Everyday contact center miracles

Christmas is just a few days away. You might have already started wrapping up your work projects (and the presents for your loved ones) to prepare for the upcoming holidays.

But before you log off completely, we’d like to invite you on a quick journey. Let’s take a look at the role contact centers play in our lives - both in and out of the holiday seasons.

1. During Christmas 

When you’re eagerly waiting for your order to arrive before the 24th of December, there’s a pretty good chance there’s a customer service hotline or an email address you can reach to get some updates. Thanks to contact centers (and the up-to-date software they use), these queries are usually answered quickly - perhaps even automatically. 

Of course, disaster can strike even in these jolly times, and customers may have much more complex issues than a simple inquiry on delivery dates. It’s tough enough to get your son’s present stolen or to lose a precious toy by accident - but with some extraordinary kindness and creativity, customer service teams can still save the day.

Read five real-life stories where CS teams saved Christmas:

https://vcc.live/blog/customer-service-christmas-stories/

2. During times of loneliness 

Sometimes, you just need a pair of boots and to talk to somebody. Shoe and clothing retailer Zappos has both: according to their protocol, customer service representatives show their dedication to the customers by staying on the phone as long as the caller needs it. 

This is how some interactions ended up lasting 9 hours and 37 minutes, 10 hours and 29 minutes, or 10 hours and 43 minutes. As one of their agents stated:

“We don’t judge, we just want to help.”

Find some more interesting contact center facts here:

https://vcc.live/blog/contact-center-fun-facts/ 

3. During outages

We’re sure you’ve experienced some outages, let it be a few hours without electricity or a whole day without running water. In these cases, your utility or telecommunications provider can either make the situation a bit more bearable or a lot worse, depending on how their contact center is set up. 

If the company’s contact center tries to tackle each inquiry manually, they’ll probably be flooded with calls and messages very quickly, leading to longer wait times and frustrated customers. However, if they use an IVR menu connected to the backend system, it can immediately tell callers how long it’ll take to resolve the problem - without any agents needed. Knowing that help is on the way may make or break customer loyalty in such scenarios.

Check out a few other ways how IVR can be your everyday hero:

https://customerthink.com/personalize-your-ivr-5-examples-of-great-contact-center-cx/ 

We hope you enjoyed this year’s last VCC Insights edition. From all our team members to You, we wish you happy holidays and a successful new year. 🎄🎆

See you in 2024!