Are your customers getting frustrated when they are greeted by your auto attendant? Are they hanging up the phone before leaving a message or listening to the options? If so, you might want to consider tweaking your auto attendant settings. Continue reading
Category Archives: Auto Attendant
Make Your Customers Sing While On Hold
Quite a bit of research has been done on music played while customers are on hold. Handling on-hold time well can lead to higher levels of customer satisfaction, so it’s worth spending some time considering your options. Continue reading
How Your Customers View Service – An Infographic
This KISSmetrics infographic describes customers’ reactions to good and bad service. Make sure to read through to the bottom of the graphic. You’ll find several useful insights on how customers view customer service agents and auto attendant recordings. Continue reading
Getting Started with Halloo is as Easy as 1-2-3
Ready to get started with Halloo? It’s really as easy as 1, 2, 3 to set up your new small business phone service!
- Sign up for a toll-free or local business number with Halloo. (You can also port your existing number over.)
- Visit my.halloo.com and sign in using the account details from your welcome email.
- Begin setting up your account preferences. Continue reading
6½ Tips for a Powerful Auto Attendant
Use your auto attendant to impress your customers. Dialing a number only to be greeted by a recording does not need to be a frustrating experience. Implement these 6½ tips to help greet customers, route calls, and provide needed information. Continue reading
Halloo Hint: Creating a Phone Menu that Acts as a Help Desk
One of our clients, Tim, the owner of a property management company, had this dilemma. “My receptionists are good, but they don’t know everything. I have some recorded messages prepared for the most common problems my customers have, for example, their rental may have an issue with the fireplace, satellite TV, hot tub, etc. I set up an after hours menu for guests to access this menu driven system (i.e. “if you have problems with your hot tub, press [1]” etc.). Continue reading
Halloo Hint: Direct Inward Dial
Direct Inward Dial, or DID, allows you to add extra toll free or local numbers to your account. These additional numbers can then be attached to specific user extensions. Callers who have this direct number can bypass the auto attendant, allowing them to directly reach the person assigned to that extension. Additional DID lines can be added to your Halloo account for $4.95 per month, and can be either local or toll-free numbers. Continue reading
Hold Music and the Customer Service Experience
Researching “On-Hold Music” reveals an extensive amount of information on the topic. It is an entire industry in itself, plus there are numerous opinions, studies, and articles that focus solely on the type of music you should play for customers when you put them on hold.
NPR’s MarketPlace recently featured a segment discussing “What Makes You Happy When Your Call Is Put on Hold?” This piece explored the evolution of the industry and how hold music can impact customer satisfaction.
3 Auto Attendant Mistakes that Frustrate Customers
Are your customers getting frustrated and hanging up before leaving a message or listening to the options? Your company’s auto answer features might be driving them away.
Mistake
Often, small business owners set up their auto attendant with options like: Press [1] for Suzy, the President, Press [2] for Mike in Marketing, Press [3] for Mary in Accounting…Press [43] for Jake.