Call wait time announcements provide updates to call centre customers on the expected time before their enquiry is answered by a call centre agent.
Call wait time announcements can be used in both calls and a live chat channel and are normally configured in your ACD or PABX.
Benefits of Call Wait Time announcements
Nobody likes being in a queue whether it’s in a retail setting or a call centre waiting for our call or live chat to be connected.
If you’ve ever been to a Theme park you will notice the signs in the queue that ‘the expected wait time from this point is 60 minutes’.
Not great, but at least you know.
Announcing to the customer the expected wait time is the same logic.
It empowers the customer to make an informed choice about whether they should continue to hold on or make contact at another time.
The downside of Call Wait Time announcements
Just like at the theme park, if I join a queue where there is an expected wait time of 90 minutes I’m very unlikely to jump in the queue.
Same in a call centre service environment.
If I hear the announcement that there is long wait time (what’s ‘long’ is subjective and may mean different things to different customers) then I may decide to hang up immediately than if I had otherwise not known.
This will increase your call centre abandonment rates and may also be very bad for business.
Alternatives to Call Wait Time announcements
You may be interested in learning more about other call centre technology including Automatic Callback and Intelligent Callback that enable a customer to retain their position in the call centre queue without physically having to hold on.
There is also Queue Position Announcements that rather than let customers know the expected wait time, the technology lets the customers know their exact position in the call centre queue and keeps them updated as they progress.
Next steps
- If you’d like to find suppliers of Call Wait Time announcements and other technology to improve the wait experience search our Business Directory for suppliers.
- If you’d like to learn more ways to reduce queues in the first instance visit our category How to improve performance or learn more about Workforce Optimisation.
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