Customer calling: how do you handle your inbound calls?
How do you handle your company's inbound calls? Call management is an important part of your inbound marketing strategy.
Consider Your Product
How important is the phone to your inbound marketing? This depends on your product. If you have a simple product that's easy to understand and there's a straightforward purchase process, most of your customers will simply buy without needing to call. If you have a product that requires more decision-making or is more complex, your phone line is an essential part of the way that your customers make decisions.
Make Yourself Visible
Does your company have a phone number that's easy for customers to spot? Where to put this phone number is a matter of some debate. If you place your number on a contact page or prominently on your home page, you will likely get a lot of calls. Placing a phone number on the product or pricing pages allows you to target your phone calls so that your customers know they can call, but they call only when they're closer to making a purchase.
Is Anybody Home?
When your customers call, you need to be there. Decide what business hours you'll have for your phone line, and staff it appropriately so that potential customers are not frustrated by long waiting times. Have a human available on the end of the line if you can, so that customers are not frustrated by an automated system or voice mail. Customize the phone numbers so that customers who are calling about a specific product find a product specialist on the end of the line. Once you've made your phone number available to customers who are more likely to buy, go out of your way to make sure they feel well-cared-for.
Understanding your customers helps you route calls and satisfy customers.
Good Information Helps Your Inbound Marketing Strategy
When your staff are on a call, they should be able to access customer data and data about the product. Understanding the customer's needs is critical to reducing call times and really satisfying the customer. You can also use past information about your customers to categorize and route their calls. Solid repeat customers go to the front of the line. Use the data that you get during calls to further refine your understanding of your audience.
Get Backup
Every phone call costs your company money, because you need to pay your staff to work with those who make the calls. Not all calls will make you money. Some callers are simply asking for information. If possible, reserve your calls for the callers who are ready to commit. Provide as much targeted information as you can on your web site. Personalize the experience for different users so that each customer gets what he needs. With a targeted and information-rich web site, you can cut down on some of your phone calls and focus your phone service on those calls that pay off.
You can also use web-based communication tools as a backup for your phone system. Live chat or email also helps your customers, and it can be less expensive than a phone call.
Could you improve your inbound marketing? Visit Digital Inbound today and see how we can help you connect with your customers.
