The landscape for companies offering cloud communication services at a great price is extremely competitive.
Removing the need for underlying hardware, an abundance of robust feature sets and competitive price points make deciding on a cloud provider (and sticking with them) a difficult decision for consumers.
THE INITIAL DRAW
Better pricing and flexibility are the major draws leading people to independent telecommunication operators. For those who are very concerned over the rate at which customers jump ship in search of a better deal, providers may up their game with better marketing, customer service and new technology.
While improved customer service is the low-hanging fruit, new technology and funding for an effective marketing campaign often proves elusive. Are there other ways UC providers can hold onto their existing customers?
DRIVERS OF CHURN RATES
It’s not just customers looking for a better deal that cause independent providers to lose business. A busy small business enlisted in a UC service typically has individual employees loaded with tasks. They don’t need another one -- unless something is wrong.
Vendors often dump recording responsibilities off on the customer, who have no guidance on what to say, how to say it and have no idea how to achieve great sound quality. Background noise and poorly delivered messages often plague these business owners.
Additionally, attention to detail on call routing often suffers, too. Rather than having a phone system that’s an asset for the business, it can more closely resemble a liability.
REDUCING A OC PROVIDER'S CHURN RATE
To a larger or smaller degree, all industries suffer from churn. According to older and newer studies, the churn rates UC providers may experience annually ranges from 10 to 67 percent.
In our many years of experience working with thousands resellers, providers have reported up to 37 percent reduction in churn when customers invest in professional third party recordings vs customers that do not have professionally recorded messages.
Why?
First, and most importantly, people who invest in their business phone system are able to fully appreciate the utility and value yielded as a result. A business’s phone system is often the first significant point of contact to the public. Professionalism, friendliness and convenience has a way of keeping callers on the line.
Second, if customers spend the time and effort putting together a phone system tailored perfectly for their business, they don’t want to lose what they’ve invested.
GO FOR THE FULL TREATMENT
Here’s the big picture: Businesses want to put their best effort in presenting a good image to the world. Blood, sweat and tears go into making an outstanding organization, including a great product or service, a stellar website, excellent customer service, slick signage, marketing campaigns, clean bathrooms -- the works.
But a wonky phone system, complete with bad recordings, awkwardly placed promotional messages and callers who can’t reach a specific department or person, can quickly work against that hard-earned image.
HERE ARE FEATURES TO COMPLETE THE IMAGE OF YOUR CLIENTS:
Professional voice recordings
No one enjoys listening to a poor recording. They’re often grating on the ears, confusing to follow or filled with irrelevant information. In addition to these key business decisions for a phone system, it’s worth looking into professional voice talent to maximize opportunities presented by callers. A full-service partner to help a business fully realize their phone system’s potential is a great investment on your client’s ROI and gets them nicely invested to your phone system.
Messaging
This is potentially a tricky area for a variety of businesses. A new business may be prone to want to say everything at once: why they have the best product or service, credentials, origin story, etc. An established business may offer promotions at the wrong moment. A large business may feature confusing call routing associated with unhelpful information. What and where to provide valuable information can make a tremendous difference, so extreme attention to detail in crafting the right message is a high priority.
Music options
At a certain point in a business’s phone system, a company’s details are no longer necessary. Sometimes, it’s better to offer a caller relaxing music in between important portions of data. Securing the appropriate music options for the right moments in a call to a business makes a big difference in the caller experience. It’s also important to keep the music fresh for those repeat callers or those experiencing a long wait time. Get the best sound and mix for the right mood!
A business’s phone system is one of the initial steps to consumer engagement. Once your business customers fully appreciate what that means to them, they’ll better understand the value of investment. That investment makes it much less likely that they’ll defect from your service.
