get Customer Feedback and Why It Is Important?

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Operations

May 20, 2020

6 mins read eye

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When you’re building a business or brand, it is important to build trust at the same time.

Customers are much more likely to make a purchase with you if they see legitimate reviews and feedback from other customers similar to them.

Customer reviews are without bias and give a true representation of the products or services your business deals with.

So it is important to foster great feedback from customers and deal with any negative feedback head-on.

We’ve put together a few steps you can take to ensure you get great customer feedback and outlining why it is important to do so.

Why Is Feedback Important?

Customer feedback is important for many reasons, the first being that they increase trust in your brand or products.

Real customer feedback shows that many people just like your customer have benefitted from your services and shows that products are of high quality.

During a customer’s research phase, they will often look to reviews to get a real idea on whether they should contact your company, so a range of reviews will go a long way to attracting these customers.

No reviews on your site may cause customers to think that you are unestablished – they may not want to be the first to try a product as often this much research will go into buying a high-value product.

So if you have very few reviews it is important to build these up so that you can become much more established in a customer’s eyes.

With the rise of social media, a new step is added for customers researching your company, so it is important to ensure you monitor all feedback here to ensure that, even if negative, you are responsive and ready to solve the problem.

Use Feedback To Help You Improve Your Products

By collecting feedback from your customers, you can find ways to improve your products or services based on your customers wants and needs.

If you see a trend developing in similar aspects being mentioned in a review, it may be time to look at your product and make it completely tailored to customer needs.

So in this way, feedback gives you the unique opportunity to speak directly with customers and improve your products so they fit in with what your target audience wants, something you would never have accessed without customer feedback.

Deal With Negative Feedback

Negative feedback is just as important as positive feedback in many ways, so it should not be disregarded even though it is tempting to do so.

Responding politely and professionally is the only way to deal with negative feedback successfully if customers can see you have a bad review but you dealt with it in a timely manner they are more likely to look past this as, of course, everyone will make mistakes from time to time.

Negative feedback can sometimes provide an opportunity to elevate your customer service to new levels, as it presents an opportunity to change a customer’s mind.

Once you have solved the issue you can then ask the customer to change the review and you have therefore shown your business will not back away from a difficult situation.

How Do You Get Customer Feedback?

Most clients will not leave a review unprompted, and if they do it is more likely to be negative, so it is important that you build a review collection step into your agent’s sales and customer care protocols.

Here are some ways to collect natural, positive reviews from your customers.

Follow Up With Customers

Chances are if your staff have been dealing with customers from the initial purchase enquiry they have built up a good rapport with the customer.

After leaving detailed customer notes in Acefone’s easy to use online portal, agents can follow up with the customer after a few weeks if they know they are pleased with the service (for example, they had no complaints or problems throughout the buying process).

Following up with the customer does not only provide a way for you to get customer feedback, but it also provides an extra level of customer service by giving the customer a form of aftercare and an opportunity to re-engage with your business.

It is completely acceptable for your agents to directly ask for feedback from the customer at this stage, and if they have had a great experience, customers will be more than happy to help.

Giving you a pool of positive feedback to add to your website or even use in your marketing campaigns.

Speaking to customers directly is always a great way to find out what they are thinking and connect with them, so this should always be a step in your sales process.

Customer Feedback Surveys

Some customers may not have the time for an in-depth call, or you may not have built up that rapport with them.

So a customer service survey is a great way to quickly get their input and use any relevant quotes on your website or marketing collateral.

There are plenty of applications out there designed to create easy to use surveys, such as SurveyMonkey, and these can simply be a few questions to get an idea of what customers thought.

You can use your CRM system to send to any customers who have purchased a product or service from you and impress them by truly caring and valuing their feedback.

This does mean that if there are any comments which show the customer is dissatisfied you will need to follow up with a call.

It may be useful here for your sales agents to add a comment on their account on your online portal to notify other agents this customer is having problems, so they are not contacted unnecessarily before the issue can be resolved.

To add another level of customer care, you could use your hosted phone system to call these customers before they receive the survey to tell them of its impending arrival.

This will help fewer surveys to go unanswered or missed in busy inboxes and shows the customer you personally value their opinion.

Encourage Google Reviews

Google reviews are easy for customers to do, you can just send them a link via email and they can fill out the simple form with their rating and comment.

Google reviews are particularly useful for you as a business and for the consumer as often this is a potential customer’s first port of call.

So having lots of high-quality reviews will ensure you stand out and are pushed up through those business search results, particularly in your local area.

Google favours sites which are trustworthy and liked by customers, so the more positive reviews you can collect the better your chances are of being found by your perfect customer.

So it is well worth encouraging purchasers to review you in this way.

Before asking customers to provide a Google review, make sure they are 100% satisfied with your service, as a bad review can be detrimental to your reputation on Google.

Overall, customer feedback is an integral part of your sales and marketing strategy and should be prioritised as part of your procedures.

A hosted PBX system can help you organise data and customer reviews so that it is easy to contact customers and store reviews for future use – find out more by calling our expert team on 1888-859-0450.

If you're interested in improving your business communication solution

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The Role of Modern IVR system in Call Centers

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Call Center

May 18, 2020

6 mins read eye

Table of content

The marketplace has long shifted from a product-centric landscape to that focusing on services. In simpler terms, it’s all about customer satisfaction. A happy customer ensures repeated sales, word-of-mouth recommendation, and a bright brand image overall. The key to a positive experience is efficiency, and that’s where IVR system steps in.

IVR or Interactive Voice Response refers to a telephony system that responds to inputs from the customer through an automated process and reroutes the call to a preferred agent. It nullifies the requirement of a live operator. It’s a rather uncomplicated endeavor. When a customer calls, the IVR system will greet them and ask for keyboard input (For example, “Press 1 for English” or “Press 1 to register a complaint”). The input will then be identified, segmented and then the call will be rerouted to a specialized agent (if required).

But how can this help your call centers appease and retain customers? Let’s take a look at the role of this feature.

Personalize Messages for Customers

Personalization of your services ensures a deeper connection with your customers. With IVR solution, your business can record a customized message tailored to the client using caller information. This displays that you care for your customers’ needs and creates a stronger brand image. You can opt for either a pre-recorded message by a professional voice actor or add in your version.

Different languages may be employed to appeal to a variety of callers.

Ease Accountability and Analysis of Information

To promise improved customer care in the future, your business should be able to learn from its past interactions. Through IVR system, you can record your calls to later analyze the nuances of the conversation. Many recordings in the professional sphere are also recorded for training purposes—new recruits may be given these conversations as case study.

This is also helpful to keep track of your conversations. Customer responses will help you understand their needs and demands for particular products, depending on what they wish to inquire.

Serve Callers Around the Clock

A live operator or receptionist handling calls limits the period of connectivity with a consumer. In this setup, people are inconvenienced to attempt to call only during work hours, which eventually also means a higher concentration of calls at a given time. Investing in IVRS, however, ensures that they are attended to, at any hour of the day or night. This round-the-clock service will allow clients to connect with the business, even in the absence of any employees.

This is a multi-faceted advantage as not only are the customers content, but also employees do not have to compromise on their time.

Treat Queries with Accuracy

It is often the case in traditional settings that a call is rerouted to multiple agents, many of whom are equipped or responsible to handle the query or request. This can be avoided by automating the service. This way, the business will be able to identify the needs of the customer and narrow them down without any human assistance. If it is required, the call is then transferred to an agent with the best abilities to handle queries of that nature. Not only will this permit rapid service by providing first contact resolution, but also cut down on time spent per call.

The Sticky Agent feature of IVRS will allow callers to engage with the same agent every time, hence saving time otherwise spent on reiterating basic information. If callers cannot be tended due to high frequency of requests, they can stay on hold or agents can return their calls later according to some setups.

Increase Return on Investment

Without the need to employ a receptionist, the operational costs of a business are driven down. An IVR setup requires minimal infrastructure and also functions at high efficiency. Additionally, there are various plans available to acquire an IVR system that is light on the pockets. Better accuracy in redirection as well, gives agents appropriate free time. All these factors combined ensure that the investments are low, and productivity is high, leading to an increased return on investment.

Minimize Human Error

As mentioned earlier, human error is often at play in conventional call centers. Any receptionist or operator may contribute to inaccuracy while rerouting calls. There is no lack of judgement when it comes to an automated system. IVR technology is well equipped to understand requirements and transfer calls to the ideal agent. Using the call barging feature, you can also assist your agent with prompts to ensure high-level of accuracy and performance.

Additionally, it is ideal to greet any consumer with enthusiasm and attention, as any IVR system would, undeterred by any moods or personal inconvenience. This will grant your business the professional front it requires to attract and charm callers.

Create a Strong Brand Image

An IVR number leaves a strong first impression on a caller. While one might assume that a small business or start-up might wish to avoid this feature, the reality is quite the opposite. A customer calling an IVR number for any business is given the impression of meticulousness. The technology also lends the organization a front of importance and size. And with the added benefits of lowered costs and improved services, it is ideal for any business type.

Display Order Statuses

Customers have the urge to constantly track their orders and follow the progress, essentially for satisfaction and confirmation. In these situations, dealing with an automated system can help the customer directly deal with the information, instead of an agent taking out time to manually search for the result. This not only saves time for both parties but also adds a factor of convenience for the customer, who can access the data at their time and without any drawn-out explanations.

Take Surveys

One of the most thorough ways one can gain access to customer feedback is through surveys. Businesses can use IVR number to ask questions regarding their product, service or experience and then tally numeric inputs to identify any strengths or weaknesses. Keyboard inputs can provide feedback on quantitative data. However, since IVR system allows call recordings, you could also use the technology to ask open-ended questions that a user could answer in their voice.

Clear Payments

Gone are the days of long lines to pay off one’s dues. The advent of the technological age has transformed the methods of payments—almost any payment can be accomplished online. With IVR number, you can allow the customer to clear their payments on call. It minimizes effort from the consumers and the businesses are benefited by saving time and effort from their side as well. Telephone banking is common amongst individuals who wish to save the time otherwise spent in travelling to the bank.

Promotions and Reminders

You can highlight your brand’s promotional activities while you have the attention of your caller. Pre-recorded calls can be designed to mention marketing promotions that can potentially attract a customer. An IVR number could also be added to other media.

Many call centers may use the system to send across reminders for appointments or other important events. This makes the consumer aware of your company’s activities.

While these are the various roles and benefits of IVR system in a call center through a business perspective, it might be beneficial to understand the reasons for which IVR can be used to gather a stronger consumer base.

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Top 7 Best Practices for Remote Working [Infographic]

Ratnam Sinha

Author

Infographics

3 mins read eye

Table of content

Remote working is becoming more popular these days and a lot of companies have accepted the idea of remote employees.

While working in an office, there are certain rules and regulations you have to follow, but remote working is completely different.

This doesn’t mean there are no rules and regulations, but there is no single formula that applies to every remote worker.

However, in this time of COVID-19 outbreak, almost everyone is working remotely from their homes due to quarantine.

It is the first time for many people and even for many organisations.

As it is still new for so many people, here are some best practices for employees and managers working remotely that will help them make most of it.

Top 7 Best Practices For Working Remotely

1. Regular Communication

Communicating with your team on a regular basis is the key to ensuring everything works seamlessly while working from home.

For the managers, being in touch with the agents is important, so that when they face any problem, it is fixed as soon as possible.

A team that stays connected often performs better than the team that lacks communication.

2. Be Available

Always reply to your teammates on time and coordinate with them whenever needed.

If your teammates are working in different time zones, ask them their working hours and try to be available for them at least for some time.

3. Set Realistic Goals

Just because you are working from home doesn’t mean you have all the time in the world.

Instead of setting unachievable targets for yourself or your team, try to keep them as they were in the office. No one can work for all 24 hours.

4. Hold Regular Meetings

With regular meetings, managers and team leaders can stay updated with their teams and their progress to make sure the workflow is seamless.

Also, with regular meetings, they can collect feedback and reviews, which will help in improving the strategies.

5. Balance Your Work and Personal Life

Take breaks between your working hours; don’t sit continuously for a long time. Have some fun activity in between to refresh your mind.

Don’t put too much stress on yourself. A fresh mindset will be more productive than a tired mind that keeps on working hours and hours.

6. Using The Right Tools

Using the latest tools and technologies will make you more productive.

With the right tools, the workload on your employees reduces, and they can complete their tasks more efficiently.

Moreover, most software provides your business with an easy to use portal where the managers can keep track of every employee.

7. Stay Healthy

Taking care of your health is also very important. Even if you are working from home, if you get sick, you will not be able to concentrate and give your best to the organisation.

Taking care of your mental health is also important. If you take too much pressure on yourself, your mental health can take a toll which can result in not being able to work at all.

Conclusion

Remote working can be productive for the organisation and the employee.

While the employee has more time to himself for self-improvement, the organisation gets the most efficiency from the teams.

With these best practices, businesses can make the most of remote working and maybe make it a part of their organisation when this pandemic is over.

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Ratnam Sinha

Author

Ratnam is an SEO enthusiast and content writer working as a Digital Marketer with Acefone. He is fond of traveling and new experiences. He is a huge Marvel fan and is always open to learning.

How Call Conference Keeps Your Team Connected

Ratnam Sinha

Author

Phone System

May 15, 2020

5 mins read eye

Table of content

Nowadays, working from home is becoming a common practice among businesses.

Though it can be an effective strategy, there is a chance of it falling apart if proper communication among the team members is absent.

Thus, to eliminate the chances of that happening, many organisations take different measures to ensure the connectivity among the team members.

This includes a variety of communication ways such as internal chats in the organisation, exchange of information over e-mails, having one to one conversations, etc.

One such method is Call Conferencing. Conference calling is without a doubt, one of the best practices for businesses to keep the team connected.

Below are some benefits of implementing call conference among your team members.

Always Stay in Touch

Conference calls allow multiple people to hold a meeting to have valuable discussions and conversations.

It not only brings the whole team together at the same time, but it also opens a way for cross-team interactions.

The ability of conference calling to bring a large number of people in a single call makes it possible for different teams to interact with each other and connect whenever needed.

For managers and team leaders, call conferencing makes it easier to give a message to the whole team instead of connecting to each member separately.

Holding regular conference calls is one of the best ways to keep the team connected and updated with each other.

Even video calls can be organised to make everyone feel as if they are present in an actual conference.

Keep The Office Culture Alive

Managers can pass down important notices and information to the whole team, or different teams, at the same time implying official vibe.

Just like in the office premises, employees can interact with each other and raise questions and follow-up questions in case of any doubt or confusion.

Via conference calls, a manager can even announce credits and praises for the better performing employee so that they feel motivated even when they are located remotely.

A conference call can simply be assumed as a normal conference meeting that takes place in an office and participation of all the employees present in the call is appreciated in similar ways.

This makes the employees feel less disconnected with their colleagues and organisation, and even while working remotely, they feel like actively being connected with the team.

Shares Ideas and Thoughts

If an employee comes up with an idea that can benefit the team, it is better that they discuss it over a conference call rather than a mail thread.

It is difficult to decipher the tone of a person over a written mail which can cause misunderstanding within the team.

However, during a call, the tone and feelings of a person are more clear which allows efficient communication.

It is also a great way to exchange thoughts with the team and take feedbacks from one another to improve the overall performance.

An effective communication between the team members can drastically affect their performance in a positive way.

Managers can even organise casual conference calls to relieve stress without the employees working remotely and just exchange their views about the company’s strategies and plans.

Casual meetings like these are a good way to encourage a more friendly and comfortable environment within the team and helps increase the team’s bonding and collaboration spirit.

Solve Each Other’s Problems

If an employee has any kind of problem, they tend to turn to their colleagues for help.

However, most of the times an employee alone is not able to solve a problem, and they often discuss it within a group to find a suitable solution.

Without a conference call, if an employee is working from home and encounters an issue, he might have to call everyone individually, which will end up wasting a lot of time.

Just one conference call among a few employees can help solve the issue a lot faster, not only saving time for everyone but also increasing the cooperation.

If a new technology or application is introduced in the organisation, managers or the technical team can easily explain its uses and working and also solve queries over a conference call.

Keep The Team Organised

Keeping the team organised is one of the major issues while working remotely.

It is hard for managers to keep track of everyone’s activity, and they might often lose track of the progress of each employee’s work, and how they should assist them in continuing further.

However, with conference calling, this complicated task becomes much simpler.

Managers and team leaders can discuss the work plan, set priorities for a project, discuss the expected issues that the team might face during a project, ask about everyone’s progress at the same time making it easier for them to assign roles accordingly, etc.

It becomes simple for the managers to analyse the position of each team member better and provide them suitable roles while being on a conference call with the team.

This not only makes the managers work easy, but it also allows the employees to be more productive.

Bottom Line

Call Conferencing is a must-have feature for any business that has a remote team.

It is not only essential for any team to have uninterrupted communication, but it is also crucial for them to feel the office environment to maintain the workflow.

Conference calling ensures that no matter where your team members are located around the globe, they will always feel like working together as a group.

This induces collaboration in the team which eventually leads to better results and performance for every employee.

Even managers feel more empowered when they can connect with their team without any hassle and keep the work culture intact.

Acefone provides cloud communication solutions for business that provide uninterrupted conference calling for your team ensuring your business seamless communication, always. Contact an expert at 1888-859-0450 to get your business the communication it needs.

If you're interested in improving your business communication solution

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1888-859-0450

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Ratnam Sinha

Author

Ratnam is an SEO enthusiast and content writer working as a Digital Marketer with Acefone. He is fond of traveling and new experiences. He is a huge Marvel fan and is always open to learning.

Why Collaboration Is All We Need To Fight Coronavirus and How VoIP Can Help

Ratnam Sinha

Author

Voice - VoIP

6 mins read eye

Table of content

Coronavirus, or COVID-19, is a global pandemic that has been spreading across the globe since early 2020.

And it is not something to be taken for granted, it has resulted in lockdown all around the world and people are going through a phase of “Social Distancing.”

This means that everyone is either staying at home or if working outside, maintaining a proper distance between each other.

But this isn’t the only global pandemic ever. The world has gone through a few of them over the last century, the only difference this time is that we might have the right knowledge, and technology to get through this outbreak.

In the past, a global pandemic had resulted in a total shutdown of businesses and factories, and everything that would keep a country going.

However, during COVID-19, businesses are not totally shutting down but taking a different approach – Work From Home.
Work from home or remote working might be the best way to deal with this situation as a collaboration between the employees is essential to keep a business going fluently, let’s get in some more detail.

Collaboration Can Help Defeat The Virus

Remote working refers to working from outside the office premises while completing all the tasks and goals that an employee would do if they were in the office.

Although the work-from-home method is no more a new concept, but it holds special benefits to the companies.

In fact, there would often be remote workers in most organisations who would operate from different locations, while meeting the requirements of the company.

Freelancers are a good example of such a scenario. They would be at home but would deliver the work to the business efficiently.

Another example is when an employee would be sick, and he would request to work from home with his personal computer, being connected with the team via calls and emails.

However, for the teams working remotely, collaboration becomes a major issue.

If an employee is working from outside the office premises, they could just join in with just a call and stay connected with the team or the manager to get the updates.

However, when the entire team is working remotely, the situation is different because it is possible that the members of the team are located in different time zones, have different working hours, etc.

Thus, collaboration is an absolute necessity. When a team is in sync, and know each other well, no matter where the members are located, they will coordinate with each other to get the work done.

Proper collaboration within a team will lead to higher productivity and performance altogether.

This collaboration between the team members, and the whole organisation, is everything needed to keep the business running smoothly even during the coronavirus pandemic!

The biggest threat that a pandemic possesses is shutting down business operations completely. Because people cannot go to their offices, work comes to a complete halt, thus affecting many businesses.

However, with technology like VoIP solutions available to us today, that helps maintain collaboration with the team members, the COVID-19 can do nothing to stop the workflow.

How VoIP Can Help

VoIP or Voice over Internet Protocol is a cloud-based technology which allows communication without the need for any physical hardware.

It is a technology that is widely used by businesses for both communications within and outside the organization.

VoIP is the tool for business that promotes remote working, and thus, is the perfect tool for every business during the coronavirus outbreak.

VoIP doesn’t only provide the business with the ability to connect with the team members, but also with the customers.

Moreover, it offers a vast variety of features to improve a business’ productivity and keep everyone connected.

Here are a few advantages of VoIP solutions that businesses can take benefit from during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Conference Calling

VoIP offers simplified conferencing that helps everyone in the team to stay connected with each other.

It doesn’t charge anything other the plan you opted for while getting the solution for your business and provides high-quality calling.

With audio or video call conferencing, the team can communicate effectively with each other sharing ideas and thoughts and maintaining a work culture between employees.

Managers can easily conduct team meetings and pass down essential information to the entire time at the same time.

Multi-device Access

With accessibility on multiple devices, agents can access their VoIP features on any device that they prefer.

Whether it’s a tablet, a phone, or a personal computer, VoIP provides the same quality features and connectivity on every one of them.

If your business gets inbound calls from customers, VoIP phone system make sure that your agents never miss any calls.

If an important customer calls after the office hours, your agents will get the call redirected to their personal device, ensuring that no lead stays unattended.

Additionally, it also offers flexibility between devices, which means that the call can be transferred to any other device after the call has been connected with the customer, making it easy for the agent to collect the crucial customer interaction data.

Music on Hold

If your business is getting higher traffic on calls, then it is possible that the customers are being put in a waiting queue before getting connected to an agent. This is where Music on Hold features becomes important.

Instead of making your customer wait in blunt silence, you can make them listen to music or provide them with essential information about your business.

You can even advertise a new product that has been launched too.

Implementing music on hold reduces the call drop rates significantly and makes the caller stay connected for a longer period of time.

Interactive Voice Response (IVR)

IVR is an amazing feature that every business should implement if they get inbound calls from their customers.

IVR is like a virtual assistant that offers your customers a self-help option, solving their minor queries and questions, while keeping your agents free to attend more important calls.

IVR also helps to route calls to different departments saving the organisations the need of an additional agent to route the calls.

This not only saves time for the agents, as they know that the customer is there for a specific reason, it also saves time for the customer for they don’t have to explain their issue to multiple agents.

In addition, IVR also gathers basic customer interaction data, so the agent does not have to keep asking the customers for his basic information, again and again, leading to optimum customer experience.

To Sum Up…

Collaboration within a team can be easily achieved by using VoIP phone software in the organisation.

It is a tough time for any business around the world, and only with proper connectivity and communication we can defeat this pandemic and keep everything going fluently.

A VoIP business phone system plays a crucial part in providing the businesses all the necessary tools for productive communication with the customers as well as the employees while making it easy for the managers to keep track of everything through an online portal.

If you require a cloud-based or VoIP based phone system for your business, connect with one of our experts at 1888-859-0450 , who will help you get the perfect plan that fits your unique business needs.

If you're interested in improving your business communication solution

Give us a call on

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Ratnam Sinha

Author

Ratnam is an SEO enthusiast and content writer working as a Digital Marketer with Acefone. He is fond of traveling and new experiences. He is a huge Marvel fan and is always open to learning.

IVR: All Questions Answered

Acefone Editor

Author

IVR Service

May 11, 2020

6 mins read eye

Table of content

A stellar customer experience constitutes customer success and also encourages customer loyalty. Very soon, a customer’s experience with a brand will be a company’s fundamental differentiator, even outweighing price and the product. It is no longer be enough to have just a good product at a good price, and smart businesses are taking notes. Now, companies must provide exceptional customer experience if they want to say competitive.

The technical development after the Fourth Industrial Revolution- such as Artificial Intelligence, Internet of things and cloud computing are leveraging the ease in customer experience by providing better customer insights about their expectations and perceptions. This customer-centric approach has become possible because of multiple tools and solutions, one of the crucial tools being the IVR.

In this blog, we will find answers to 7 most frequently asked questions about IVR systems asked by people who are interested in implementing IVRS for their businesses.

What is IVR?
What do we need to implement the IVR System?
How does it work?
Is it even important to implement one?
For what type of industries is the IVR solution mandatory?
How long does it take to implement?
Is there any payment process to activate IVR services?

What is IVR?

IVR stands for Interactive Voice Response and is an automated telephony system that communicates with customers, aggregates information and transmits calls to the appropriate recipients. An IVR system accepts a combination of voice telephone input as well as touch-tone keypad selection and provides the suitable responses through various mediums like voice, fax, callback, email or SMS.

For example, all the recordings you hear while dialing a customer care number of a bank or a restaurant are a part of a well implemented IVR solution. It then asks you to either dial 1 or 2 for sales or support or maybe for a language option. These options are known as Dual-Tone-Multi-Frequency (DTMF) options using which the customers navigate to the relevant agent/recipient.

What do we need to implement the IVR System?

It might sound a technical jibber jabber, but IVR system is the most hassle-free tool ever developed to provide a smoother customer experience. There is absolutely no need of a physical setup to install the system.

Using IVR services, you will be able to implement your desired script as a recording on the cloud or a server, so that as soon as a customer calls, the calls first hit the IVR Recording on the cloud and then using the call forwarding feature, is forwarded to a number convenient to you. This number can be a mobile number or even a landline number.

This implies that the calls can be picked up traditionally using mobile phones or landlines with the contemporary IVR system in place. So beware of all the vendors who charge “setup fee” as a part of their commercials. It is invalid because there is no setup needed to implement IVR.

How does it work?

An IVR is basically a technology that lets a human interact with an electronic system using voice and DTMF inputs via keypad. The beauty of IVR technology lies in the ease of its functioning. No matter where you are, it works exactly the same even if you’re operating from different geographical locations providing a sophisticated standardization in operations.

To describe the flow, any call made to a number first hits the server where the greeting message is played; something like, “Welcome to XYZ Ltd” followed by an IVR which gives an option of pressing 1 for maybe English and 2 for Hindi. Then, based on the option as selected by the caller, the call lands to a relevant agent.

The answer to how does an IVR work lies in the question that what do you wish to accomplish with the IVR system. It can be an Auto-attendant used to greet the caller or an Auto-receptionist which responds with a pre-recorded message and transfers the call to the concerned department based on the DTMF inputs of the caller.

Why is it important to implement IVR?

The first, foremost and very basic answer to this question would be – personalised experience! Personalisation can be in various forms, simplest of it being incorporation of your company’s name in the greeting message itself. It enables you to gather information about the callers and their preferences.

The IVR system also automates the whole process of welcoming and greeting an agent, sometimes even solving the query, thereby reducing the need of human intervention. It also transfers the call to the right and relevant agent without any ambiguity since there is technology involved.

IVR has excellent features like segregating and differentiating calls based on different criteria like, language, category of query and will route these calls to the agent who is most qualified to handle them. This way, you will never miss an important call. Another noteworthy feature that IVR exhibits is the ability to handle multiple calls and heavy call flow.

Unlike conventional telephony systems where you can only handle one call at a time, IVR system lets you handle multiple calls by placing them in a queue or transferring them to the right agent to answer. This is an outstanding feature and most crucial reason to switch to cloud telephony.

Even in these unprecedented times of corona virus pandemic, IVR campaigns have helped businesses in ensuring business continuity and keeping customers informed about their functioning.

For what type of industries is the IVR mandatory?

All industries who care for a smooth experience for their customers can go ahead with IVR implementation. It is not restricted to a few industries. Big, small, old or new, every type of industry can benefit using IVR technology.

Small businesses who want to portray a professional and sophisticated image should definitely consider this option. Customers would get that feel of dialing in an organization having multiple agents and departments even if it is a start-up with minimal staff.

How long does it take to implement?

The time to configure an IVRS in place totally depends on the service provider or the vendor you’re subscribing to. Usually, it takes a couple of hours and you’re good to go. Setting up a cloud telephony solution, such as the IVR is the most simple and smooth process. All you need is a brilliant, personalized script in place and a few forwarding numbers of your agents to start this. Having all this in place, you’re all set to amplify your customer experience without any hefty investments on physical hardware or human resource.

Is there any payment process to activate IVR services?

The IVR service can be started by paying online through various methods like bank transfers and Paytm. To enjoy best-in-class services, one can get in touch with the leading IVR service provider like Acefone. You can enjoy the services without any geographical constraint by logging into a user-friendly dashboard. The process to do so is smooth as well as quick. Account gets activated within a couple of hours of making the payment.

IVR is therefore mandatory as well as appropriate for any 21st century business who cares about its customer experience. IVRS are life savers for the customers who hate waiting in long queues or repeating his/her issues. In times where staying ahead of the competition is a must, IVRS increase both business efficiency and customer satisfaction while reducing the overall business cost.

Contact to know more about IVR.

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