Burnout is a massive issue among your call center agents – whether you’re talking about it or not. According to the APA’s 2021 Work and Well-being Survey, of the +1500 workers surveyed, 79% of them said they’d experienced work-related stress within the last month. And, with remote work becoming the norm, employers have recognized that their employees can’t relieve work-related stress on their own while WFH. They need your help.
As many as 74% of call center agents are at risk of burnout. And of those, 30% are at severe risk of burnout. Why? The job is Stressful – with a capital “S.” They’re handling questions, concerns, problems (and whining) nonstop for hours and hours at a time. The job is fast-paced, often underpaid and underappreciated. Not to mention, they’re dealing with angry customers who blame them personally for the issues they’re facing.
And when agents are burned, they leave. Then that sends your retention rates spiraling down and out the revolving door – right behind your agents.
So what can you do to help?
One way is to shift processes and channels to improve both agent and customer satisfaction. For instance, add texting to your call center. When you text customers from your call center, agents have a lower risk of facing abusive interactions and they’re able to handle more issues at once. And that means, when you text customers, they’re getting answers faster, leaving both customers and agents more fulfilled in their interactions.
It’s critical that managers, like you, spot the signs of burnout early on before it becomes a chronic issue. But, burnout isn’t always easy to identify, especially if you manage a remote team. It can affect an employee’s physical, mental, and emotional state. And often, employees are experiencing symptoms privately.
To identify burnout, you need to know what it looks like. The World Health Organization breaks burnout down into three categories:
When employees feel energy depletion or exhaustion.
When employees experience increased mental distance from their job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to their job.
When employees have reduced professional efficacy.
People also experience physical effects like headaches, fatigue, or changes in appetites and eating habits. So, how can you catch on and address these effects head on?
Ask yourself some of these hard questions:
Are you noticing employees taking more sick days or appearing tired?
Are reliable employees showing up late to shifts?
Do the people on your team seem distracted or bored?
Are people talking about how little time they have for work or personal life?
Are employees complaining often in meetings?
Have any employees started arguing with other employees?
If any of the answers are “yes” to any of these, you may have some burnt out agents on your team. Other indicators of burnout could be drops in performance and increasing errors made. Plus, it’s also good to listen for comments from employees like, “I just haven’t been feeling like myself lately” or “I’m just tired—I’m sure a vacation will take care of it.” Comments like these can be a sign that your employees are worn out and stressed.
But, then what do you do?
Tactics You Can Use to Addressing Burnout
Understand the root causes and be an advocate:
Relationship building with your team is critically important to identify and address burnout. Talk with your agents one on one and as a group to identify what is causing stress in the workplace. Is it a heavy workload? Not enough clarity around roles or expectations? A lack of tools and training? Difficult customer interactions?
Ask questions to address the root causes of your teams’ burnout. And then, fight for your teams’ well being. Create flexible schedules. Protect their time. Reward your employees for hard work. Listen to their concerns and work alongside them to find solutions.
Text customers to make work simpler and less stressful for your employees:
Create options for employees who are experiencing burnout on your team. Perhaps you have a number of agents who have serious phone and email fatigue. They’re sick of getting belittled and berated by customers on the phone. They’re tired of the high call volume that never seems to ease. Move them to a texting team.
Provide text for customers who want a quick and simple way to reach out and help your employees relieve stress at the same time. On a texting team, employees get a break from the constant ringing of phones. They are able to interact with customers in a more casual and flexible form of communication. As a result, you can keep agents in their seats, keep them mentally healthier and happier, and provide more opportunities for interactions and higher satisfaction for customers, too.
Did you know that eight trillion text messages are sent every year? And of those, every month, people send more than one billion messages to businesses. Despite these incredible statistics, many call centers still haven’t integrated texting for their business into their customer service operations.
75% of consumers find it helpful to receive appointment reminders via text.
72% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase when texting with a real employee.
69% of consumers would prefer for an unfamiliar company to contact them over text messaging, rather than over the phone.
63% of consumers would switch companies if they offered text messaging.
Texting for business has tons of benefits for customers and for employees. It’s way more effective and efficient, more personal, and is much more flexible for both parties. But, admittedly, it’s a whole new channel of communication for your team to handle. Business texting is distinctly different from live chat, email, or phone calls and requires separate training and technology to understand it.
When you add texting for your business into your call center, how do you guarantee the same level of service and efficiency for your customers? How do you ensure adding another channel isn’t adding just another thing to your already overwhelmed agents?
Texting for business in your call center can be a piece of cake with the best practices and processes in place. Here are five ways you can make texting in your call center smooth and successful.
1. Set up a team devoted to incoming and outgoing texts with customers
We all like to say we’re good at multitasking, but let’s be honest — it’s hard to juggle multiple things simultaneously and look good doing it. Studies actually show that our brains can’t truly multitask without likely making some errors or performing worse. I know. I’m sorry to burst your bubble.
Because of the time between sent messages and responses from customers, when texting with customers, agents can start and maintain multiple conversations at once. But if a call also comes from a customer and an agent also tries to respond to a different customer’s text at the same time, they just aren’t able to give the same level of care to both customers. They’re bound to cross wires at some point and say the wrong thing.
Particularly because texting is such a different style of communication than a phone call or even an email, your call center will benefit from having a separate team devoted to texting customers. Each day, have a group of call center agents who only respond to incoming texts from customers.
Because of the flexibility of the channel and the lulls in a text thread, these agents can handle multiple text threads and multiple customers at once. You’ll be more efficient in your workflow and provide a better customer experience.
2. Help your customers know how to reach you by text
What’s the good in offering texting if your customers don’t even know that’s an option? As we saw in those stats earlier, many customers prefer texting a business and will choose that channel if given the option. Make sure customers know they can reach you by text and how they can do so.
Maybe you build the texting option into your IVR system, or advertise it clearly on your site by saying call or text us at (your phone number). Give customers a short code or keyword to text to give them the easiest access to your customer service.
3. Have a best practices guide available to agents internally
When I first graduated from college and was on the hunt for a job, I had to send out some networking type emails. I remember analyzing some of the responses to learn how one properly structures a professional email. What wording do I use to sound competent? How do I write a warm send off without sounding too enthusiastic or too presumptuous? If you’ve been in a professional setting for some time, you know the proper email etiquette to follow.
The same goes for texting in a business. Your agents need to know how to communicate respect, how to set boundaries, how to be authentic, how to communicate information briefly and clearly. They still need to avoid typos and use proper grammar. I could go on and on about what are business texting best practices.
Ultimately, to make your texting team effective, document all of your best practices and brand voice standards in one place. Help them to align their voices so your communication is consistent with customers. Give them standards that are actually written down so they can review them outside of training. This will make your agents’ lives easier and give your customers consistency in their communication with you.
4. Meet with your texting team to review interactions with customers and coach them on texting customers specifically
Your texting team offers a unique service to customers. As I said, texting customers is distinctly different from other communication channels. So, your texting team requires equally different coaching from you. Set aside some time monthly or quarterly to meet with your texting team. Collect successful and some unsuccessful texting interactions with customers. Use these to model how agents can more effectively communicate with customers.
Demonstrate how tone in writing can shape a customer’s attitude. Or, illustrate how to more efficiently gather information from a customer. These coaching sessions help texting for your business grow as a more successful channel and allow you to deliver the best customer experience, no matter the channel.
5. Create texting templates and canned messages for agents to use as needed
The reason customers often choose to text a business is because it allows them to get a quick answer to a question. Customers often don’t choose texting if they intend to work through a long and complex issue. As a result, your texting team will be receiving similar requests and questions from different customers. With these simple and repeated kinds of questions, canned messaging and templates can make your agents’ lives much easier.
Create stock messages that your agents can copy, paste, and edit to fit the scenario to make the communication fast and easy. That way, when agents get slammed with messages, they have a quick way to respond to the more straightforward requests and keep customers impressed by your speedy response.
We’ve all gotten comfortable with following proper communication etiquette when it comes to sending an email or making a phone call. We know the formalities, the timing, how to ask for something without sounding too accusatory or passive aggressive. But, business texting etiquette is still a new frontier. Texting customers can be tricky, but its benefits are widespread for your business.
Here’s why:
Texting customers draws in customers: 75% of customers like receiving special offers via texts.
It also supports sales: It’s predicted that in 2021, about 67 million Americans took advantage of a coupon via text on mobile phones.
As more and more people worldwide use smartphones, business texting will only grow in popularity. So, how can you get ahead of the curve in establishing your texting strategy? How can you text customers in a way that improves their customer experience? What are the best practices and etiquette of texting customers?
We’ve laid out five best practices when texting customers that are bound to improve customer loyalty and customer experience.
Best Practice #1: Give Reminders. Be proactive by texting customers updates and appointment reminders.
Texting customers updates and reminders is one of the easiest ways to practice proactive customer service. Answer your customers’ questions before they even have them by texting a flow of informative texts. Include updates and reminders to keep your customers in the loop.
But, why not use email? Well, it’s because most of them won’t be read. In fact, Adobe reports that 75% of marketing and business outreach emails are ignored. And when they are read, 50% aren’t considered useful. It’s not too hard to believe. If you’re like me, your “promotional” tab in your email is stock full of unread emails from brands and newsletters. And, the spam folder catches the rest.
But text updates are a lot harder for customers to ignore. Actually, about 70% of customers say text messages grab their attention. Keep customers in the loop about the important details — like updates to shipping orders or a reminder for an upcoming salon appointment. It’ll be much more effective in reaching them, can help reduce frustration, and will increase transparency for customers.
Best Practice #2: Get Permission. Only text customers who opt-into texting to avoid driving customers away.
What’s one simple way to drive away potential customers? Text them when they didn’t ask for it.
You must have permission from people before sending them text messages. It’s simple etiquette to ask first before texting customers. And if you don’t, you’re likely to land in a mess of legal trouble, leaving a very negative impact on your brand’s image.
The good news is that getting permission is easy. Give customers an opportunity to opt into texting through a form on your website or as they’re processing an order with you. Or, have them text a keyword to your number to start a conversation with a contact center agent or to request promotional information. Give customers the control to dictate when you’re texting them to avoid being immediately written off as spam.
Best Practice #3: Give Customers an Exit. Let them opt out of texts from you at any point in the relationship.
A couple of years ago, I went to visit a friend in Texas. While visiting, she took me to her indoor cycling gym for a free ride. I had to give them my email and phone number to sign up, and I must have clicked a box saying I opt into texts from them. But, get this: two years later and I’m still receiving texts from this gym with no clear way to opt out. And I live in Indiana! It’s obnoxious.
Just like you need permission from customers before texting them, you must give them an exit. In fact, you’re legally obligated to do so. Customers should be able to text STOP or UNSUBSCRIBE at any point and expect you won’t text them again. And, make sure customers know that’s an option so you’re letting customers choose what’s being sent to their phone.
Best Practice #4: Be Responsive. Don’t leave customers waiting for your answer or help.
Texting is expected to be a fast and efficient way for customers to reach you. So, by offering a text messaging service, you’re committing to a platform of communication that delivers messages instantly. Most customers are pretty glued to their phones and check a new message within five minutes of receiving one (at a nearly 100% read rate).
How do you keep up with these expectations? Don’t leave just one agent to do the job, potentially overloading them with messages and leaving customers on “Read.” Perhaps you set aside a group of agents on your team each day who are dedicated to texting customers.
That way, while some agents answer phone calls or send out emails, a subset of your team devotes time to quick texting conversations. Or, use bots to support your agents by setting them to answer simple requests quickly. Then, your agents can keep focused on more complicated customer interactions.
Best Practice #5: Get the Timing Right. Don’t be an inconvenience to your customers and text only during business hours.
Imagine this. You’ve settled into the couch for your evening routine of sipping on a glass of wine and watching another episode of The Office and *ding* your phone lights up. Maybe it’s your friends? Nope… it’s a promo deal for car insurance.
Your customers opt into texts from you with the expectation that they won’t be inconvenienced. And believe me, they’ll quickly opt out of texts from you if you overstep those boundaries. You don’t want to be thinking about work as you’re settling down for bed — and neither do your customers. Be respectful and only send outgoing texts to customers during reasonable hours to avoid driving customers away.
Need more convincing about the benefits of business texting? Read about 5 ways business text messaging supports your goals for a better customer experience.
In a study performed by Oracle on customer experience, 74% of executives reported that they see a direct link between the quality of their customer experience and the rates of loyal customers. We all know that customer loyalty should be the goal — considering loyal customers spend 67% more than new customers. How does business text messaging fit into that goal?
Let me paint you a picture:
You order a new piece of furniture for your home, wait two weeks for it to arrive, and as you start to assemble it, you realize… it’s missing three vital parts. Great. Now you have to deal with the headache of reaching out to customer service: waiting on hold for an hour, drafting up an email that (hopefully) receives a reply within 3-5 business days. Or, you can pick up your phone and shoot a text right to a customer service agent. Which would you choose?
Business text messaging offers a solution to customers (and not just those with phone anxiety like me). Ultimately, it provides a better customer experience, which lends way to more loyal customers for your business.
Let’s take a look at five specific ways business text messaging improves your customer experience:
1. Texting lets your customers send you product or service questions.
Have you ever gotten stuck in the maze of an FAQ page? Link after link to the next self-service article and you still can’t find the answer to your question. In those moments, you don’t want to have to pick up the phone and call customer service just to ask a simple question.
But, business text messaging gives customers a simple way to send a quick question and get a quick answer, improving their customer experience and saving them hassle.
2. Texting encourages personal and effective communication with your customers.
Let’s be honest. The formality of emailing can get tiresome. When you want a direct answer, it’s a pain to write up an email with all its bells and whistles. You obsess about how to avoid sounding passive aggressive in your request, then you’re paranoid that a misplaced comma will create the wrong impression. It feels less personal and takes more time.
Texting cuts through the formality with your customers. It lets your agents create a friendly upbeat tone as they help customers. And, you can have an active two-way conversation. Texting your customers empowers agents and customers to solve problems, ask questions, and get real-time reactions.
3. It lets you send quick, helpful reminders to assure your customers you care.
Proactive customer service leads to a better customer experience. It helps your contact center avoid pain points with customers and saves customers time and energy by anticipating their needs. How do you proactively show customers you care? Business text messaging lets you send helpful tips and reminders and check in on customers in a non-intrusive way.
86% of small business owners who use text messages to communicate with customers have seen higher levels of engagement. Texting your customers can support your goal to build customer loyalty.
4. Business text messaging makes gathering customer feedback easy.
72% of customers will share a positive experience with 6 or more people. On the other hand, if a customer is not happy, 13% of them will share their experience with 15 or more people. In general, customers won’t tell you they’re unhappy. In fact, only 1 in 26 unhappy customers will actually complain. The rest? They just leave.
Gathering customer feedback is an essential piece of crafting a strong customer experience. And text messaging makes it easy! How many surveys have you sent by email that go to a customer’s spam folder or quickly get deleted? The fact is, customers are 4x more likely to respond to a text than an email and will do so quickly. Use text messaging to gather feedback to quickly gather more responses from your customers.
5. Text messaging customers improves your agent efficiency.
Your contact center agents have a lot to juggle during a shift — maintain their KPIs, avoid abandoned calls, answer x amount of emails, keep customers happy …it’s overwhelming. Imagine how discouraging it is for agents to be on the phone with customers, and then to watch another call come in, go on hold, and maybe get abandoned. In these moments, both your customers and your agents lose.
But, with business text messaging, agents can get a conversation started with a customer quickly and answer questions while also answering phones and emails to other customers. When you can text customers immediately, customers avoid waiting on hold or for a call back. These few saved minutes can save you from a bad customer review.
When businesses think of delivering excellent customer service, accessibility needs to be at the top of that list. Accessibility can mean many things, but we’re looking at creating greater accessibility for individuals with disabilities in this blog.
In our on-demand economy, it’s never been easier for customers to jump from one company to the next. Almost half of all customers have done it due to poor customer service. When it comes to customers with disabilities, companies are losing about $6.9 billion a year simply because their websites aren’t accessible.
Texting is a quick and easy way to provide better accessibility. Texting creates convenient briges of communication that other forms of communication like voice and chat tools lack. Here are a few reasons why and how you should adopt texting:
Greater Accessibility Than Phone Calls
A phone call can be a non-starter for the deaf, hard of hearing, or those with speech disabilities. Teletypewriters (TTY) and Telecommunications Relay Services (TRS) can help bridge the communication gap by translating speech to text and vice versa, but they come with limitations.
For one, when a customer uses TTY mode on their mobile phone, it might prevent other phone functions from operating, which means a customer may not get an important call or message. Agents may think a TRS call is a telemarketer because they hear “Hello. This is the relay service…”, not realizing it’s a TRS provider relaying information for someone with a disability. Lastly, you’re pushing customers to call you, which drives up call volumes – something you are likely trying to reduce.
Texting creates better accessibility for the Deaf, hard of hearing, and those with speech disabilities, because:
There’s no other technology or services required on the customer’s end besides their phone.
The entire conversation is made through text.
Agents can answer multiple texts at once for shorter wait times.
Greater Accessbility Than Webchat
We’ve talked about the pros and cons of webchat vs. text elsewhere, but not for accessibility. Webchat can be a great resource, but it depends on whether your website is easy for those with disabilities to navigate. Webchat also doesn’t help the nearly 25% of disabled respondents who say they never go online. Part of the reason behind this is that those with disabilities are typically seniors who tend to be on the lower end of digital adoption.
The good news is texting creates greater customer engagement even among older populations. And although older customers aren’t sending anywhere near the volume of texts as younger customers, they are more likely to respond to texts if they do receive them.
Greater Accessibility for Everyone
Texting is the most popular form of communication today. By including texting in your omnichannel contact center strategy, you’re giving every customer a convenient way to communicate with your business. Fortunately, adding another channel for support doesn’t mean more work for your agents. In fact, it can reduce your overall inbound support volume. Here’s how:
Use Text IVRs
Text IVRs operate the same way as your usual IVR, except they’re done entirely through text messages. Best of all, customers can see their text history, which reduces repeat calls if they forget anything.
Use Textbots
Textbots act a lot like chatbots. You can set up textbots to do proactive outreach. For instance, Pearson Education implemented Textel’s textbot to reach out to interested students to qualify them before connecting them to an advisor. Their call attempts dropped by over 90%, but they saw their contact rate increase 225%!
Push Calls to Text
Although pushing calls to text doesn’t necessarily reduce your calls volumes, it can reduce your average hold times. That’s because agents can manage multiple text messages simultaneously. Plus, they can send and receive images, documents, and more to communicate faster.
When you receive an incoming call, give them the option to text instead. You can do this easily with your IVR. Follow these steps:
Give the option to text (e.g., “To text with us instead, press 2.”).
Have the IVR confirm the number your agent should text (e.g., “I see you’re calling from 8015551234. Press 1 if we should text that number. Press 2 to enter a different number.”)
Have the IVR end the call.
Send an automated text message that an agent will text them soon.
Pushing calls to text can decrease calls if you’re tackling common issues in your automated text. For example, the State of Michigan was getting overwhelmed with calls due to COVID. They found that many of the calls were asking questions they already tackled on their website. Using Textel, they chose to callers the option to receive a text that included a link to the FAQs on their website. In the first three weeks of implementing Textel, they deflected over 800,000 calls!
Greater Accessibility with Textel
There’s no magic communication channel that satisfies all your customer needs. Each plays a critical role in providing accessibility. Texting adds unparalleled convenience to your customer interactions and more efficiency for your agents. Textel’s texting platform for contact centers gives you everything you need to connect to users on the devices they’re already using and through the way they’re already communicating.
