The new Ofcom rules should be seen as a timely reminder that existing contact centre strategies have been designed for a landline world, and don’t meet the needs of the modern mobile customer, leading to frustration for consumers and lost opportunities for brands.
The fact is, the consumer has been rapidly diverging from landline use in favour of mobiles for some time. The way consumers use mobile phones is fundamentally different to how they use landlines and both brands and the contact centres they operate have been slow to react, failing to keep pace with this change.
Brands need to interact with today’s smartphone generation on their own terms, creating a seamless dialogue that builds genuine connections with mobile consumers, facilitating their lifestyles in a more effective and meaningful way to create advocacy.
But what does this mean for your contact centre?
It’s time to employ mobile-friendly call back options
Given that premium rate numbers may have historically discouraged callers, contact centres need to be ready for the anticipated increase in calls to 0800 or 0808 numbers (or the 03xx numbers they may have adopted) and effective queue management is going to be even more important.
By deploying mobile-friendly automated call-back options, brands can avoid disappointing customers, removing queue frustration by giving them the option to select a preferred contact number (like a mobile, if calling from a landline) and time.
Anticipate the mobile customer’s needs with self-service options
Brands should recognise that today’s consumers are more than happy to take self-service options if this avoids lengthy voice calls. Use intelligent personalised queue announcements to offer appropriate self-service options to your customers and make it easy for them to get what they need from their enquiry, such as a delivery estimate time or their account balance.
Adopt a joined up approach to customer communication
The smartphone generation not only expects to be able to interact with brands across multiple channels, it also expects continuity between these channels. Contact centres who take this on board have the opportunity to build a seamless, multi-channel dialogue with their customers, creating brand affinity and loyalty and taking the pain out of communication for consumers and contact centre agents alike.
