It is essential in any business for all incoming callers to successfully obtain the assistance they are seeking. Anyone who has experienced lackluster customer service from a company knows this to be true. You certainly have had a moment where you called a place of business to ask about a product or service and your call was routed to the incorrect department or representative. There may have also been a time when your call was sent to a full voicemail box or to a line that rings and rings with no answer. The instinct when this happens is to hang up and call the next business that can take care of you.
Introducing Sentiment Suite
Today, Marchex offers measurement of the customer interaction, and it can determine the level of frustration, the reason for the frustration, the overall sentiment whether positive or negative, and your customer’s view of the business by measuring, by call, the quality of connection. It does this by generating a text-based sentiment summary of the call explaining what happened and why the customer expressed positive, negative, or neutral emotions. When you bring it together, users of Marchex Sentiment Suite now have the ability to measure whether a call was connected and whether a positive connection was made. Most importantly, you can find this out at the beginning of a customer journey, not later after a Google review has been posted.
The Struggle of Keeping Callers Engaged
A frustrated caller is a missed opportunity for the business. For both, it is a connection that failed. The importance of limiting failed calls cannot be overstated. Internal Marchex research of automotive dealers suggests that each failed call is a lost opportunity of about $72, which translates into multiplied thousands of dollars of lost revenue per year. It is critical to make sure that when clients call, they connect with the person or department that can assist them. Businesses can take steps such as making sure the phone does not ring more than three times, replacing IVR (Interactive Voice Response) systems with real representatives, and always taking messages. Marchex has reviewed failed calls, analyzed and categorized them, all for the purpose of making sure every possible connection is made. Clients are too valuable to lose, especially over an easily remedied issue such as failed calls.
The REAL Connection
Making sure the call is connected to the appropriate party is extremely important but is only the first step. The real work begins when we look at what happens when the caller and the business interact– this is where the real connection is made. The quality of connection or engagement is where good things happen like appointments, positive sentiment, perception of the business, and positive level of satisfaction with how things went during the call. There are also the not-so-good things like your business being eliminated from consideration, negative sentiment, and of course no next steps or continued engagement. This information can be communicated to company personnel in near real-time so that it’s actionable. Furthermore, companies can ensure more positive connections are made by coaching their teams on how to conduct calls with customers and remember best practices.
How Do We Know a Positive Connection is Made?
Marchex has learned from millions of phone interactions that there is a significant correlation between successful outcomes and the emotion of the caller and the level of satisfaction—all of which are a direct reflection of the caller’s sentiment. We can deliver visibility into the intention of the caller and whether the outcome of the call was successful. This data used correctly can lead to dramatic operational improvements.
The quality of the connection is measuring the attitude towards the interaction, or the caller’s sentiment. Would it surprise you to learn that, despite the knowledge that automotive shoppers are using telephone engagement 40% of the time as the reason to choose a dealership (or to reject it), some dealers still don’t take the time to make sure a positive connection is made?
Why You Should Care
The insights provided by Sentiment Suite allow organizations to refine their communication strategy with customers and increase the odds that their customers experience a positive connection with their business. With the amount invested in advertising required to make the phone ring at a business, it is imperative to ensure that every possible call is connected and also that every step to make a positive connection is made. The impact is improved customer satisfaction and superior business results.
To learn more about our Sentiment Suite offering, schedule a demo with our team today.
