Recognising Inbound Callers - Web Voice Synchonisation changes the game

A customer visits your website. They look around, maybe choose something to buy, they might even put it in their basket. They may have spent time looking at something but not made that leap yet. And they then may decide to call into your contact centre. What happens next?

Before Web Voice Synchronisation there were two basic ways to identify certain information about the caller:

1. Caller ID: If your ACD recognises the phone number’s Caller ID, it is possible to identify certain information about the caller. If the caller is already a customer, then his or her account information can be accessed by the agent. For instance, if a customer has already called into your call centre from the same phone, the information from the previous phone sessions can be made available to the agent. Although Call ID technology has its purpose, for an e-commerce company the caller ID is not helpful to new customers who do not have accounts. Furthermore, although Caller ID technology recognises phone device information, we do not even know whether the device owner is the person actually making the call. Most importantly, there is no real time information about the caller’s online activity or why he or she is calling.
2. Call Tracking: Call Tracking is a well-recognized technology, that is suitable for small businesses that run marketing campaigns and wish to associate the inbound call with the specific offer. For instance, if an e-commerce company has a specific promotion, it offers online customers a unique phone number to call and then links the inbound call to the specific promotion. When the caller makes the call, the system can track important information such as the AdWord associated with the number, the IP address of the caller and other analytics information. The downside for an e-commerce company is that using a call tracking solutions requires the company to purchase the numbers and call time for each call. Call tracking is a good solution for analytics, but it quickly becomes expensive as the volume of traffic grows.

Each of these technologies has its place, but none fundamentally changes the dynamic between website sourced callers and the contact centre agents. New technologies like Web Voice Synchronisation are different, and can provide real time information about the inbound caller’s web session, without consideration to the Caller ID. Each visitor to the website is provided with a unique phone number during the duration of their visit to the e-commerce website. When the website visitor calls this number, the ACD recognises the number and provides the agent with information from the caller’s web session. For instance, the agent can be notified how much time a caller has spent on a campaign and what information he or she has filled out online. For instance, if the customer is in the process of providing credit card information, the agent will know what is in the customer’s basket.

Is Caller ID useful? Yes, but it does not drive sales conversion rates or help route a call to the most qualified agent.

WVS operationalises customer data whereas Call Tracking is primarily an analytics tool. Web Voice Synchronizes fully integrates the website and contact centre platforms. When the caller calls into the contact centre, his or her caller is prioritizing and routed to the most suitable agent based on the value of the call. The agent has access to the caller’s web session history and can review the information that the caller has already provided online. For instance, if the caller is in the process of booking the flight, the agent can see critical information such as destination, departure times and flight preferences. This enables the agent to provide more customized support that is tailored to the specific needs of the caller. This level of integration is not available via Call Tracking.

Web Voice Synchronisation changes the dynamic between the caller and agent because it integrates all the information between the customer’s website and contact centre.