article thumbnail

We Appreciate Your Business. Please Stay on the Line.

Harvard Business Review

If a call center is busy, don''t tell customers the hold time is five minutes and then, after four minutes (as higher-priority customers enter the queue), revise that to 10 minutes. FAQs are great, but customers still need to talk to your people. Explain why an action is being taken, and be trustworthy.

article thumbnail

Online Retailers Should Care More About the Post-Purchase Experience

Harvard Business Review

Customers can also sign up for SMS notifications and find FAQs without needing to leave the branded experience. Not only are customers better informed and call center volume decreasing, these actions open up new marketing channels for retailers to reach an already captive audience.

Retail 11
article thumbnail

The Customer Support Hierarchy of Needs

Harvard Business Review

Rows of call center agents patiently guiding customers through their scripted responses and canned email responses aren’t going to cut it, when your customers are on so many different channels. Companies need to anticipate issues and start reaching out proactively to customers — even before the problem crops up.