In The News - The Growth In Popularity of Answering Services

Over the last few years, the call center and answering service industries have seen a huge amount of growth due to a myriad of reasons. A lot of those reasons have to do with customer satisfaction, and the fact that more customers now, than ever, would rather call a company for support and speak to a live person. This is mainly due to the fact that consumers feel that they receive better customer support when speaking to a live representative as opposed to being frustrated by an automated phone system, or waiting for a response to their email.

Why are Answering Services the Answer to Customer Support?

According to a survey done by Avaya, 79% of consumers would prefer to contact a customer service center over the telephone, because they believe that their inquiry will be resolved quicker on the phone, by speaking to a live representative. Not only would consumers prefer to contact customer service by telephone, but 80% of consumers agree that talking to a live agent over the phone is by far the best way to resolve their issue. This is becoming a challenge for businesses because it is one of the most expensive ways to provide customer support. That is why Answering Services are becoming the normal way that companies and businesses provide support to their customers. By outsourcing their customers’ request to speak to a live person, they can keep their costs low while keeping customer satisfaction high.

Well What’s The Difference Between an Automated Phone Support System, a Call Center, and an Answering Service?

Well, this isn’t the start to a joke where an automated phone system, a call center, and an answering service walk into a bar. An automated phone system is a robotic system where you input your customer ID and answer multiple prompts before you are routed to the department where you can eventually speak to a live person - if available. Think of the last time you tried to call the DMV… you’ll answer a few prompts by using the keypad on your dialer before you eventually became frustrated and hung up. A call center is a large organization dedicated to answering tens of thousands of phone calls, whose quality is usually not maintained to the same standard as an answering service. Sure, there may be some agents at a call center that are diamonds in the rough, but in general, call center qualities pale in comparison to answering services. Answering services are smaller call centers that are dedicated to providing quality phone support for the businesses they answer for. Even small businesses use answering services to provide quality phone support to their customers!

So What Does That Mean For Answering Services?

This is a good thing. Rather than having a large call center outsourced call center where agents are tripping over language barriers in order to provide meager attempts at technical support or other customer issues, an answering service native to the customers of the company using the answering service can provide sophisticated support like never before. Virtual receptionists can answer FAQ’s, provide support on a multifaceted level, and even help businesses retain business and obtain new business. By listening to the needs of customers and utilizing an answering service, businesses keep the 80% of their customers that enjoy phone support happy, and keep the cost of providing that phone support to a minimum.

Sources:

http://insights.wired.com/profiles/blogs/the-year-in-review-five-call-center-trends-that-will-extend-into#axzz4fqwJCAOu

https://www.edq.com/globalassets/white-papers/call-center-success.pdf

https://fonolo.com/blog/2012/05/customer-service-statistics/