Eight steps to perfect presentation for consistent brand CX
The idea of a callback (choosing to be called later rather than waiting on hold) will not be new or shocking to your customers, but the presentation certainly can be. All of us have called a help line where multiple voices are heard, at multiple volumes, with plenty of transfers, clicks, and silences. It is the auditory equivalent of a fun house at a summer carnival, without any of the laughs.
And the stakes are higher than just annoyance. Trust is on the line. If the callback presentation sounds clunky or unprofessional, customers may be wary of committing to the callback process.
A strong presentation builds trust and encourages adoption. A poor presentation creates caution in the caller, and can even paint a poor, cheap, or low-value perception of your brand.
While obvious audio issues are the quickest to spotlight and fix, they are not the only thing that can be jarring to a customer’s ears--and confidence--during a callback experience!
Steps to make a seamless transition from IVR to callback
Let's look at some of the basic tenants of a perfect callback presentation, as well as some we normally would not notice until things have gone terribly wrong.
Our callback experts have been doing this for a very long time. If you ever need help dialing in your voice experience, reach out to our team! We'd love to pioneer an experience that will amaze your customers.
Check the easy things first - volume levels, voice prompts, and hold music.
Make sure all of your voice prompts are in one voice and are recorded at the same volume, including hold music.
Make sure your soothing filler music isn't at a painfully high volume every time it comes on.
Mindful provides default prompts and music recorded at appropriate volumes to ensure consistency. You can even replace the hold music in the Mindful voice experience if you have something custom to keep a completely consistent experience.
Identify yourself and let the customer know what to expect.
Your branding should be consistent throughout your IVR prompts, and callers should understand who to expect the callback from.
If you send a confirmation notification to let the customer know their callback has been placed in the call-center queue, send the message from the same number you'll be calling from so the customer knows to expect you.
Most businesses usually have a good handle on this, but it never hurts to double check. Saying something as simple as, "This is your callback from our brand" can help the caller make the connection to the callback they requested, and may have since forgotten about, 10 minutes ago.
Set your style for brand consistency.
A singular "voice" or brand tone should be used across all prompting.
Is that voice conversational or formal? Do you offer ways to get assistance and advice along the way? If so, continue to do so while the caller is scheduling their callback with Mindful.
Set expectations by announcing the estimated wait time.
We always suggest stating the estimated wait time in a range, if possible.
Research tells us this is the way to increase take rate and provide the best service to the caller. Sometimes this just isn't possible and a message stating something as simple as, "We are experiencing longer than normal hold times," is a good place to start.
This is a great way to provide consistency. Think about how you want your customers to react to wait time. You are probably trying to drive them to request a callback, but also not trying to reveal incredibly high wait time. This is a delicate balance, but thinking about the desired outcome and relating that to your particular client base will get you the best results.
Mind the transitions.
With a successful callback, there are two points of transition: one into Mindful and another back to the call center.
Pay close attention that the transfer back into the call center sounds like any of the others, using the same hold music, messaging, or tones that are used throughout the system.
Stop the security and survey burnout.
Remove surveys from the IVR and send them in follow-up SMS messages instead.
Many call centers must add information about security, call recording, or surveys to the multitude of other things being told to the caller. Sending surveys via SMS is more likely to keep customers engaged on the phone and increase survey completion rates. Customers can respond to text messages in their own time while not occupied with a phone call.
We know for a fact that offering a callback drives NPS, so doing it in this way would be a good way to track that good will.
Go the extra mile.
Use Mindful notifications to provide service that can be completely separate from agent interactions.
What's the big deal? More interaction and information for the customer leads to a better customer experience, and automating it with notifications means improved CX without increasing agent overhead. After you have done all this good work to create an experience where the client has been seamlessly guided through the whole process, don't let it stop just because the caller has disconnected!
There are many ways to use notifications. You can confirm a successful callback request at the front, and text further information or a thank you for the interaction after the call has been completed.
Most importantly - Test the experience!
Call into your own call center. Wait on hold. Take a callback. Listen closely, and, if all steps are clear, see if you can even tell you are moving between different applications. If you have done all of the above, we are betting you won't be able to.
For even more assurance, ask a co-worker or friend to go through the experience and ask them about it. If you are the one that made the system changes, you may be too close to the flow to notice any problems, and it can be helpful to get an outsider's opinion.
Next steps
Have a voice experience that's lacking? Looking for a smoother transition between voice and SMS? Mindful might be what you need!
Get in touch with our Solutions team to elevate your callback experience and meet customers in every channel.
