by Glen Taylor
Gene’s posts have given us an interesting application of “callback” in his International Callback application. However, a slightly different use of the term callback has been one of the most frequently implemented IVR applications within contact centers. I have a long history with callback that I’d like to share.
Many companies have created a productized version of a callback application, including Avaya professional services. Probably every ISV has written a custom version at one time or another or sell a callback application product. In 2000, when I moved from helping to develop the Conversant product to trying to sell it, I was often involved with sales opportunities where the customer wanted “callback” for their contact center. After a few of these, I was a bit frustrated and wrote a whitepaper with Avaya and Avaya business partner sales teams as my audience. It was entitled Why Your Customer Doesn’t Need Callback. It would be ironic that within a few years, I’d be working for Interactive Northwest and deeply involved selling their excellent callback application. Two things can be true at once.
My original paper started with the thought that “No one calls a business to get a callback! They call to get a problem solved.” That is a true statement, and I’ve never wavered in my commitment to it. What prompted my whitepaper was exposure to countless customers who were woefully understaffed, had foolish contact center designs (skills), or both. The result for many was that queues filled well before the daily call spikes, callers began to experience longer and longer hold times, and call abandons increased to match. Their callers were not happy customers. Obvious to me was that “we” (the telecom sales professionals) needed to help “our customers” understand how to segment their callers better, how they might change their call center design to staff more effectively, and provide them with the best possible voice self-service options. Get the callers served the first time as quickly as possible. That was the real reason to implement IVR.
At that time, I truly believed that callback had no positive value. It put a small band aid on a bad situation and improved caller satisfaction negligibly. That changed when a customer showed me the light. What was most embarrassing was that I am trained in psychology. My focus has always been directed toward improving customer experience. My customer stated that he wanted a callback solution to “put his callers in control.” There it was. Give callers the option to wait and an estimate of how long and they could choose. This moves the caller from victim to empowered participant.
Now I could sell callback and mean it. Oh, I still counseled customers as to whether they should use callback or not for a particular skill. I made sure they understood the staffing concerns. I pointed out when it might actually “solve” their problem or simply “push it out in time.” I learned that callback is a fairly complex, multifaceted tool. There are cases where it helps and where it cannot. Over time, the voice self-service component, which was a major point in the early days of IVR, diminished. Most self-service is now done via other media. That’s both partially alleviated and exacerbated the need for appropriate callback. When a company’s customers call today, they have probably exhausted all other options. They need to reach someone who can listen, understand their problem, and resolve it. Even after four decades, IVR and callback applications are important tools. Skill and thought are necessary to use them most effectively, but their value remains.