Pay per call advertising can be an excellent complement to any advertising campaign. The calls generated may be more expensive per lead, but each lead has a higher likelihood of converting into a sale.
Call centers can help support the volume of calls coming in, but choosing the right call center can be trickier than it seems. Here are a few tips to make sure your call center is working for you.
Are They Answering Your Call?
It seems a little funny having to ask that, right? You would hope that your call center has the same attention to your callers as you would, but that’s not always the case. Call centers have to balance both demand and the manpower needed to support the demand. Sudden changes to your campaign, or even others that use the same call center, can result in a call center that can’t keep up with demand.
Separately, check with your call center if you’re running a 24-hour campaign or relying on calls outside of normal business hours. Your call center may simply not be available to support your calls, killing your conversions. Try dayparting your campaign so it runs when your call center is available to answer your calls.
Are They Sharing, and Updating, Call Disposition Reports?
A call disposition report simply tells the client the outcome of each call. Call disposition reports tell the client things like:
- Which calls convert best.
- Phone numbers that are disconnected or busy.
- Whom the call center has left a voicemail with.
The disposition report can also tell you how to optimize your campaigns. For instance, say you’re purchasing auto insurance leads in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. These disposition reports can tell you which cities and states have a high conversion rate, which indicates where you should dedicate additional budget. You might learn from these reports that Alabama has a high concentration of truck drivers looking for insurance on their rigs whereas Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi residents have a stronger need for traditional auto insurance.
Do They Know Your Qualifying Call Stipulations?
Clarify your pre-qualifications for a caller early on to avoid being charged for a call that will never pan out. For instance, an insurance provider for over-the-road truck drivers may only be willing to pay for calls from truck drivers in Alabama. Any other callers would be considered unqualified.
You’ll likely be charged for the call before you can even ask a second question. By making a small and simple adjustment to the order of the questions, you can qualify calls more quickly. If the caller’s response is not ‘Alabama’ and ‘truck driver,’ a call can be discontinued before you’re charged for it.
Do They Know How You Generated the Call?
Different calls are treated in different manners. For instance, a warm transfer caller has likely already answered several qualifying questions before they’re sent off to the call center. Whereas a caller from a TV commercial hasn’t been met with prequalifying questions. This distinction between customers can make or break not only the calls you pay for, but your long-term caller conversations as well.
Can They Accept Data Along With the Call?
Some call centers are able to accept posting data or posting instructions along with the call. This tells the call center all of the information that was received in the form fill out that generated the call, tightening the questions asked to the customer.
For example, a online form for a rehabilitation facility may ask the following questions:
That’s a lot of information that your call center should be able to use to confirm responses with the caller. If the call center is taking the time to ask all of these questions again, the caller could get frustrated and hang up, become annoyed with the phone representative, or question the legitimacy of the organization they’re trying to reach for help.
When possible, particularly if you’re dealing with callers with sensitive or in-depth information, use a call center with access to posting data or posting instructions.
Do You Know Where They’re Located?
Sometimes calls are outsourced overseas or to parties outside of an actual call center. Some banks allow their customer service call center employees to work at home whereas other organizations may shift their calls overseas. When someone is connected to a call center that doesn’t match their expectations, it will likely hurt the chance of converting the caller.
For instance, Mary Doe filled out a form for a rehabilitation facility near her home in Florida. When contacted by a representative, she’s met with one who has a British accent. While some callers would find the accent charming, others may be deterred. The vernacular is different and so is the dialect. Little differences between saying ‘doctor’ versus ‘general practitioner or GP’ could make Mary guarded.
In some verticals, like technology or rehabilitation, this may make all the difference in a campaign’s success. So plan to optimize your customer’s call experience.
Can You Give Feedback to Your Call Center?
Campaign optimization is important to the success of a pay per call campaign, and call centers should be considered part of that optimization as well. If you switch call centers and your campaign no longer works, you should be able to have a conversation with the floor manager to implement a change.
The call center floor manager can help you implement changes to:
- The order of which your call center asks questions.
- Mitigation and management of chatty callers.
- Using all the resources available to the call center representative to further pre-qualify a caller.
With a few tweaks and adjustments coupled with a strong working relationship with your call center, your business will be ripe and ready for a strong surge of calls.
Read more: The State of the Call Center