Historically, contact centres were often labelled as a cost centre, that focuses simply on resolving customer issues. However, when harnessed effectively, call centres can transform into valuable revenue drivers. By providing excellent customer service, omnichannel contact centres can increase customer satisfaction and loyalty, reduce churn, and increase upsell and cross-sell opportunities. In fact, according to McKinsey, improving customer experience increases sales revenues by 2-7%.
Here’s the deal: when customers have a positive experience with a contact centre, they're more likely to do business with the company again and recommend it to others. This leads to a significant increase in sales and revenue.
Augmented contact centres can also help to reduce customer churn. When customers feel that their needs are being met and their problems are being solved quickly and efficiently, they're less likely to switch to a competitor.
And finally, omnichannel contact centres can be a goldmine for upselling and cross-selling opportunities. When customers are already engaged with an agent and receiving a positive experience, it's a perfect time to offer them additional products and services that they may be interested in.
Through Puzzel’s Agent Assist which implements AI, an agent can gauge customer sentiment and determine whether they would be receptive to additional service recommendations. Puzzel’s Smart Chatbot provides automated customer service that can handle routine service tasks, reduce service costs and free up your agents – helping to grow revenue 24/7. Chatbots can also offer customers relevant products and services based on their digital behaviour, it can even offer a discount when needed to complete a sale, which reduces cart abandonment. This results in an increase in sales without having to acquire new customers.
Tips for managers to build a revenue-focused contact centre:
1. Value customer feedback
Gathering customer feedback is essential for managers to understand what customers want, and for identifying areas where businesses can improve. Positive feedback can help businesses identify what they are doing well and can also be used to promote the business to potential customers. Negative feedback can help businesses identify areas where they need to improve and can be used to prevent other customers having a negative experience.
2. Train agents on upselling
It’s crucial for agents to learn the right opportunities and specific cues to upsell and cross-sell when interacting with customers. For example, agents that are aware of their customers previous purchases or website interactions can use these insights to deliver personalised services and recommendations. This can be achieved through Puzzel’s Digital Engagement which enables agents to direct customers to a service that best suits them which will increase lead conversion and allow teams to cross-sell and upsell.
3. Ditch the script
Customers expect agents to have the authority to help them and so they need to have their own voice. Forrester’s 2023 Trends Report finds that there is value in giving authority to agents to deliver good customer service to drive revenue. When agents are empowered to make decisions and resolve customer issues without having to escalate them to a supervisor, the customer experience will improve, and agent churn will reduce.
4. Use technology to automate tasks
Leveraging technology in an augmented contact centre like AI and chatbots that can handle routine tasks such as answering questions and providing product information will free up agents' time to focus on selling and providing customer service.
Automated outbound dialing is another useful service that allows agents to arrange a future outgoing call if a customer does not have time to take or finish a call. At the scheduled time, the same agent is called when they are available, and on answering, the destination number is called. This ensures that no calls slip through the cracks because should the agent not answer, the call can be passed to a colleague. At Puzzel, we know that automation is essential to ensuring that agents’ time is spent more productively, while data analytics will provide managers with insights, and importantly, customers will receive quicker, more convenient resolutions.
5. Track and measure KPIs
Keeping a close eye on KPIs such as customer satisfaction, churn rate, upsell and cross-sell rates is key. This will help identify areas where the contact centre can improve and to track the impact of your changes. Managers can look at reporting to find out what interactions typically bring in revenue. They can then place these interactions in priority queues with agents that are the most trained to handle them.
So, if you're looking for a way to boost your bottom line, don't forget about your omnichannel contact centre. It's a goldmine waiting to be tapped.
If you’re interested in learning more about how Puzzel can help you, contact us here to book your free demo.
