A typical cloud call center software handles a large volume of calls every day. Each of these calls is precious. Cost per call is a metric that allows call centers to calculate the total cost involved in handling calls during a specific time period. This could be an hour, a week, a month, or a year. 

Cost per call is the first thing call center managers need to take into account. The price per call can include things like toll-free number costs, wages for call center staff, costs on telephone bills, cost of equipment and software, and utilities for the call center itself. 

Here are some of the ways you can minimize call costs with cloud call center software. 

1. Provide High-Quality Training Sessions for Agents

One of the best ways to reduce call costs is to improve the quality of customer service and ensure agents have sufficient information and assets to meet client needs adequately. 

 

You can easily achieve this by carefully selecting candidates and giving reliable input on their execution. Your efforts will help them reduce the average handling time and even improve the quality of customer service. This, in turn, will reduce the need for repeated calls for a similar problem. 

2. Use Call Monitoring

One of the several reasons to get cloud call center software is that it lets you monitor calls in real-time. You can even build your quality assurance team to improve customer engagement, facilitate team collaboration, streamline communication processes and achieve business goals. 

 

By doing this, you can offer constructive feedback to agents. This will help them improve the overall quality of their calls and optimize their handle time. 

 

Moreover, a qualified agent will not delay calls or constantly put a client on hold. Subsequently, there will be an increase in efficiency, and per call cost in your call center will decrease. 

3. Establish Multi-Channel Communication 

If you expect a team to work optimally, you should provide them with appropriate tools. This is where cloud call center software comes in. It lets you create multi-channel communication and increase your business revenue. 

 

While call centers are an important point of contact, your customers can also reach you through:

 

• Social Media- Customers can send you feedback on these platforms 
• Live Chat– Some people find it easier to write instead of communicating it on a voice call
• E-mails – This is an excellent communication method for the B2B sales sector as many professionals are involved in the e-mail communication.

 

So, how can cloud call center software help you with this?

 

It can help you create quick and easy development processes without increasing operational costs. Moreover, you will get to provide a high-value customer experience across channels and touchpoints. Lastly, it lets you have the required flexibility, security, and scalability for fulfilling your business needs. 

 

4. Use Callback from Queue

By providing your operators with the best cloud call center software, you also need to ensure that you use the features that directly impact call costs. 

One such tool is an interactive voice response system (IVR). Not only does it help you build customer loyalty, but it also lets you reduce telephony costs. This is because there will be a lesser number of callers in the call queue. 

The cost of incoming calls to toll-free numbers and then holding them in call-in line can be quite high for the company. Thus, it is better to inform them that there is no free operator at the moment. You can also suggest that your customers call back later, so they do not need to wait for a connection in the queue. 

5. Apply Skill-Based Routing

Another way to increase call center costs is to let a single agent handle all calls and not have a sound distribution system in place. Luckily this process can be prevented with skill-based routing. 

 

This ensures that callers are connected with the most suitable agents to resolve their issues right from the very beginning. Cloud call center software uses complex algorithms and considers a client’s location, statistical data, history of contacts, and other parameters to predict the order. 

 

Moreover, it also connects the caller based on their availability, skills, spoken language, and department. In this way, you can work after increasing customer satisfaction, shortening the call processing time, and significantly lowering the cost of a single call.

6. Apply Self-Service Options

Well, a simple method of cost reduction is to shorten the value of incoming calls. But, how is that possible? Well, you can always implement the self-service option for repetitive queries and cut telephony costs. This will give your operators more time to handle complex issues. 

 

Now, you may think that this may lead to a compromise in the quality of services. Honestly, several clients would not prefer talking on call and look for such options to solve their queries. 

 

You can also provide a knowledge base on your website, blog entries with actionable insights, IVR for self-service, and ebooks to reduce the number of calls while maintaining top-quality services. 

7. Provide Effective Scheduling

Improved planning and adherence to schedules can help cut costs per call and even reduce staff costs. For this, you can use workforce management modules and take the help of professionals on the importance of flexibility and understanding your employees better. Furthermore, using these strategies will improve employee productivity, leading to a significant reduction in call costs. 

8. Hire Remote Operators

 

Another thing which you can do to reduce call rates is to employ remote calling agents. This will significantly reduce infrastructure costs and eventually reduce per call cost. 

 

You can even choose to hire remote call center agents during peak seasons and distribute a part of your call center operations with a more economical provider. 

 

Moreover, you can also allow your employees to work from home. All this will substantially reduce operating costs without compromising the quality of service.

9. Optimize First Call Resolution

Some call center experts claim that resources should not be aimed at reducing the cost per call but rather cost per call resolution. This is because there can be high costs for clients who connect to solve the same issue. 

 

Thus, simplifying the process of first call resolution can reduce the cost-per-call in the call center. Optimizing first call resolution will provide the operators with the required information and solve most of their problems. 

 

Moreover, cloud call center software ensures that your agents have access to complete call history and uses skill-based routing to redirect the call to the most suitable operator.  Interestingly, optimizing the described metric will not only reduce the cost-per-call but call volume as well. 

Wrapping Up

To get the most out of your cloud call center software, you need to keep the cost of one call as low as possible. Striking the right chord between efficiency and effectiveness is the key to call center success. Follow the tips mentioned above to turn your call center into a customer’s favorite!

Yet to try cloud call center software? Contact callhippo to know more and get the best solutions at affordable prices!