Call Queuing

What is call queuing? 

Call queuing is the method that businesses use to hold or queue incoming calls, especially when all their contact center agents are busy attending other calls. 

When a customer contacts a business or a service provider, the nature of their query is recorded via an automated menu, using software like interactive voice response (IVR). They are then placed in a virtual queue where they’re greeted with soft background music or provided regular updates to keep them informed of the call’s progress. Meanwhile, the call queuing systems work behind the scenes to connect them with a contact center agent who can address their queries.

Businesses should aim to answer these calls quickly and efficiently. Many organizations use contact center operations software to manage the inbound call queue and avoid call drop-offs. It helps companies improve their customer experience while ensuring that their clients are connected to experts who can best solve their problems or address their concerns. 

Many businesses also use contact center workforce management software to track and manage employee schedules and assign additional contact center agents to alleviate temporary call queuing backlogs. 

Types of routing in call queues

Call queues enable businesses to route calls effectively. Companies can use simple and sophisticated patterns to ensure that all calls are connected to the right agents who can best answer specific customer queries. 

There are various routing options available in call queues:

• Simultaneous routing dials each agent simultaneously or in groups, and the first agent to answer gets connected to the customer.

• Sequential dialing dials each agent in a set order until one of them picks up.

• Smart routing distributes calls based on demographics or custom fields such as customer ID, location, history, and so on. 

• Round robin ensures that each agent receives an equal number of calls and connects them accordingly with the customers in the call queue.

• Sticky routing enables businesses to provide exceptional customer service by routing customers to the same contact center agents who helped them earlier.
• Weighted routing allows companies to set a weighting (an assigned percentage) for each agent while adjusting their expertise and capacity.

These different types of call routing help organizations provide satisfactory service to their customers. It also ensures that their contact center teams are efficient and effective. 

Unlike call queueing, some businesses also use invisible queues where the customers are unaware of their place in the queue. These businesses should ensure that customers waiting in the invisible queue are connected to agents as early as possible. Invisible queues can sometimes test customer’s patience and might result in call abandonment. Therefore, they need to be handled carefully.

Benefits of call queuing 

Call queuing helps businesses manage their call flows in the best possible ways. Companies get many advantages out of queuing incoming calls, including:

• Enhancing caller satisfaction. Call queuing is a great way to deliver customer service when no agent is available to help customers. It allows companies to stay connected with the caller until a live agent answers.

• Keeping callers engaged. Call queuing minimizes customer wait times and keeps callers engaged. It helps businesses reduce call abandonment rates and maintain their reputation in the market.

• Increasing contact center efficiency. Call queuing helps businesses distribute incoming calls fairly across the entire team based on the customer demographics. Contact center agents get sufficient time to record and organize data, which improves the quality of customer service.

• Building brand loyalty. Customized queue recordings help businesses deliver valuable information to customers: updates on new products, promotions, or upcoming offers and events.

• Saving money. Call queuing options like callbacks allow businesses to engage customers on cheaper outbound calls instead of paying for the time they’re in the queue on toll-free numbers.
• Improving first call resolution (FCR) rates. Queuing calls with advanced call handling features helps companies connect their customers with the right experts. These capabilities help customers with a resolution on the first call, and improves FCR rates.

Overall, call queuing helps businesses shorten waiting times, improve customer satisfaction, and prioritize calls based on set parameters.

Key elements of call queuing

Call queuing is more than a basic call routing system. It’s a customizable solution for a business’ contact center needs. 

Here are some basic elements of call queuing:

• Scheduling. Allows businesses to customize their schedules based on holidays, weekends, working hours, and so on.

• Pre-recorded welcome messages. Enable contact centers to maintain the connection with the caller using pre-recorded greetings.

• Routing methods. Provide several options for connecting a caller to a contact center agent, like sequential routing or smart routing.

• Call distribution. Distributes calls to agents to reduce wait times and offers call handling features such as interactive voice response (IVR), priority call queues, and routing to a particular call center agent. 
• Analytics and reports. Help you understand the effectiveness of call queuing by analyzing how long it takes for agents to respond and using various similar metrics.

Call queuing best practices

Businesses need to follow certain best practices to ensure that they’re not risking their revenue and reputation in the market.

Adopt the following call queuing best practices to improve customer satisfaction:

• Provide a callback option. With a callback option, businesses can avoid testing customers’ patience while they’re in a queue. Companies can foster remarkable customer satisfaction by reaching out to callers when they prefer. It also helps save costs by reducing the number of queues on toll-free lines.

• Offer self-service. Companies can address less complex customer queries using interactive voice responses. This includes inquiries such as account balances and order status. Remember to plan and test IVR flows and use call recording facilities to optimize the customer experience.

• Adopt a workforce management system. Enterprises can analyze employee schedules and allocate resources to cover call queuing backlogs with the help of workforce management software. It enables businesses to make more accurate forecasts and improve staffing.
• Personalize customer interaction. Collect customer data while they wait in the queue and speed up query resolution. With a holistic view of customer data, businesses can provide better customer service.
• Implement skills-based routing. Directs calls based on the agent’s skills and the customer’s problem or area of interest. It helps companies improve their customer satisfaction rates. 
• Gather feedback. Gather customer feedback by sending automated surveys to improve and optimize the quality of service or support provided.