Cut Billing Calls for a Better Employee and Customer Experience
Nobody enjoys calling a company to discuss their bill. Customers don’t want to make these calls, and contact center agents don’t want to receive them. Yet, when customers are confused by their bill or experience bill shock, they often pick up the phone. According to a recent CSG-commissioned survey of contact center and customer service employees from 64 companies in the U.S. and EMEA, 84% of respondents (across industries) reported that up to 50% of inbound calls are bill related.
To prevent billing calls and improve employee and customer experience (CX), businesses must reduce bill confusion . Proactively explaining current charges and month-to-month changes in subscription billing is the answer.
Contact Center Agents Are Tired of Explaining Bills
Explaining monthly changes is often a waste of agents' time.
Explaining billing charges (and price increases from the previous statement) takes up valuable contact center time that could be better spent on more complex customer problems—or even on potential upsell opportunities. Most contact center agents answer more than 100 calls per day, hindering their ability to provide a personalized experience that can deliver a positive customer outcome.
Not surprisingly, call center agents who handle a large number of calls may be at higher risk of burnout.
Fielding many billing-related calls increases the agent utilization rate (the percentage of total available working time an agent spends actively handling customer inquiries, problems or after-call tasks). Higher utilization rates (above 85%) mean agents don’t have much time between calls to catch their breath, decompress from stressful conversations and collect their thoughts before the next call. Handling calls constantly without a break is stressful, especially when agents are dealing with strings of dissatisfied callers, such as those reeling from bill shock or those who have made several unsuccessful attempts to resolve their problem.
Agents spend most of their time speaking with disappointed, frustrated or angry customers.
According to one customer service expert who has researched call center fatigue, more than one in five consumers admit to yelling at ( 32% ) and cussing at (24%) an agent. When customers are confused about their internet bill changes or auto insurance premiums, emotions run high, and they often take out their frustration on the agent who’s trying to assist them. Even the most patient, empathetic and well-trained agent can quickly become stressed and burned out from handling a steady stream of difficult calls and negative vibes.
