Call abandon rate is a crucial metric for every call center, so here are some strategies to improve yours!
Call centers are very fast-paced work environments that require employees to simultaneously juggle multiple tasks, so it’s understandable when call agents struggle to keep up with peak volume demands.
The result of these stressful work environments is often impatient and frustrated customers, who typically hang up before resolving their call. This phenomenon is known as call abandonment, and it’s a crucial metric for every call center to take seriously.
Below we’ll be detailing a comprehensive overview of call abandon rates, and how your call center can improve this vital business metric!
What Exactly Is Call Abandonment & How Is It Calculated?
A call is considered to be abandoned when a caller disconnects prior to getting in touch with a call center agent, so it’s easy to imagine how there are many reasons why a customer might abandon their call.
It’s important to remember that pretty much every call center has at least some abandoned calls, and an acceptable call abandon rate is generally between 5-8% of a center’s daily calls. However, anything above about 8% is an alarming red flag that needs to be addressed as soon as possible.
It’s relatively easy to calculate your call center’s abandon rate using this formula: abandoned calls/total number of calls X 100 = call abandon rate.
Main Reasons Why Customers Abandon Their Calls
It’s normal for call center employees to wonder why their customers are abandoning their calls, so here are some of the common culprits:
Long Waiting Times
This is by far the most common reason why people abandon calls, so long wait times to get in touch with a call agent will more than likely lead to high call abandon rates.
Confusing IVR Systems
Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems have become increasingly popular among call centers in recent years, and many callers will get frustrated when IVR instructions are too lengthy, complicated or confusing for them. Difficulties navigating through an IVR system will potentially turn a customer off from even wanting to speak with one of your agents.
Inability To Speak With Human Call Agents
This has become an increasingly alarming issue as more call centers have tried to cut their overhead costs by implementing AI call agents. When a customer doesn’t have the ability to speak with an actual human being about the issues they’re dealing with, they’ll often abandon their call and seek out other ways to resolve their dilemma.
Personal Reasons
This is usually out of a call center’s control, because there are many scenarios in which a customer will get distracted by something that’s happening to them and need to hang up.
Five Strategies To Reduce Your Call Center’s Call Abandon Rate
Here are some of our strategies to help you reduce the call abandon rate at your call center:
1. Leverage Your Company’s Real-Time Monitoring
One of the first things you should figure out is when your customers are more likely to abandon their calls. This will require extensive call monitoring for all of your business calls, including the callers who are on hold and their specific wait times. These two metrics are crucial in terms of developing the KPIs that’ll guide your team toward more efficient call handling.
2. Offer Call-Back Options
Although being adequately staffed is undoubtedly a huge factor toward improving your call center’s abandon rate, there are some helpful tech solutions that can help you mitigate your call abandonment issues.
One of the main solutions that you’ll want to implement is a call-back option, because this simple feature will allow your call agents to call customers back when wait times are inconvenient or simply just too long. This helps your customers to continue on with their day, and then receive the services they need when your team is available to handle their query.
You could also consider providing estimated timeframes for when your team can call a customer back, or you could allow customers to establish a specific timeslot that gives them full control of when they can speak with your team.
3. Providing Waiting Times
One of the biggest frustrations that customers have is not knowing when their call will be answered, which is why many customers will hang up when they’re put on hold for too long.
One way to remedy this issue is to let customers know an estimated waiting time by introducing a queuing system. This will let your customers know what place in the queue they’re in, and this feature is often connected to call-back features that allow callers to go on with their day while keeping their spot in line!
4. Evaluating Your Staffing Levels
As mentioned above, inadequate staffing is a huge reason why call centers will experience high call abandon rates. If this is the case for your business, then you’ll likely need to consider hiring more people to answer your calls.
There are many great software tools that help companies better understand when they’re most likely to be busy, and keeping enough people staffed during these important moments can help alleviate the amount of people who hang up on you.
5. Use AI Solutions To Support Your Staff
There are many different technological advancements that support call centers on a daily basis, including AI tools like conversational AI. This includes solutions like virtual assistants and live chat that help customers receive answers in real-time, which can go a very long way to streamline each caller’s overall experience with your team.
Conversational AI has revolutionized itself in recent years, so you can put some faith into it when your call agents are particularly busy!
Reach Out To Data Talk When You Need Help Reducing Your Call Center’s Call Abandon Rate!
Data Talk is a leading telecom provider for the Columbus metro area and beyond, and our team is here to help optimize your call center’s efficiency and reduce harmful metrics like your call abandon rate.
Reach out to us online or call us at 614-784-7100 to speak with our call center specialists today about the issues that your team is currently facing!
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