On Hold Data for Your Business

Do you know how long your customers are waiting on hold, in the queue to speak to a company representative?

What is the maximum amount of time someone has had to wait on hold? How many calls have to go on hold rather than be answered immediately? What is your businesses average on hold waiting time?

Don’t you think it would be good to find out?

In the digital age, Data is King, and without it we are unable to make informed decisions or develop strategies for change. The on hold industry is largely stagnant, and personalisation is the way forward. Optimisation of the touchpoint is necessary for the continued growth of an organisation, helping to increase brand value and improve your customer’s overall experience.

What impact do lengthy wait times have on your business?

A customer’s waiting time directly impacts their evaluation of your services. Customers are choosing to engage with your business over the phone to receive direct service with little delay. Therefore, by keeping your customer on hold you are not meeting their initial expectations. Reducing wait time can be done in a variety of ways- from more service operators to improvement of your information systems so that enquiries can be resolved faster. Perceived wait time, relating to the time customers estimate that they are waiting on hold can be impacted through creative thinking and strategy. As the saying goes- ‘Time flies when you are having fun.’

Whether it be letting the customer choose what genre of music they would like to hear, offering the option for a callback, or presenting them with a quiz, there is more than one way to make the on hold experience more engaging for your customer, and therefore reduce perceived wait times.

So how to move forward?

There is no point in implementing strategy without it being based on facts and data. Captivate Connect’s reporting features offer valuable insight into your phone channel’s strengths and weaknesses.

 

Case Study

Statistics gathered from a Captivate Connect Client;

• Total time spent on hold; 33 hours 31 mins 8 seconds
• 3864 calls on hold for over 4 seconds
• 878 seconds, maximum time on hold
• 32 seconds, average time spent on hold
• 4 calls on hold over 4 minutes
• 32 calls on hold over 2 minutes

Strengths

• Only 0.8% of all callers had to wait on hold for longer than two minutes
• The average time spent on hold is 32 seconds

Weaknesses

• The longest time spent on hold was 878 seconds (15 minutes)
• 4 customers over 5 minutes on hold

 

Using data to strategically plan the path forward

At a glance, this client has a very effective channel, so what are the takeaways from this analysis?

1. With an average on hold time of 32 seconds, what should the client be doing to maximise the effectiveness of these 32 seconds?
2. What was the reason behind the outlying 878 second hold maximum?
3. Tangible results. While this is only one month’s worth of data, continual reporting lets your business see what is working, and what areas to focus attention on. Has the total number of calls gone up or down? How about the average on hold time? Identify the trends and action accordingly.

 

Want to know more? Contact Captivate Connect on (08) 9368 7500 today for a discussion about on hold solutions for your business.