Category: Growth

Setting up a good IVR (interactive voice response) call flow can pay dividends for your business because it can keep more customers on the line and route more of them to the exact resources they need without delays. 

Below, we’ll explore 12 call flows that you can implement in your call center straight away—plus we’ll offer some quick tips for setting up your call flows in a way that brings the most benefits while safeguarding you from the most common mistakes. 

Quick Tips for Setting Up an IVR Call Flow

If your company happens to be using some of the best call center software on the market today, then you already have access to some tools for creating a great IVR call flow. In any case, it’s important to have a strong grasp of the basics when you’re setting one up. 

Keep it simple

Along with those that provide too many menu options, call flows that aren’t clear or concise enough can lead to higher call abandonment rates and lower overall customer satisfaction due to their unnecessarily complex nature. Instead of bombarding your users with sensory overload, try to limit your main menu to a maximum of five options and keep your navigation tree simple and logical so that customers know how to use it and where to go. 

Make sure customers can speak with an agent at any time

Sometimes a caller may not understand the menu options clearly or will simply prefer to talk to a human agent as soon as possible due to the urgency of their issue. With that in mind, you should always make sure to include an option to be routed to a live agent in your main menu and submenus. 

Offer callback options

Offering a callback option gives the…

Continue reading

If you work in an outbound call center, you know how important it is to hone your skills and keep outperforming the competition. At the same time, you also know not to waste time with useless gimmicks and low-level advice that was written by AI in two seconds. 

What you need is cold-calling advice that’s tried, tested, vetted, and actually works. 

Try these on for size. 

Shadow The Best Rep for Half a Day

Shadowing the best agent in your call center can be insanely valuable, even if just for a few hours. Cold calling can be half science, half art, and while you can get the scientific, psychological, and strategic bits from articles, books, and certain professionals, you can’t always get the art bits. These are things you watch, learn, and even steal from the best. 

Find your company’s best-performing sales rep and see if you can shadow them for half a day. Offer to buy them lunch if you have to—it’ll be worth it down the line.  

By watching a high-performing agent take care of business, you’ll be able to pick up on big ideas and subtle lessons in a short period of time. This is the kind of learning that could take weeks of sales training, so pay attention and ask questions when you have clear openings to do so.

Set a “No” Goal

An old trick in the persuasion book says you need to get someone to start saying the word “yes” as soon as possible—because the more they say “yes” to your statements, the more likely it is they’ll say “yes” to your eventual offer.

However, as important as hearing a “yes” may be, hearing a “no” can be just as crucial. 

The idea of setting a “no” goal is to make sure you hear…

Continue reading

Visual IVRs (Interactive Voice Response) combine traditional IVR technology with visual elements such as images, videos, and menus that make for a fast, user-friendly experience. In call centers where there’s a large volume of incoming calls and customer inquiries to handle, visual IVRs can help customers get their answers more promptly and directly.

This also makes self-service easier as it’s a visual experience for the customer: callers can scan and view their options at a glance, skip right to their solution, or choose to speak with an agent immediately if they can’t find what they’re looking for. 

This puts a ton of control back in the customer’s hands, which is a huge improvement over long call queues and repetitive hold music.

Visual IVRs work so well because they have one thing traditional IVRs just can’t match: speed. Done right, a visual IVR system uplevels the entire customer experience from start to finish by making the whole process much, much faster.

Visual IVR in Detail: More Than Just a Screen

When customers call a number and are greeted by an IVR system, they’re usually led through a pre-recorded menu. For example, when a customer calls a business, they’re often asked to press 1 for billing, press 2 for customer service, and so on.

This is the traditional IVR experience that most of us are familiar with. However, visual IVRs take things a step further by incorporating visual elements into the menu options. 

This means that instead of just hearing a list of options, customers can see them on their screens and interact with them directly by clicking or tapping on the options that best fit their needs. This makes the entire calling process faster and more efficient.

Additionally, visual IVRs can display important information such as estimated wait times, opening hours, and…

Continue reading

Electronic voices have been destined to answer phone calls ever since Bell Labs invented the Voder machine at the tail-end of the 1930s. These days, everybody and their mother has been greeted by an IVR (interactive voice response) phone system to walk them through a customer service calling menu in one way or another. 

In fact, once the 2020s came rolling around, call center IVR setups started getting smarter than ever before—ultimately reshaping how call centers operate.

In particular, Intelligent IVR systems were introduced as the smarter cousins of traditional IVRs. They use advanced technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Natural Language Processing (NLP), and Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) to understand human speech, react to real-time requests, and even predict customer needs. 

One of the biggest impacts of Intelligent IVR is that its call-routing capabilities have been upgraded not only to include personalized customer interaction capabilities but also to handle complex queries that were once only possible with the help of human intervention. This has led to a dramatic increase in call center efficiency and self-service options for customers, ultimately freeing up call center agents to tackle far more engaging issues.

Still, every new technology claims to be the best thing since sliced bread, so the question remains if Intelligent IVR is worth the investment. The short answer is yes—it absolutely is. Intelligent IVR can easily do everything from increasing a call center’s efficiency and reducing company costs to improving both customer and employee satisfaction. 

Now, before we get too excited, it’s worth noting that Intelligent IVR still isn’t perfect. The technology sometimes struggles with understanding accents, nuanced speech, and background noise. So although it’s getting smarter and learning how to reduce the burden on human call center agents every day, it can’t quite replace human…

Continue reading

Recruiting and hiring call center employees can be a pain, but it doesn’t have to be so bad. For example, depending on the roles you’re looking to hire, you may not even have to write a job description—because you can just use ours instead. 

Below, we’ve put together four of the most common job descriptions for call center agent roles. More specifically, they’re for hiring an agent at each of the following call center types: Inbound, Outbound, Blended, and Offshore. 

Feel free to copy these and rework them however you see fit. We won’t be mad, and you don’t even need to give us credit. 

Inbound Call Center Job Description Template

High-Level Overview

We are on the lookout for an Inbound Call Center Agent to join our fast-paced, action-packed team.

If you are a true “people person” with great problem-solving skills and a knack for making friends, this role is for you. 

As an Inbound Agent, you will be responsible for handling incoming calls from both existing and potential customers, answering their questions, and helping our stellar customer support team maintain its high level of customer satisfaction. 

Your Responsibilities

Expect your day-to-day tasks and activities to include: 

• Answering incoming customer calls and providing helpful information regarding our company, products, and services.
• Resolving customer issues promptly and efficiently by following our established protocols and procedures.
• Using your active listening skills to understand the problems and concerns of our customers
• Synthesizing complex or diverse information to provide quick, accurate, and complete solutions for customers
• Communicating in a patient and timely manner, both with customers and other team members through email, chat, phone, and video calls 
• Providing technical support for customers by helping them address issues related to technical equipment, software, and other complex issues
• Handling bookings and appointments for our customers…

Continue reading

If you’re looking for a robust tool that transcribes your calls in real-time, integrates with the most popular meeting platforms, and can even attend meetings in your place, Otter.ai is for you. In this post, we’ll share exactly how to use Otter, plus we’ll give you some alternative options for different use cases.

The Best Way to Transcribe Calls: Otter.ai

Otter has perfected the art of automatic transcription, offering an extremely easy-to-use tool for businesses of all sizes. Coupled with its free and affordable monthly plans, we don’t think you’ll need to look elsewhere to transcribe your calls.

First, let’s get right to the most important factor when choosing a call transcription service: quality of the transcription itself.

Otter’s transcriptions are top-notch, and it’s only been getting better as it continually improves its services. The company has been around since 2016, so it’s had time to get things right. If you search for reviews, you’ll find consistently high scores across various review sites.

The beauty of Otter is that it works with several different VoIP platforms, or you can upload your own recorded calls in audio or video format. 

Here’s a quick look at its pricing plans:

• Basic: This is Otter’s free plan, and with it, you get 300 monthly transcription minutes and up to 30 minutes per conversation. The tool will join web conferencing platforms like Zoom, MS Teams, and Google Meet to write and share notes, and the AI meeting assistant will record and transcribe meetings in real time. You also get access to Otter AI Chat, allowing you to chat with Otter and get quick answers to meeting questions.
• Pro: The pro plan starts at $9.17 per user per…

Continue reading

A local call is one that is placed and received within the same zip code—or technically within the same switching center. Below, we’ll break down what a local call is, how it differs from a long distance call, and why local calls are now irrelevant.

An Example of a Local Call

A common example of a local call is whenever an individual dials the phone number of a local business close to their home to get information about the store’s hours of operation. Since the caller is located within the same zip code as their call’s final destination, it only passes through a single switch center (and is therefore deemed a local call). 

If you’re calling a friend in the same city, even if you’re in the suburbs and they live downtown, that’d be a local call. Same for businesses—if you’re working in the office and need to call your local paper supplier in the same city, it’d count as a local call.

This doesn’t just apply to landlines. If you use your cell phone to order pizza at a nearby restaurant in your city, that also counts as a local call. It doesn’t matter if you’re on a cell phone calling a nearby landline or another person’s cell phone—as long as they’re in the same zip code, it’s all considered to be local.

It’s all pretty straightforward. VoIP phone services even work the same way. If you’re using a VoIP service like Nextiva or RingCentral to call a local landline or cell phone number, it’s also considered to be a local call.

An Example of a Long Distance Call

By contrast, a long-distance call is any call made outside of a defined local area. A simple example of a long-distance call would be a caller in New York City…

Continue reading

Imagine the convenience of a hotel concierge, but with a recording that you can customize. That’s the draw of an at-home wake-up call service—which is far more affordable than booking a hotel room just to get access to a concierge. In any case, for less than the cost of a continental breakfast, you can schedule regular wake-up calls to make sure you never show up late to the office or miss a morning meeting.

If it sounds too good to be true, that’s because sometimes it is. In this case, it’s very easy to encounter a so-called service that doesn’t work—or worse, one that puts your phone number on a ton of spam calling lists. 

That said, there are still several legitimate options out there, and they’re worth giving a try if you need help getting up in the morning. 

Our Recommended Wake Up Call Service

WakeUpLand is our top choice for a simple, customizable, and affordable wake-up service. It has everything you need to get started right away, plus a few fun add-ons like different voice options and unique daily greetings. 

Of course, waking up in the morning isn’t the only reason to use the service, as you can also use WakeUpLand to set custom text or phone call reminders for all of your important events. This can be anything from work deadlines to your mother’s birthday—or even the day of a solar eclipse. 

Both features are available with any of WakeUpLand’s paid plans, which go for $3.99, $4.99, and $6.99 per month, good for 20, 60, and 200 respective credits—with each credit being good for one call or reminder text. Alternatively, you can also choose between prepaid plans for flat rates of $3.99…

Continue reading

For most business owners, the main reason why they would outsource their call center services is that it’s usually the least expensive option. Be that as it may, there are several factors that go into the final cost of doing so—including the type of call center, its location, and the specific pricing structure offered by the provider. 

In short, most inbound and outbound call centers in the U.S. and Canada have rates around $40 per hour on average. Meanwhile, an outsourced solution housed in locations like India and the Philippines can cost as little as $9 per hour. 

Of course, figuring out the true cost of outsourcing your own call center takes a bit more nuance than comparing average prices. In any case, depending on your specific situation and needs, a third-party vendor might still be the right choice for you. 

Call Center Outsourcing Costs: The Variations

Location Matters

When you’re looking to outsource your customer service operations or certain back-office business processes, the geographic location of your provider can affect many things, including cost. 

Here’s some intel on the average prices you can expect for different locations:

• United States and Canada: $25 to $65 per hour, depending on the area of specialty
• Western Europe: $40 or more per hour
• Eastern Europe: $9 to $25 per hour
• Australia: $35 to $55 per hour
• Africa and the Middle East: $15 to $20 per hour
• Latin America: $9 to $20 per hour
• Southeast Asia and the Philippines: $5 to $14 per hour
• India: $6 to $12 per hour

Inbound Call Centers

The price structure of an inbound call center can vary based on the complexity of your business needs. For example, a provider that offers a shared model will split its agents’ time between your business and other…

Continue reading

Customers have grown accustomed to the perks, flexibility, and convenience of cloud computing-hosted platforms. In customer service terms, these include personalized interactions, 24/7 access, self-service options, and AI-enhanced features. 

A hosted interactive voice response (IVR) is an automated telephone system that operates from a remote server, which users can access using a web browser or mobile app. It incorporates technologies such as voice recognition, dual-tone multi-frequency (to signal user intent when a number is pressed), and automated call distribution to fulfill its call center duties. 

While traditional, on-premises systems may share some similarities with their hosted counterparts—like call forwarding, chatbots, and auto attendants—significant differences still exist. Most obviously, the main difference is that on-premises IVRs are installed on devices to run natively.

That said, most locally deployed applications have become anachronistic and belong to a bygone era that people aren’t clamoring to revisit.

Hosted IVR typically follows a subscription-based business model known as SaaS (Software as a Service). This means that it offers customers a pay-as-you-go convenience so that they only get charged for what they need rather than being saddled with unnecessary extra features.

Similarly, hosted IVRs can also trim the fat of the customer services experience so that call centers can provide speedy resolutions without a lot of wasted time or effort. 

Hosted IVR: From the Caller’s Perspective

From the caller or customer’s perspective, hosted IVRs are more reliable. This is primarily because hosted IVRs typically operate as managed services by third-party providers with core competence and technical expertise. Consequently, this frees up call center business owners to focus on operating their core business activities.

Meanwhile, when customers call the business number provided by the organization, a message greets and prompts them to choose an option from a menu. Customers use their keypads (or voices) to enter their…

Continue reading