Social networks, communication apps, customer service chats and everything else that the Internet provides, has made more and more companies leave phone service aside.
)However, even if the numbers lead us to believe that this type of service is less and less important, there are a number of good reasons to still give it due importance and never leave it in the background.
If you belong to this group that believes that the telephone is a thing of the past, it is not too late to reconsider.
Understanding the growth of other service channels
Answering because the telephone still plays a fundamental role in customer service involves understanding the growth of other channels and the reasons that made it lose the top positions.
One of the main reasons that led to a decline in the number of telephone calls, has a historical character and is linked to fixed and mobile telephony services in Brazil.
Me Even with the privatization of telecoms and the ease and access to cell phones, telephone service in general was considered expensive, both for companies and for their customers.
In the not too distant past , the telephone plans more accessible to the majority of the population, contemplated few minutes of conversation. On the other hand, there was an incentive to use WhatsApp and more recently, its competitors, such as Telegram, through the exemption of data consumption for this type of app.
When not, the increase in number of hotspots and companies providing free and open public Wi-Fi, made everyone adhere to the new communication alternative.
At the same time, other tools and resources became increasingly common and easy to implement for companies with different levels of digital presence, such as customer service chats, social media messengers such as Facebook Messenger and even Skype and Google Hangouts, the latter becoming Google Chat, just to name the most
The scenario was created and in it, customers began to have a wide variety of options for contact channels with companies, without having to use the few minutes that their plans offered or worse, the even scarcer time offered by the pl prepaid years.
It was preferable to reserve those very few minutes for emergency calls or when absolutely necessary.
That is, everyone who did not have robust and expensive plans and those who only had prepaid – and that was the vast majority – were almost forced to resort to other channels.
Over time and as more and more companies started to offer alternatives, became a habit and common to enjoy them.
On the other hand, companies celebrated everything that technology and the Internet did for them in this period.
If in the past it was necessary to have several employees, invest in training and telephony infrastructure and still pay for a service that was not cheap, now it was easier and more affordable financially speaking.
While an attendant was previously “stuck” on a phone call, now in the same time interval he could respond to an email, send two or three responses on WhatsApp or not Facebook Messenger and still answering many others in chat.
A leaner infrastructure and apparently more efficient and with lower costs.
Why the telephone is still important?
Given the panorama presented and that everyone now knows, it is natural that many still question the importance of the telephone as a relevant instrument of service.
The objective it is not to defend that a particular tool – in this case the telephone – is better than the others, but to see that despite what the numbers may suggest, this type of service is still very important and for which reasons it cannot be neglected.
1. Omnichannel
In times when there is talk of omnichannel or omnichannel management, the telephone is one of the channels that cannot be left out.
For For those who are unfamiliar with the term, omnichannel management aims to integrate, standardize and standardize the service channels provided by the company to the customer, in such a way that they have an equal and as good experience as possible, whatever the chosen channel.
Thus, the telephone is one of the several alternatives that must be offered to those who wish, as well as due importance in how the service should be provided.
two. Urgency
Depending on the level of urgency, no other channel can be so immediate.
Assuming that there is availability and that contact occurs within of the company’s service hours grid, customers are able to solve their doubts, solve their problems and talk to the company for any reason, sooner and spending less time.
Expect an e-mail response. mail, or from a contact form, or even in the social network messenger, in some cases it can be distressing.
3. Severity/importance
The seriousness and/or importance that the customer gives to the contact is closely related to the urgency and the time he waits to have the solution.
Every minute that passes in which the customer has to wait increases their stress level and their dissatisfaction with the organization.
It is known that time in some situations is an enemy of results. Depending on the nature of the problem, the longer it takes to solve the problem, the further away satisfaction will be.
Severe cases that are important to the customer are almost invariably also surrounded by details and a number of information that may be difficult to detail in other service channels, especially those involving writing.
4. Communication
Communication also tends to be better, for several reasons:
- Unlike written communication, in spoken, the tone of voice, the intonation given to the words, as well as the possibility of using more words, which when writing in which people tend to be more “economical”, contributes for noise reduction and which are the set of factors that make it inefficient;
- Especially in the case of the younger generations, there is less and less willingness both to write and to read, which ends up being an obstacle to good communication;
