Six Ways Call Centres Can Use Bulk SMS

The global downturn is forcing many businesses to look at new ways to improve efficiency, reduce costs and increase customer loyalty. But in industries where margins are tight and service standards are expected to be high (such as in call centres) meeting these objectives is a challenge. There is, however, one solution that will fulfil these business objectives—bulk SMS for call centres. By using bulk SMS for call centres businesses can create an instant and highly personal communication channel with their customers and employees. In countries where calls to mobile phones are significantly higher than those to a fixed line, call centres can drastically reduce their costs by sending a text message rather than relying on outgoing phone calls.

If the call centre also incorporates 2-way SMS messaging, then communication between the call centre and customers can become interactive. Plus, 2-way SMS messaging enables call centres to automate their inbound and outbound SMS messages to handle particular tasks, such as handling account balance requests, processing orders, providing product information, doing surveys and much, much more. This automation reduces the need for agents to handle inbound calls and so improves productivity.

Integrating bulk SMS and 2-way SMS messaging with a call centre's existing CRM and automated call distribution systems is straightforward. SMS technology allows call centres to automate their responses for marketing campaigns, yet is flexible enough to allow one-on-one communication between agents and the consumers, so they can provide an individual service when needed.

Given that bulk SMS for call centres is increasing in popularity as a way for this industry to reduce costs and improve productivity, here are just some of the most common uses of text messaging and 2-way SMS messaging by call centres.

1. Gathering feedback and satisfaction surveys

If your company uses a call centre, one of its main business objectives will probably be to cement customer loyalty by achieving high levels of customer satisfaction. This means you will want to find out what you are doing well and what could be improved. Using text messages to get customers to provide feedback is a great way to get instant feedback on the service you provided. As these surveys can all be automated, you can get this feedback without having to use agents to make an outbound call, helping to save you money.

2. Outbound receipt/order confirmations

Businesses the use call centres can also use text messaging to confirm orders or send outbound receipts. These texts can be dynamically generated as part of the ordering process, helping to streamline the actions required of the agents, again saving you money and so helping to boost the agent's productivity.

3. Inbound/outbound product information or customer support

Call centres often use text messages to provide product information to potential customers. These outbound text message responses are frequently automated as part of a SMS marketing campaign which incorporates a short code. Businesses can also use bulk SMS to improve customer service by automatically sending a text message to update particular individuals, such as a bank using SMS to keep mortgage applicants updated on the progress of their application. This is a win, win situation as the applicant gets pro-active customers service, and the bank reduces the number of inbound calls.

4. ETA and delivery updates

Quite often call centres use SMS to provide customers with updates on deliveries or to let them know the estimated time of arrival of the service they have requested, be it a taxi, courier or breakdown service. Keeping customers informed about arrival times by sending a text message with the ETA, means they are less likely to make an inward call to the call centre and so reduce the number of calls that the agents need to deal with. It also tends to score highly in terms of customer satisfaction as the customer is kept in the communication loop. If sender allows 2-way SMS text messaging, customers can reply if they have a problem with the expected delivery time.

5. Security Alerts

With security high on everyone list, it shouldn't be too surprising that some banks and credit card companies are using bulk SMS for call centres to check on possible fraud. If a bank's call centre is alerted to possible fraud with an account, they can check with the account holder by sending a text message which asks them to call.

6. Internal communication and resourcing call centre staff

Of course the usefulness of bulk SMS for call centres isn't just limited to customer communications. Often larger organisations rely on the same SMS technology for their internal communication, such as sending a text message to employees with their weekly work rota.
From letting customer know about ETAs to order confirmations and gathering feedback, bulk SMS for call centres is changing the way that this industry works, helping to reduce costs and improve productivity.

Source: http://www.articlesbase.com by Karen White on 8th July 2011

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