ContactBabel carried out a large-scale survey of the public that explored why customers notoriously hate queuing to speak to a contact center agent, yet seemed far more acceptant to wait in an actual physical queue, often for a longer time.
Figure 76: Reasons given for dislike of contact center queuing
Reason for disliking queue Average score from 10 where
10 is “extremely frustrating”
% of public scoring this at a maximum 10
Not knowing how much longer you'll
have to wait 8.7 61%
Repetitive announcements 8.0 45%
Having to restate account information
already given earlier in the call 8.0 45%
Can't do anything else in the meantime 7.9 46%
The music you have to listen to 7.3 39%
Apart from the fact that customers have a lot of strongly felt reasons for disliking phone queues, the key finding from this table is that 61% of the public absolutely hate not knowing how much longer they will be waiting. This is less of a problem when waiting in a shop to speak to an assistant, as although they cannot give you an exact statement of when someone can help, the queuing system allows a customer to see how many people are ahead of them, to estimate their own wait time, and exercise some level of control over the situation. This makes queuing psychologically easier for the customer, even if the actual waiting time is significantly longer than it would be in a contact center queue.
The phenomenon of 'Dentist-Chair Time' - time which seems to stretch out to infinity - is very much active in the contact center world. ACD statistics from thousands of contact centers over many years indicate that an average wait time is around 20-30 seconds. However, when the public was asked to estimate the time they usually (not exceptionally) spent waiting to speak to a contact center, the average answer was 11½ minutes - 27 times longer than the reality.
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Clearly, trimming 10% off a queue time isn't going to make a lot of difference to the perception of the caller, even though it may be a very difficult task for the contact center to carry out. If customers aren't informed of wait time, they may become discouraged and frustrated as hold time drags on. This can lead to increased abandonment and even if the caller does decide to hold on, this experience starts the call off badly leaving the agent with a lot to make up. Customers waste time complaining about their experiences and may even ask additional questions on the call so that they ‘get their money's worth’. If customers are given the estimated wait time, they may decide to abandon immediately or may judge that the wait is acceptable and remain on the line to speak with an agent. This alleviates some customer frustration but means that some of the callers which abandon may not call back - ever - and it doesn't solve the fact that customers are still having to wait. One solution is to implement a virtual queuing system, which not only provides customers with information about current queue conditions but also presents them with various active options, such as remaining on hold or choosing to be called back when it is their turn.
There are several different varieties of virtual queuing systems: the "First-In, First-Out" (FIFO) system keeps the customer's place in line by monitoring queue conditions until the estimated wait time hits a set target, at which point it intercepts incoming calls before they enter the queue, informing customers of the likely wait time and offering the option of receiving an outbound call in the same amount of time as if they had personally waited on hold.
At this point, customers choosing to remain on hold go directly into a queue. Customers who opt for a call-back (typical acceptance rates of a FIFO call-back are around 50%) are prompted to enter their telephone number and possibly some extra details that can be used for agent selection and skills-based routing, and are then asked to hang up. Virtual placeholders keep the customers' places in line and the virtual queuing system launches an outbound call to the customer at the agreed time. When the call- back is answered by the customer, the system checks the right person is on the line and ready to talk. If this is the case, the call is routed to the next available suitable agent, who handles it as a normal inbound call.
By replacing real hold time with this virtual version, customers are free to do other things, thus
removing four of the five problems that they have with queues - unknown queue times, hold music, the inability to do anything else and repetitive announcements.
It is also worth considering a scheduled call-back system, which differs from a FIFO system in that customers do not keep their place in queue, but are called back at some time in the future that is more convenient for them (for example, when they know they will be back at their desk and available to take a call).
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There are several types of scheduled virtual queuing:
Datebook-type scheduling systems allow customers to schedule appointments for days in the future, with times blocked-out that are unavailable for scheduling, and limiting the number of call-backs available. This system also allows customers that reach a contact center out-of-hours to schedule a call-back during normal working hours
Timer scheduling systems promise a call-back after a specific amount of time, regardless of queue conditions. While this ensures an on-time call-back for the customer, a surge in call volume or staff reduction due to a shift change can create problems for the contact center's queue, lengthening wait times for other callers
Forecast-based scheduling systems offer appointments during times that are expected to have low call volumes. These times may not be convenient for the customer, and the contact center runs the risk that their scheduling may be inaccurate.
Virtual queuing and call-back, when implemented - and explained properly to customers - can be a win- win for both business and customer by:
Increasing customer satisfaction
Reducing average speed to answer
Reducing call abandonment rates
Reducing call lengths as customers should spend less time complaining and adding-on unnecessary queries "while they're on..."
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The following table shows the prevalence of call-back options, with the proportion of those contact centers offering call-back once again increasing this year, especially the ‘in-call’ variety. The proportion of sales-focused respondents offering in-queue call-back has maintained last year’s big increase, which we would certainly expect as these operations would be expected not to miss sales opportunities. Service-focused operations have also increased their callback options this year, both in the phone queue and from the website.
Figure 77: Use of website and queue call-back options and queue position announcements, by contact center activity type
The use of a website 'call-me' button (which initiates an outbound call at a time specified by the recipient) is weighted similarly towards operations that carry out significant sales, and is present in the case of 20% of all respondents.
Announcing the position of the call in the queue does not have the same popularity as the callback options, although a minority of respondents use it, especially those in a sales environment.
38% 50% 25% 23% 15% 15% 18% 36% 16% 20% 32% 17% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
Call-back within the website Call-back within the phone queue Position of caller announced in phone queue