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Optimising customer service waiting times: How to avoid frustration? +5 tips!

Written on: 26 September 2023

Customer service waiting times are one of the most frustrating aspects of telephone customer service. Customers usually have little patience when they contact and expect a quick response. Long waiting times can lead to frustration and ultimately to customer loss. In this blog, we take a closer look at waiting times and how to minimise them as much as possible to improve the overall customer experience.

The impact of long customer service waiting times on customer satisfaction

Let's start with the impact of long customer service waiting times on the customer experience:

Customer Satisfaction

Customers are not just unsatisfied but simply dissatisfied. If you are not available when a customer needs you, they are dissatisfied. The longer the waiting time the more dissatisfied your customers are. In a way, this can be corrected with a really good conversation at the time when the customer then has someone on the line by the way. Customers would rather wait a little longer and then be served well than the other way around. That too has its limits. With extreme waiting times (>15 min), it is almost impossible to correct the impact with a quality contact moment.

Loss of confidence

A company that is poorly reachable by phone does not inspire much confidence. In practice, we sometimes encounter companies that are so poorly reachable that customers openly ask questions on the internet or the company is bankrupt. Customer service waiting times therefore not only impact the individual customer but can also have larger consequences for image etc.

Turnover loss

Customers calling to make a purchase are more likely to drop out if waiting times are too long. The impact of repeatedly long waiting times is significant, as people end up switching to competitors that do have quick accessibility.

Causes of long customer service waiting times

To effectively reduce waiting times, we need to understand what causes them. Here are some common causes:

Peaks of contact

Peaks can occur as a result of seasons or incidents that temporarily cause increased supply. Think of delivery problems, errors in communication, unclear communication or being insufficiently prepared for expected peaks causing customer service waiting times.

Underutilisation

If insufficient customer service staff are available, waiting times will naturally increase. Absenteeism or staff shortages can lead to problems in providing the right staffing, resulting in long customer service waiting times.

Long handling times

Customer service works like a production environment, where customer queries need to be handled quickly and efficiently. Long calls and slow processing times make employees less readily available for new calls. Shorter calls result in shorter waiting times, provided the quality of the interaction is maintained.

Reducing customer service waiting times: 5 tips!

Now that we understand what causes long waits, here are five tips to reduce them:

  1. Analyse and predict

That starts with having data available. That doesn't have to be exciting. Make sure you have insight into waiting times and try to find out what causes them. Based on this analysis, you can make predictions for the future and then possibly do things differently. A real-life example: A client of ours was sending dunning letters. They did this once a month all at once. The result was that in the days after sending, the waiting time increased enormously because many customers had questions about the dunning letters. That's an example of a spike you could see coming. After we discussed this, the rhythm was adjusted and the dunning letters are sent in smaller batches. Fewer large peaks and therefore significantly shorter waiting times!

  1. Use appropriate technology

Use technology to minimise waiting times. Provide a pleasant waiting experience with pleasant music or voices. Implement an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system to efficiently route calls to the right staff members. This can significantly reduce waiting time.

  1. Train your employees

It is vital to train your staff well. Make sure they are able to make high-quality calls that are not unnecessarily long. Shorter calls mean more calls in less time, resulting in shorter waiting times.

  1. Avoid unnecessary customer contact

The most effective way to reduce waiting times is to avoid unnecessary customer contact. Analyse and understand why customers contact you and adjust processes to minimise these contact moments. With small adjustments, you can often avoid having to call customers. We can help you with that. Improve your customer service? Read more here!

  1. Consider outsourcing

Ensuring the right staffing internally for your customer service can sometimes be difficult. Therefore, consider using an external agency that specialises in customer contact. External partners have experience and capacity to help you with aspects such as extended opening hours, multilingual support and the availability of different contact channels (phone, email, chat, social media, and so on). Outsourcing can be an effective way to improve customer service. We can help you with that too! Read more about customer service outsourcing here.

Summary

Long customer service waiting times have significant consequences, both for individual customers and for a company's image. Reducing these waiting times and preventing them is feasible. Moreover, there are options, such as avoiding unnecessary customer contact and/or (partially) outsourcing customer service, where external expertise can be brought in to help. Any questions about this? We are ready to assist you!

 

Who are we?

We are SpangenbergGroup! And we can help you make your customer service a good customer service to make. Just good customer service where the basics are in order. Where customer contacts add value to the customer experience. We unburden you in the area we are good at (customer service) so you can concentrate worry-free on what you're good at. Sound good? Get in touch. 

With over 25 years of experience in optimising customer contact and customer experience SpangenbergGroup can help you. The optimise customer service or outsource? Use the form or see our contact page.

Also with other questions about customer contact and customer service you can always contact with us!

Just worry-free very good customer service?

Get in touch, we'd love to check it out with you!

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