3 Ways Hosted VoIP Improves the Customer Experience

Whether you’re at the helm of an exciting new start-up or an established organization, delivering an outstanding customer experience isn’t optional -- it’s essential.

Why? Because according to an article by VentureBeat.com, a whopping 85% of customers will stop doing business with a company after enduring what they perceive as bad customer service.

If that isn’t scary enough (and it should be), 49% of these ex-customers go on the offensive and retaliate against a company by skewing them on social media or other online and offline channels.

Fortunately, there’s a proven, affordable and innovative way for businesses to improve their customers’ experience, and have them remembering the encounter for all of the RIGHT reasons: switch to hosted VoIP.

Below, we highlight the key reasons why:

3 Ways Hosted VoIP Enhances the Customer Experience

1. Reduce or Eliminate Hold Waiting Times

Customers despise being put on hold, almost as much as they loathe being told that “their call is important.” A hosted VoIP phone system dramatically reduces -- or in many cases outright -- eliminates hold waiting times, since customers aren’t forced to queue in a local PBX. They can be instantly routed to any available agent or CSR, regardless of where they’re located.

2. Shorter Time-to-Resolution (TTR)

Next to their aversion to being put on hold, customers hate it when they are “bounced” throughout the system – going from agent to agent, hoping that they’ll eventually connect with someone who can answer their questions and resolve their problems. A hosted VoIP phone system greets customers and lets them easily identify who they want to speak to and/or why. This shortens the overall time-to-resolution (TTR), which is a critical metric when driving customer experience and satisfaction.

3. Connect to the Right Person

Some customers – especially in the B2B space – don’t want to be connected to the “next available agent”. They want to contact a specific individual, such as a technical support specialist who is familiar with their problem, an account manager who is familiar with their purchase, and so on. A hosted VoIP system lets businesses easily create unique extensions, so that customers can easily and conveniently reach specific employees.

Furthermore, a hosted VoIP system features a one-number-service, which allows specific employee to be accessible from any device (e.g. VoIP phone, cell phone, landline, etc.). This increases the likelihood that customers will connect with employees on the first call vs. leaving a voicemail that may not be picked up for hours or until the next business day.

Learn More

As noted above, delivering a consistently excellent customer experience is a critical objective; especially for small and mid-sized businesses that often promise to deliver a level of personal, responsive care that the “big guys” cannot offer.

A hosted VoIP phone system clearly supports this goal, and with the remarkably low up-front costs and ongoing total cost of ownership (TCO), the question isn’t why should a business switch to VoIP – but frankly, how can a business afford not to?