Did you know that many small and medium businesses improved their customer service in the last three years? A report released by Freshworks found one in every two customers said the businesses they dealt with improved customer service between 2020 and 2023.
With so many businesses focusing on enhancing customer service, investing in the right call center software is essential for success in today’s competitive market. The right call center software will not only help you enhance customer service, streamline calls, and reduce costs, but it will also provide a superior customer experience and provide valuable insights into customers’ needs and buying behavior.
When choosing call center software, many businesses get overwhelmed by the choices they have. The market is flooded with a large number of software providers. But only a small number of them can provide the right solutions for call center businesses. This blog post describes six easy and effective steps to choose the best call center software.
1. Determine your goals
Before choosing call center software, take your purpose and goals into account. As Simon Sinek said, start with the “Why?” This will enable you to understand what you want from the call center software in the first place. This question will help you find clarity on your purpose.
Ask questions such as “Why do I need the call center software?” “How much am I willing to invest in the call center software?” “What type of call center software do I need to achieve my business goal?” “Will the software be used in one location or multiple locations?” “How many calls do I plan to handle every day?” All these questions will help you decide on the right type of call center software for your business.
Now, coming to the type of call center software, there are two types—inbound call center software and outbound call center software. If you intend to provide customer support and service for your business, then you’ll need the former. If you plan to generate leads or make going marketing and sales calls, then you’ll need the latter.
2. Set a budget
The price tag of sophisticated call center software can range from a few hundred dollars to thousands of dollars. It’s largely dependent on the quality, the size of the call center, as well as the features. High-quality call center software comes equipped with these features:
Auto-dialers: Uses sophisticated mechanisms to dial calls automatically and redirect calls to the next agent.
Call recording: Records all incoming and outgoing calls for quality and training purposes.
IVR: This feature provides self-service options and enables users to save time.
Skill-based routing: Directs incoming calls to the right agents with the right skills to handle the calls.
Automatic call distribution: Automatically sorts and manages heavy call volumes.
Real-time analytics and reports: Track and analyze all customer interactions with live call analytics and reporting features.
Omnichannel support: Enables easy communication across different channels such as voice calls, video calls, chat, email, social media, and more.
Also, take the current number of users, scalability (to accommodate a change in the number of users in the future), reporting capabilities, integration with other systems, and other factors into account.
Apart from estimating the total cost of the software, take licensing and setup fees, customization fees, as well as maintenance or support costs into account. Make sure to factor in any additional costs such as training or additional hardware that may be required. All this will help you to fix the right budget for call center software.
3. Look for reliable and reputable call center software providers
Handpicking the right call center software provider is extremely crucial. It can make a huge difference in the efficiency and profitability of your call center. After you’ve identified your needs and set your budget, use the internet to look out for trustworthy call center software providers who have years of experience and proven track records of providing the right type and quality of software to their clients.
Using high-intent and highly focused search terms can give you excellent results. If you’re looking for inbound call center software, type search terms such as “inbound call center software for small businesses,” “top call center software for small enterprises,” “free demo inbound call center software,” or “best inbound call center software.” If you’re looking for inbound call center software in a specific country, then you can use location-specific search terms such as “best inbound call center software in Canada,” “best inbound call center software in the US,” and “best inbound call center software in the UK.”
You can use the same methods to search for outbound call center software, omnichannel call center software, IP PBX business phone system, and email and SMS broadcasting software. After hitting the enter key or clicking on the search button, you’ll find about a dozen of websites on the first search engine result page.
4. Visit the websites and compare features, prices, and ratings
After you’ve found the search engine results, it’s time to dig deep into the websites and find the ones that are right for you. You will not only get the websites of software providers but also many websites that compile 10 to 20 software providers and compare the features, prices, reviews, ratings, pros and cons, and more. Some reputable and reliable aggregators are Software Suggest,
If you visit the websites of software providers, you’ll get to know a lot of things about them by looking at the home page, about us page, as well as individual pages of the type of software they provide. If they have testimonials, customer reviews, and case studies, then look at those to know what their customers say about them and how they’ve helped their customers.
If you visit the aggregators’ websites, look for the providers that have maximum positive ratings and reviews. For instance, if a software provider has 4.5 out of 5 stars and the total number of ratings is 25, then chances are high that it may be better than a software provider that has 4.8 out of 5 stars with just five ratings. The higher the number of ratings, the more people have used the software.
5. Contact the software providers
After shortlisting the call center providers, call their team and ask them about their products and pricing plans. Also, ask them if they provide a free demo. Many reliable and reputable call center providers offer free demos for at least a week. It gives them a chance to show what value their software can provide and what their software can do for their prospective customers. A free demo also enhances their base of prospects.
If some hesitate to offer free demos then chances are high they may not be reliable and cannot be trusted. A software provider that refuses to provide a free demo prevents its potential customers from assessing the quality of its products. Without a free demo, you won’t know anything about the software no matter how much you read about how it works, its features, and its reviews. So ask for a free demo to make an informed decision.
6. Use the software and get your team’s feedback
After a software provider agrees to provide a free demo, choose a demo software that has all the specifications and features to meet the needs of your business. Make sure it is compatible with your existing systems. Introduce the software to your customer service department and ask your team members to provide feedback after using it.
Once the designated time has passed, collect feedback from each team member and ask them about their overall experience with the software. If the software is useful, then buy it immediately to get going with your operations.
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All in all,
Selecting the right call center software can be a difficult task. Especially at a time when there are so many software providers and there are so many options and features to choose from. That’s why it’s extremely crucial to do thorough research, compare different software and providers, contact vendors, and ask for a free demo.