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How does a Call Center Operate?

Table of Contents

Introduction to Call Center Operatation

It’s easy to believe that consumers have abandoned call centres in favour of their omnichannel counterparts, but this isn’t the case. Despite the fact that omnichannel service is becoming more common, 90% of people still prefer to communicate with live customer service representatives. Simply put, a customer might prefer to call and get help right away rather than wait for an email or a live chat response. That is why many businesses want to have a customer-facing team that provides excellent service in this manner.

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01

What is a call centre?

A call centre is a specialised, centralised facility that deals with phone calls between businesses and their customers or potential customers. Inbound, outbound, or all types of calls may be handled by call centres. They can be used for a variety of business purposes, such as sales and promotions, lead generation, and customer service. Representatives run them, and they handle each call as well as keep track of open cases and transactions.

Team leaders use call centre tools to distribute requests and communicate with consumers all over the world and keep their teams coordinated.

Call centres can be proactive (outbound) or reactive (inbound) in customer service. This means they can either contact consumers with service deals or provide standard customer service and answer incoming calls. Many businesses now have proactive customer support in order to build better customer relationships and take advantage of timely upsell and cross-sell opportunities.

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The Voxco Guide to Market Research 08 12

02

Two Types of Call Transfer

The transferring of the call occurs in two different ways.

Cold/ Blind Call Transfer:

  • The agent who receives the call directly transfers the call to a different agent without speaking or informing the other agent first. This type of call transfer frustrates the customer because they have to go through the same conversation with the new agent all over again. 
  • This transfer is also called Blind Transfer because both the second agent and the customer are unaware of the context of the call transfer.

Warm Call Transfer:

  • The agent who receives the call puts the customer on hold and speaks with the other agent. The first agent briefs the second agent about the issue the customer has and their need. After informing the second agent, the first agent informs the customer and transfers the call.
  • This type of transfer is more helpful because the customer does not have to repeat themselves. The second agent with all the information can prepare to handle the call and deliver efficient service to the customer.

03

How to measure your call center’s call transfer rate?

The formula used to quantify the call transfer rate of the call center is 

Number of calls transferred to another agent / total number of calls handled X 100% = CTR

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04

Why Agents transfer calls?

As mentioned above, agents may have to transfer a call when the customer requests to speak to an experienced agent. 

This usually happens when new agents are scheduled to answer calls. The new agents who cannot handle complex issues transfer the call to their senior or experienced agent. Either the customer asks for the transfer due to them receiving an insufficient response, or the agent himself transfers the calls. 

Skill-based call routing is used in such cases. The system transfers the basic and easy queries to the new agents, and the difficult queries are transferred to the experience reps. 

There may also be the scenario of an agent receiving a call with service and technical queries from a single customer. In such cases, it is natural for the agent to transfer the call to the other department. 

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05

Why should you reduce Call Transfer Rate?

42% of customers expect quick resolution from the call center agents. Therefore with Call Transfer, the customer feels frustrated. The customers have to explain their issue again to another agent and hope for it to be resolved.

The customers don’t enjoy spending their time on a phone call with a call center agent. And, to stay in line for a long time annoys the customer. 

Average CTR indicates how often your agents resolve an issue without seeking help from their colleagues. Transferring a call too many times can annoy a customer.  

Reducing Call Transfer can help your call center build better relationships with customers. As a result of providing an effective response and first-call resolution, the agent can improve customer experience and satisfaction.

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06

How to Improve Call Transfer Rate to achieve a better Customer Experience?

Avoiding Blind/Cold transfer as much as possible is a step forward to a better customer experience. The Warm Transfer allows for a smooth flow of conversation and results in the successful completion of the process. 

Some other tips you can use to improve customer service by cutting down on CTR:

Training

  • Call Center coaching is an essential aspect in training agents to handle customers on calls. The agents should learn how to pacify the customer when such a situation arises that they have to transfer a call.

Skill-Based Routing

  • Your system should have the feature of skill-based routing. The system can methodically match the customer query with a best-suited agent. This will ensure that the agent who is better equipped on the subject of the query is connected with the customer. 

Agent Script

  •  Create scripts that can help an agent when they have to transfer a call. It should teach the agent how to reassure the customer and explain the reason for transferring the call. Also, the agent should explain why the next agent is a better choice to answer the query. 

Ask before Transfer

  •  Before transferring the call, ask the customer for permission. Also, wait for an agent to be available to avoid any awkward silence while the customer waits in the line. 
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07

FAQs

Call Transfer Rate is a metric used in call centers to determine how many calls are being transferred by an agent to their colleague.

 

It is calculated by dividing the number of calls transferred by the total number of calls handled and multiplying it by 100.

When agents realize that the query of the customer can be better solved by another agent or department they decide to transfer the call. New agents transfer the call when they receive complex issues which they are yet to learn.

Reducing CTR improves customer experience. The customer expects to get their issue solved in the first call. They don’t appreciate having to explain their issue all over again to another agent. 


Therefore, reducing call transfer can improve customer satisfaction. 

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