How Do VoIP Phone Systems Enhance Customer Service?

What if you could improve customer service with your phone system? With Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone service, it’s possible to identify customer service issues and refine them.

In addition to the other benefits of VoIP, here’s another reason (or seven) that you should upgrade your business phone system.

7 Ways Phone Systems Can Improve Customer Service

VoIP doesn’t just simplify workflows and processes within your business. Another way VoIP can revolutionize your small business is by improving your customer service. Here are seven ways that VoIP phone systems can do just that.

Automated Features

VoIP phone systems offer advanced features that can bolster customer satisfaction. One standout feature is interactive voice response.

IVR is an automated feature that allows callers to use voice prompts or press a number to navigate through menus. With IVR, callers can pay invoices, get business information, connect to a specific department, and perform other functions without needing a human on the line.

Another feature is call queueing, which funnels callers into queues to reduce wait times and route callers to the right person or department.

Other features include an auto attendant that greets callers and routes them to the correct departments, custom music-on-hold for when callers have to wait for an employee, and callbacks, which allow callers to receive a call from your business instead of sitting on hold.

All of these features are designed to help minimize wait times and improve customer satisfaction.

Employee Training Tools

Automated tools are great, but what happens if a customer gets on the line with a poorly trained employee?

Fortunately, phone systems have a solution for that, too. There are several features that can be enabled to help new or untrained employees provide the best service to callers. Here’s a breakdown of those features:

• Call Listening: A supervisor or other employee can listen in on a call and provide tips when the call is over
• Call Whispering: A supervisor can listen in on the call and provide tips as the call is occurring (the customer will not hear the conversation)
• Call Barging: A supervisor can listen in on a call and interject if necessary

With these training tools, supervisors or trained employees can help newbies navigate complicated situations to ensure customer satisfaction.

Unified Communications

Another way to boost customer satisfaction is with unified communications. VoIP allows you to utilize multiple communication tools on one platform. In addition to just voice calling, useful tools like SMS/MMS messaging, live chat options, chatbots, and more may be available through your phone system.

Extended Support Hours

VoIP phone systems are extremely versatile, allowing you to send and receive calls from your desk phone, smartphone, computer, or tablet. Since you don’t have to be at your desk to receive calls and messages, you can offer extended support to your customers.

If you don’t want to be bothered on the weekends or on vacation, you can use the aforementioned IVR to provide your customers with self-service options that can be accessed at any time.

Security & Compliance

With security and compliance features, customers can rest assured that their private data (Social Security Numbers, medical information, and contact info) is safe and secure.

Scalability

It’s not uncommon for your business to outgrow its phone system. Unlike dated phone systems of the past, you don’t have to wait for your provider to send out a technician to hook up an additional line or wait for a representative to add new features.

Instead, you can easily change your plan, add lines, purchase add-on features, and perform other upgrades to your system from your user dashboard. This makes it easy to scale up your system as needed as your customer base grows.

Call Data & Analytics

VoIP gives you access to reports, data, and analytics that cover everything from what employees are answering the phone to why customers are calling in for.

You can use this information to identify issues within your workflows, common issues your customers are facing, and other critical information you can use to enhance customer service. Some VoIP providers even offer a customer survey feature that lets customers gauge their satisfaction with your business.

The Bottom Line On VoIP For Improved Customer Service

As you can see, VoIP offers a lot when it comes to improving your customer service. If your business has a VoIP system, talk to your provider about the features and options mentioned in this post.

And if you haven’t upgraded yet, what are you waiting for? Not only will VoIP provide you with reliable phone service, its more affordable, flexible, and scalable than older phone systems. Ready to get started? Check out the best VoIP phone systems for business, compare providers, and give a few options a spin with a free trial to see how VoIP can benefit your business.