Call center usage

Phone support is still in demand despite the boom in web support because customers can get in touch with support agents fairly quickly. According to call center benchmarks, it takes about 20 seconds to reach a human agent via the phone.

In addition to being quick and accessible, phone support is also desired because of its ability to convey emotion and allow people to express themselves more clearly and effectively. Furthermore, it requires less back and forth communication. It leaves little room for error and misunderstandings even though call center agents use an average of 3 systems to gather the information they need to serve customers.

With phone support, customers feel more confident that their questions will be answered at the first point of contact. As such, 50% of customers, regardless of age group, use the phone to contact customer service departments when dealing with a pressing issue.

According to FinancesOnline, 26% of global call center calls are made to financial service providers, showcasing that people don’t take money matters lightly and thus prefer to talk with live call center agents about their queries. Consumer services account for 24% of all calls and are the second most contacted industry. Third place goes to services, technology, media, and telecommunications, with both sectors accounting for 13% of all calls. Life sciences and healthcare are at 11% of all calls, energy, resources, and industries are at 9%, and government and public services are at 4%.

The average call center experiences an influx of calls between 7 am and 7 pm local time, with peaks at around 11 am. Most call centers use IVR systems that automatically route callers to the appropriate support departments to minimize queues because consumers are typically willing to wait on hold for only 11 minutes before hanging up. Thus, an organized and relevant IVR system can be highly beneficial for reducing call abandonment. However, most companies make automated systems too complex, long, and irrelevant. As a result, 27% of consumers abandon calls because they reach an IVR.