Customer service: telephone, the most used channel still in 2022 and with more possibilities


Although it is always said that trends in customer service are on the way to omnichannel, of the latest innovations such as chatbots or service through messaging, it is not always given importance to the fact that the telephone, despite being the oldest, is still not only the most important but the most used. As data, in the latest study on the Contact Center of the CEX Association in 2021, it still remained with 78% as the most used channel and a long way from the second, email, with 12% and even more than the third. classified, chat or chatbot, with 4%.

Without neglecting the necessary innovation in companies, the main channel of communication with its customers and users cannot be neglected. And that is not against continuing to use the telephone as a priority channel, where digitization has also expanded its capabilities and has adapted it, even better than other more “modern” ones, to the needs of optimizing user service and, above all, analysis and business improvement.

Cost savings

We start with something key for many businesses. The digitization of telephony, its transfer to cloud environments, has resulted in enormous cost savings for companies. You’re no longer reliant on a fixed, immovable line in the office, and on the other hand, that doesn’t mean you can’t keep the phone you’ve had for years. A simple migration to any of the telephony services in the cloud allows access to much lower prices that, as we will see below, also integrate tools that are impossible in analog telephony.

Office without walls and flexibility

Changing the company number to a “digital” or “virtual” one offers an instant change that, in these times where teleworking has become widespread, is already essential. IP telephony, as it is also called, is not tied to the desk phone. Moreover, it is not subject to a device. We only need a device connected to the Internet and a browser, such as Chrome, Firefox or Edge, to use it.

This allows, among other things, to quickly set up a Contact Center team with a minimum investment since, to begin with, it is not necessary to have the workers in an office, each one can be in a corner of the world, nor spend money on new devices or apparatus for this purpose. This not only means a huge reduction in costs, but also in time since it is possible to have it up and running in minutes. This also translates into unprecedented flexibility for a company that can size equipment in near real-time whether it needs to increase the number of operators or reduce them if a project is temporarily less pressured.

24/7 attention

With an analog telephone system it is impossible to provide 24/7 service if we do not have a team that is “hooked” on the phone all the time. In addition, voicemail or answering machine solutions are limited to a locution that notifies the customer service hours.

The tools provided by digital telephony to a company break down some of these barriers since the virtual switchboards can configure different customer service scenarios, when there is or there is no operator, through configurable voice menus. To this is added a connection with the company’s CRM that can record all those calls when no one is there and leave them assigned to an agent so that, when their day starts, they can retrieve them and not miss an opportunity or complaint to resolve.

Advanced call analysis

But if something differentiates digital from analog telephony, it is the ability of the former to apply a layer of analysis to the voice. It is also when the connection between the virtual switchboard and the CRM becomes even more relevant.

And it is that technologies such as voice-to-text transcription allow us to analyze calls to find almost any problem, trend or need that customers are expressing and that, in the analog era, depended on the good memory of the agents. . It is possible to have statistics in real time not only of quantitative elements (response time, customer data, duration of the call, etc.) but also qualitative (complaints expressed, language used, products mentioned, etc.) that not only they are an inexhaustible source of information not only to reduce complaints and improve problem resolution, but also to increase sales and find business niches to increase sales.

Ease of transition

The advantages of digital telephony over analog are indisputable. But there is also fear in many companies to take the leap. The lack of technical knowledge or conformism are the main factors or barriers that many businesses, especially the smaller ones, face in the face of change. The “If something works, why change?” or the fear of making an investment for which they do not see an immediate benefit is the order of the day.

However, these are unfounded fears. It doesn’t take long, it’s not expensive, and it doesn’t require advanced technical knowledge to go from analog to digital in voice communication. One of the clearest and most recommendable examples are proposals such as Zadarma. This provider has free virtual switchboard that incorporates all the latest technology mentioned above to which, whether we migrate a number or register a virtual one, it allows in minutes and for almost anyone with basic computer knowledge, to start up both extensions and manage voicemail and the menus – something that has also just been updated with an even simpler visual configurator – and even having the Zadarma CRM for professional call management, as well as giving access to all the advanced voice analysis and communications transcription technology.

In short, the telephone is, and probably will continue to be for many years, the main means of customer service. And the fact that it is the most “classic” medium does not mean that it is obsolete. The transition to digital telephony in the 21st century also places it as one of the most advanced, with more possibilities and capable of expanding the opportunities of any business.

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