Using Click-to-Call Technology to Improve Customer Service

Click to call technology has been around a while now and many of the major retailers have adopted it as tool for providing better online customer service for their website visitors. In this post I explore the pros and cons of using click to call technology.

Let's first take a look at its advantages...

From a customer support perspective many online retailers have been effectively using the technology to reduce the number of abandoned shopping carts. I'm sure you've experienced at some point in your online buying history that moment when you hit the 'Buy Now' button and instead of seeing a 'Thank You for your Order' message on the confirmation page you get an error message. So you sit there thinking, what do I do now, did my credit card transaction go through, do I hit the back button and resend my details, or do I just close the browser and try another website? With click-to-call technology the user can straight away have a conversation with a customer service advisor who can talk them through what to do next. It's quick and convenient and gives the customer peace of mind knowing that there is someone at the end of the line to offer a helping hand and solve their problem right there and then.
 
Having a Click-to-Call option on your website enables the website visitor to directly connect with a live customer service agent to obtain the information they need or to resolve a pressing issue. Furthermore, the technology also has a sales benefit. Click to call functionality can also enable the customer service agent and the web visitor to browse through the website together, with the agent acting as the guide and making recommendations on what to buy based on their visitor's requirements and tastes etc, a bit like having your own online personal shopper (anyone remember Boo.com!)

Beyond the customer service element that the technology provides, it also has a strategic operational benefit. It enables the contact center to channel the phone calls coming into the most appropriate call handling division. Typically, call centers have calls coming into one central location, these phone calls are then automatically patched through to a suitable call handler based on the nature of the enquiry.  With Click-to-Call technology available on the website, calls will come directly from a particular web page and will go through to an available customer service agent. The agent will know exactly what web page the customer is on at the time of calling and will be able to more efficiently handle the call and provide valuable assistance. There is no need to route the call and therefore, no need to keep the customer waiting on hold or pass them on to someone else within the customer services team.

And what about the disadvantages?

As with many Web technologies, sometimes they do get broken and not work as intended and when this happens it can frustrate the customer who is no doubt already slightly stressed out by the experience and just wants to get the matter resolved quickly. So it's vital that customer service divisions using this technology still provide the user with an easy to find phone number they can call as a fall back. So don't use click to call as a substitute for a good old phone number!

I think the advantages of click to call technology clearly outweigh the disadvantages providing it's using with a degree of common sense and not as a replacement to the more traditional phone call. As with any technology it's important the the customer service team are well versed in using it and have had sufficient training on how to deal with any complications that might arise.

I'd be interested to hear the views of individuals who have had either a positive or negative experience of using click to call technology.

Why not check out the latest call handler, customer service advisor and call centre manager jobs.