We have all had fights with robots. Perhaps you recognize the following barbed phrases from a run-in with a robot in the recent past:
“If you are having trouble paying your bill, press five.”
“Welcome to Tweedle Dee Urgent Care. Our office is now closed.”
“Your call is important to us. Please leave a message, and someone will get back to you shortly.”
There is nothing more annoying than having to contend with an automated telephone answering service, whether we need to ask a car insurance question or change our purchase order. Often we get so frustrated we button mash until a real live human being answers the phone, but if it’s after hours, we are left to seethe in impotent rage at a blithe and unhelpful machine.
If you are a business owner and haven’t invested in an after hours answering service to handle customer questions and concerns, you are doing yourself a disservice. A quality answering service that’s been trained by your staff can erase the robot problem for your enterprise and help you shine in the following three ways:
1. Customer Service
For many consumers, brand loyalty begins and ends at the customer service experience, meaning your phone robots could be a dealbreaker. In fact, nearly 60% of people report that they would try a different company if it meant a better customer service experience. An after hours answering service, particularly a live operator answering service, can help increase customer satisfaction and security because your consumer base will feel they are being heard and can contact your business at any time.
2. Research
And if you want to stay in business, it’s a good idea to actually listen to your customers! Frustrated consumers who hang up halfway through the robot gauntlet take valuable information about a product or service failure with them, leaving you ignorant of the problem and powerless to improve future purchase experiences. But if someone is maximizing customer interaction and taking the time to record all the feedback, this will lead to the third and most important improvement for your company…
3. Revenue
Happy customers and an informed proprietor almost always lead to increased profits. In fact, if just 5% more of your customers were retained due to the implimentation of a quality after hours answering service, you could see up to a 125% increase in profits as a direct result.
So go ahead, make that call. And if a robot answers the phone, move on down the short list! If your call were important to them, someone would have answered.