Smartphones are ubiquitous. There is no other way to describe their popularity, especially among younger consumers. For many smartphone owners, the mobile device is their lifeline to the world, so they use it to accomplish myriad tasks, including their interaction with call centers. The problem is, many call centers aren’t equipped to provide a positive customer experience for smartphone users.
A white paper produced by a company called Fonolo addresses this issue and offers a solution for call centers to provide a better experience for users of smartphones who use their mobile devices to contact them.
For call centers that are not convinced they need to be concerned about making adjustments to accommodate smartphone users, Fonolo provides a wealth of up-to-date research, statistics, charts and graphs that say otherwise. Its research on smartphone use today and into the future comes from well-respected firms such as Nielson, Google, Consumer Reports, Purdue University and HIS.
With all the research pointing to the irrefutable fact that smartphone users should not be ignored by call centers, Fonolo points out three big flaws most call centers have when it comes to providing a positive smartphone-based customer experience.
Fonolo provides an overview of these three areas and how they impede consumers’ ability to interact positively with call centers. It then offers an in-depth explanation of an approach it believes will produce better results for both the call center and its customers.
This approach provides smartphone users with an intelligent, visual tool for interaction with the call center. It allows smartphone users to visually navigate their interaction with the call center instead of using keypad buttons, and provides a virtual queue that removes the on-hold frustration that is amplified when one is using a smartphone for their call center interaction. In addition, with this approach, caller information can be collected and seamlessly and securely passed along to a call center IVR or agent to eliminate callers needing to repeat information, which has proved to be a source of customer disdain.
While all of these capabilities are designed to make customers happy, the approach should also make those responsible for call center finances happy, as the white paper explains how this approach doesn’t require new infrastructure or changes to the call center and can decrease the cost and duration of each call.
Call centers that want to capitalize on allowing customers to use smartphones as a visual interface, can download the complete white paper by clicking here.