Call queuing is a software used to place clients in a virtual queue in order to handle and organize phone calls. It is typical for many contact center agents to receive multiple calls at the same time. And this solution prevents call drops by routing calls progressively so that they may be answered as soon as the next available agent is available.

Inbound call queues are crucial to the operation of contact centers. They employ several approaches, technologies, and procedures in order to lower the average time a caller spends in the call queue. The aim is to have the shortest average line time possible, resulting in more efficient service and happier customers.

Contact center queues must be regularly monitored, and actions must be taken to shorten queue time in order to prevent customer irritation and call abandonment. Every engagement with a call center is a chance to convey a message about your organization to your customer. Effective contact center interactions will demonstrate to the client that your business is committed to analyzing their needs and resolving their issue. This can help you find new sales possibilities, boost loyalty, and raise brand recognition.

Think about this, your client has two options: wait until an agent becomes available, or give up (hang up) and try again later. From the perspective of your contact center, a lengthy wait timing results in numerous abandoned calls, repeated attempts, and customer dissatisfaction. In inbound campaigns, waiting time is always an issue. It may sound a little archaic in the age of social media and natural language IVR, but every business must ensure that the phone is answered swiftly and quickly.

The technology of call queuing is central piece to inbound contact centers. When dialing a queuing phone system, customers often receive a welcome message and an IVR menu before being sent to a queue, where they hear hold music and position announcements until an agent becomes available.

In call queues, the typical distribution method is first in, first out. For example, an automated call distributor (ACD) is used in call centers to route incoming calls to certain specialized agents in your contact center. ACDs queue calls until those agents are available.

Call queues simplify callers to obtain telephony services, while ACD queues relieve call center and service workers.

Additionally, there are specific agents whose phones are always plugged into the call queue. Some call queues additionally support dynamic agent connections. During call peaks and high-volume phone calls, extra agents can connect their phones to queues to help other agents and ensure smooth service for callers. As the number of calls in the queue lowers, new agents can detach and return to other activities.

Let’s take a look at the some of the key technological components and productivity tools you’ll need to set up your call queueing system:

When a consumer dials the company’s telephone number and his call is routed to the call center software, the first thing he hears is a welcome message that introduces the company and informs the customer that he has dialed the correct number. Following that, the IVR system joins the game and communicates with the consumer via voice response, presenting several possibilities for him to input the one he has selected. The previously set IVR will handle the call where the consumer would be better served.

Because contact centers get a high volume of calls, it is inefficient to have one or more personnel screen them and route them to the appropriate team agents. The IVR, on the other hand, makes this distribution of calls simple by automatically filtering and redirecting them, boosting the efficiency of the help.

An ACD or automatic call distribution system effectively routes calls to the agents who are active, available, and best equipped to handle them.

ACD is the primary characteristic that separates a telephone system from a switchboard, which lacks this functionality and call center software, which requires a dynamic and efficient automated call distribution system to manage a large volume of calls with limited resources.

Currently, one of the primary problems of many businesses is how to manage their client relationships. This is because contact centers now understand that poor customer service and low customer experience has a direct impact on their profits, both positively and negatively.

Here are some of the advantages of improved customer service provided by a call queueing system:

• Customers grow more loyal and more engaged to company.
• Customers feel less stressed in a well-organized queue because they have less to worry about.
• The list of new customers grows as a result of the customers’ positive referrals.
• Lower investment required to recoup lost consumers.
• Better customer complaint and claim handling.

Unlike the traditional telephone system, a call queue system is far more flexible when it comes to how you configure your queues and how your team manages them. Call queue software can be highly customized, allowing you to configure various queues in order to fit the size and complexity of your contact center.

Since a call queue system does not require any human interaction, you will save time on administrative tasks like ticket bookings, waitlist, etc.

Since a call queue system does not require any human interaction, you will save time on administrative tasks like ticket bookings, waitlist, etc.

Using contact information with your automated solutions, your system can prompt agents with information like when customers will be next contacted or ask them to provide additional information if they don’t have the information needed for their request.

When automated systems are added to your contact center, you will often see a reduction in response times and less downtime during busy periods.

For example, customers who place calls to your contact center should have a positive experience. Automated systems can reduce errors, take the stress out of the customer experience, and increase productivity.

Customers’ response times to automated system calls is a significant factor in customer satisfaction. For example, the percentage of complaints filed with the Better Business Bureau is negatively affected by the response time to automated calls.

The contact center software you are considering should support your business goals. For example, if you are looking to monitor customer engagement, you will want to have access to your customer data so you can track that metric on an ongoing basis. If you have metrics you need to track and want to automate the system that’s associated with those metrics, you will want to have those metrics converted to easy-to-understand dashboards and reports.

A queue may be adjusted in a range of settings; however, these are the primary requirements you should take into account:

• Queue-wait or the maximum number of calls that can be queued.
• The maximum amount of time a phone call can be held in the queue.
• The sentences that clients can hear while phoning and entering the queue. This can be a greeting message, a song, a melody while waiting, or a farewell message once the maximum waiting period has passed.
• Penalties for phone extensions that do not answer calls in the queue within a certain amount of time.

Customers nowadays are digital-first, and that is non-negotiable. They want to be informed, they like to be the first to hear about breaking news, and they value being present when significant events occur. They want brands to communicate in their language and through their preferred platforms. This may be either a tremendous difficulty or a fantastic opportunity!

Mike McGuire, Director of Contact Center Digital Transformation at NobelBiz, joins Craig Sell, Director of Association Development at PACE in this PACE Community Insight videocast to discuss how to be where your clients are using technology and how to create an amazing seamless customer experience that will put your Contact Center business in the spotlight.

Indeed, the efficiency of contact center is often hindered by outdated or contact center software.

And the main issue is nowadays many call centers still utilize old technologies that cannot anticipate average wait times. As a result, the consumer is unsure how long they will be required to hold the receiver. Worse, it can take a long time for the outdated ACD or predictive dialer to match the capabilities of the agents needed to handle specific clients with those who are available.

On the other hand, moder contact center software display entire client information before agents answer the phone, helping them to cut phone waiting times. Furthermore, automated synchronization with integrated CRMs, help desks, and other business tools, as well as call disposition codes and notes, decrease post-call effort.

Call centers frequently encounter surges in call traffic due to holidays and special promotions. Managing these increases while maintaining a great client experience can be difficult. The average speed of reaction (ASR) increases at these peaks, increasing the desertion rate. Usually contact centers does not employ more workers during high seasons, therefore there will be excess agents on non-peak days.

At this point you understand that call queue systems is about either about maintaining or improving the service level and customer experience of contact center. But what about the Key Performance Indicators? Here’s the answer:

Nobody appreciates being put on hold or being on the phone for an extended period of time. When a client phones call centers, they want prompt assistance and responses. The longer someone is kept in a phone wait, the less content and happy they will be. A bad average call wait time is the simplest approach to achieve a very low customer satisfaction score. When wait times are long, customers get disappointed, furious, and annoyed, and they may go competition.

The longer callers wait in a queue, the more likely they are to simply hang up and this where your call abandonment rate increases. Sometimes they may try again later. Other times, they may turn their interest over to a competition. In either case, they are likely to be dissatisfied. Contact centers can lower call abandonment rates and handle larger call volumes by minimizing the average time spent in wait for their call queues.

Contact centers strive to address as many client complaints, difficulties, and inquiries on the first call as necessary, this is the heart of the First Call Resolution Rate. This not only improves customer experience, but it also enables the call center to handle a larger call volume and give superior service. When a client’s problem is not fixed until the second, third, or fourth call, it implies that inadequate service is being delivered. Furthermore, faults might compound, resulting in decreasing service.

The average waiting time in queue is the amount of time your clients spend waiting in a contact center queue from the moment they enter it until their call is answered by one of your agents. This is a critical KPI for the call center. Call center supervisors are always striving to reduce the average time in wait as much as feasible.

Customer satisfaction is directly tied to this call center measure. However, the acceptable average time in wait varies by industry, caller type, and purpose for contact. There is no such thing as a “industry standard” for average wait times. There are several elements that determine callers’ tolerance for waiting and the degree of service you should deliver.

If your contact center queue is too long for your calling customers, some will undoubtedly hang up in disgust. Even if an agent returns the call, the client may be uncooperative or opt not to conduct business with the contact center.

You can’t read people’s minds, so anticipating their needs might be difficult. But what you can do is go under the skin of the consumer and attempt to figure out what inspires them. Colin Shaw, CEO and creator of Beyond Philosophy, provides an excellent illustration of this. Listen to our podcast series Stories of the Call Center learn more about How to Anticipate Your Customer Needs.

Yes, your contact center must invest in advanced contact center call queue solutions that can assist you and your agents in meeting the expectations of your clients by providing superior technological capabilities. These tools are beneficial, particularly when it comes to giving the most competitive service and excellent customer experience.

Our Cloud Contact Center Solution NobelBiz Omni+, offers not only a platform that can be perfectly integrated with most CRMs but also a solution that can gather all communication channels ( Telephone, Social media, Webchat and SMS) in a single unique platform.

Plus, our voice carrier network is one of the most advanced call center voice services on the market, with global coverage and redundant servers that offer 99.99% uptime. In addition, it is a network that is:

• Built-in with the most advances productivity tools ( IVR, ACD, Local Number ID Management, compliance filters and more)
• Designed particularly for the demands of the call center industry.
• The most advanced communications network on the market.
• Unique, dependable infrastructure with several redundancies.

This is the most competitive telecom provider in terms of cost per minute.