Sprint is the third largest wireless telecommunications network in the United States. With millions of customers, it has a customer service department that receives a high number of calls every day. Phone inquiries ranges from new subscribers and to those who wish to upgrade their service they receive, to people with complaints about their bills or technical problems with their wireless phones.
When call center agents are outnumbered by the volume of calls they receive each day, a large volume of unanswered inquiries, dropped calls and frustrated customers on hold is the undesirable result. With cloud-based customer service solutions, however, these bugaboos can be eliminated and a better, more streamlined approach to customer service can be implemented.
Call centers can serve as a company’s garbage disposal unit—experts estimate that less than five percent of all call inquiries are positive remarks on the company’s services. The other 95 percent are either inquiries from newbies, or complaints from long term customers. One of the most common complaints is about the long wait callers have to endure while waiting to speak to a live representative. More often than not, their time on hold is longer than the time they spend speaking to that rep once they’re connected.
Sometimes, issues take longer to be resolved because the employee on the other side has no previous information regarding the concern of the customer. This further increases customer frustration, and instead of becoming agents of customer service, call centers agents are often transformed into a customers’ worst nightmare.
Sprint has used a number of techniques to diffuse the potential nightmares, including a responsive customer service agent who uses Twitter to help route issues, troubleshoot, and answer common questions from users. The company Web site is also a great source of information for customers with problems or questions. At sprint.com, visitors can not only shop, pay their bill online and research new plans; they can also visit the forums, read blogs or use the live-chat service.
Live chat allows any Web site visitor to interact with both sales and customer service agents online. By immediately responding to customers’ frustrations via the web, Sprint is able to maintain their most trusted customers, and further attract potential new customers. The thought that help is always on its way whenever a customer attempts to contact Sprint makes their customers feel more comfortable and assured.
Efficient customer service software applications like live chat windows have increased online sales of Sprint products and services, reduced shopping cart abandonment, and impressed their customers even more. The simplicity offered by a cloud-based customer service applications has made customers’ online experience more convenient.
Sprint customers report that they enjoy the ability to find answers to their problems on the Web site, or through Twitter, rather than wasting their precious minutes on hold. In addition, continuous adjustments with the current CRM applications used by Sprint’s call centers, make the resolution of customer issues over the phone even speedier. By providing the call center agents with relevant customer and product information quickly and methodically, these cloud computing applications serve to eliminate wasted time. This is annoying to customers who simply call to follow-up on a simple request.
With the birth of new customer service applications like live chat windows, and cloud computing CRM platforms, teams can focus on providing superior customer service. Constant observation and analysis of questions posted by clients via the live chat window allow Sprint to prepare effective responses to common inquiries, saving a lot of manpower and decreasing the volume of frustrated phone callers.
