![](\"http:\/\/images.tmcnet.com\/headshots\/2013\/rory-t.jpg\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\nWe\u2019ve all seen the reports and heard the buzzword: \u2018Omnichannel\u2019 is the new way to go in the call center. Yet there seems to be one important point that everyone, in their rush to embrace the latest and greatest, is overlooking: Customers LIKE using the phone.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the view of Joshua Feast, CEO and co-founder of Cogito Corp., a company that develops software designed to help customer service professionals deliver a more engaging and caring customer experience. In a recent article posted on CustomerThink.com<\/em>, Feast explained why the telephone should still play a prominent role in a company\u2019s efforts to make the customer experience as good as possible.<\/p>\n \u201cCompanies are turning to text messages, online self-service, instant messaging, and just about any other method they can find to deliver a better customer experience,\u201d Feast noted. \u201cBut while all of those channels can be useful in retaining customers and building loyalty, too many brands are not paying enough attention to the most important customer channel they have: the telephone.\u201d<\/p>\n He goes on to cite research from Forrester (News<\/a> \u2013 Alert<\/a>) which stated that the phone is still the most widely used tool for customer contact. Among Forrester\u2019s findings was the revelation that customers want companies to value their time, with some 71 percent of consumers saying that doing so \u201cis the most important thing a company can do to provide them with good service.\u201d<\/p>\n Companies that fail in this area do so at their own risk. Feast cites an Arizona State University study that found, \u201cDespite the rise of the Internet, people are still 11 times more likely to complain by phone than online.\u201d And if they\u2019re going to complain, wouldn\u2019t you want the chance to respond directly and immediately?<\/p>\n \u201cOmni-channel strategies can yield results to a certain extent, but there is still no substitute for a call center that provides superior customer service,\u201d Feast adds. \u201cAgents with excellent communication skills, who can build genuine connections with customers, are more valuable than ever in what Accenture (News<\/a> So what's holding them back?<\/p>\n \u201cCall center agents become disengaged over time and often feel powerless to help customers,\u201d Feast says. \u201cThey fail to build the kind of strong rapport with customers that will ultimately provide a more rewarding experience for both the customer and the agent.\u201d Furthermore, \u201cSupervisors and call center executives face significant challenges in measuring performance. They currently lack an objective, automated, and comprehensive way to measure and teach the communication skills that are at the heart of a phone call,\u201d he believes.<\/p>\n Still, all is not lost. The most important lesson from Feast\u2019s observation is that the problem can be solved; it just takes savvy management to recognize the issue and take action.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Finding: Contact Center Needs to Keep Lines Open January 26, 2016 We’ve all seen the reports and heard the word: ‘Omnichannel’ is the new way to go in the call center. Yet there seems to be one important point that everyone, in their rush to embrace the latest and greatest, is missing: Customers LIKE using […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1261,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-contact-center-outsourcing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cloudbposervices.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cloudbposervices.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cloudbposervices.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cloudbposervices.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cloudbposervices.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cloudbposervices.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1905\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cloudbposervices.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cloudbposervices.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cloudbposervices.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cloudbposervices.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"http:\/\/images.tmcnet.com\/tmc\/vertical\/financial\/images\/chart_icon.gif\"){kind=icon}
\u2013 Alert<\/a>) calls the \u2018switching economy.\u2019<\/p>\n