The Right Call Center Software For Business
Key Points
- Omnichannel Support: Choose call center software that integrates multiple communication channels (phone, email, SMS, social media) into one platform for seamless customer interactions.
- Ease of Use for Agents: Select software with features like screen popping, dynamic scripting, AI support, and gamification to enhance agent performance and customer satisfaction.
- Privacy and Security: Ensure the software includes data encryption, compliance with industry regulations, and regular security updates to protect customer information and prevent cybercrime.
Finding new software solutions to support your business is a big task. While many are important, they can have the same impact on your business as your call center support software.
As far as your customers are concerned, your agents are the faces (and voices) of your business. Handling their calls quickly is the key to keeping them as customers. After all, recurring customers are much more valuable than new customers.
Choosing from all your options for call center solutions can feel like a daunting, high-risk task. However, by evaluating each software’s available features, you’ll find the best option for your customers, your agents, and your business.
Look for Omnichannel Support
While most customers prefer talking to a live human on the phone, most of them expect to have the option to contact a company through a variety of channels.
- Phone
- Text messaging/SMS
- Direct messaging on social media platforms
- Instant message apps such as WhatsApp
- Live chat support on your website
- Chatbot support on your website
Good solutions manage all channels in a single platform so your agents can see a customer’s entire history in one place.
Even if your customer success teams don’t currently support a particular channel doesn’t mean your software doesn’t need it. The best software is future-proof and gives you the option to add a channel in the future.
Ease of Use for Agents
Since your agents are the people who will be using it, obviously your software needs to be easy for them to use. Some features that agents prefer include:
- Screen popping to show the customer’s number and history on the agent’s screen.
- Dynamic scripting for sales agents to provide live, on-screen guides during sales calls.
- AI support, like the one offered by Balto, to help interpret customer needs.
- Gamification that rewards agents for hitting target metrics.
A bad user interface will not only make your agents unhappy but will lead to more dissatisfied customers and potentially lower NPS.
Integrating Your Call Center Solution
Call center solutions focus on connecting agents with customers, but there’s a lot more than goes into successful support ticket resolution. Look for software that integrates your CRM system using an API.
API integration will show agents the customer’s full history with your company, including past purchases, previous support communications, and how long they’ve been a customer. Plus, integration goes both ways. So, support calls will be logged automatically in your CRM.
Privacy and Security Considerations
Whichever call center system you select will have to handle customer’s private information, potentially even payment information, which makes it a prime target for cybercrime and data breaches. Look for a call center provider that includes:
- Data encryption for call logs and customer data;
- Feature limits to comply with industry-specific regulations;
- Regular security patches and updates.
Once you’ve researched your options and found vendors that meet your needs, get a quote from each one. Use attractive offers from one provider to negotiate for better terms from another.
Getting the right solution for the right price will allow your agents to provide the best support possible, make your customers happier, and make your business more efficient. The result, ideally, is more repeat customers to help your business grow.
