VOIP-provider Carolina Digital Phone recently reported that as many as 70% of customers become very upset when they hear the phrase, “I need to transfer your call”. These transfers cause customers to feel unheard, as though a subset of their phone call has been wasted due to repeated information sharing. To prevent this, what is the best way to adjust your call flow and avoid frustrated customers?
Below, we discuss methods for:
- Mapping customer intent and why they hate being transferred
- Discovering what causes transfers and how to streamline call routing
- What this issue could be costing you
- How to empower agents to prevent more call transfers
Keep reading to ensure your customer satisfaction scores never drop again because of these issues.
Why Customers Hate Being Transferred
In short, customers resent needing to repeat the same basic details each time they move on to a new agent. This truth is doubled if they also must answer security questions each time.
Transfers remove customers’ sense of ownership over the problem, making them feel like victims. If they end the call with the problem unresolved, they can feel like the call center does not have their satisfaction in mind.
Several other issues can exacerbate this problem, including:
- Being transferred back and forth between the same departments
- Broken hand-offs and dropped calls
- Similar shared experiences from other customers
- Running through the same diagnostic processes multiple times
It can quickly feel as though your company is incompetent.
Language Gaps and Misrouting
In many cases, the problem is even worse if someone calls without the mother tongue of those receiving the calls. It’s important to remember that these people are just as much customers as any other caller, and being unable to resolve their issue because of a lack of a relatively common skillset could be considered a failure on your part.
However, non-English speakers often demand additional transfers simply because the individual needs to pass to someone who can communicate effectively with them. As such, try to avoid this problem by using a language selection option before getting through to a human agent, then have bilingual agents ready too.
Root Causes in Your Call Flow
There could be several reasons why you end up with calls that too often transfer. Many are individually resolvable, but knowing they all exist means you can start iterating on your call process.
Examples of these issues include:
- Old automated phone menus are sending callers to the wrong locations and requiring a transfer
- Agents need to handle too many systems and transfer incorrectly
- Callers speaking the wrong language, as mentioned above
- Strict job roles mean teams do not feel like they can resolve an issue
- No one in a team is taking responsibility for an issue
When it comes to agents not having the correct information or being overworked, one of the best ways to help with this is to offer them a user-friendly interface for seeing all the data possible on a customer. On top of this, giving them precise data on legacy calls, including comments from other agents, provides each employee with a clear record of responsibility, ensuring each agent doesn’t feel free to drop the customer once a task becomes complicated.
You should also avoid agents being unable to resolve a problem beyond basic support. While it should not necessarily be allowed all the time, give your team the capability and customer access to go above and beyond. If they notice a customer’s issue falls outside their clear script, then allow them to act outside of it to provide customer satisfaction rather than tick boxes.
The Real Cost of Transfers
Very little kills customer satisfaction like transfers. At the same time, longer calls due to transfers mean fewer calls are quickly resolved, and your staff end up more tired, especially if they need to use overtime to finish a queue.
As such, it’s not only customers who face the stress of this situation. Payment handler PayActiv recently discussed how the average turnover rate in call centers is 30%-45% each year. Part of this is due to the difficulties of context juggling, which can significantly increase frustration, leading to higher employee churn and more training outgoings.
This lack of experience can lead to further poor customer experiences, which drives them to:
- Leave you and transfer to competitors
- Openly discuss your negative customer service online
- Impact your reputation in the media
Recovering this can often be much more expensive than simply preventing transfers in the first place.
Fix Your Call Flow
Your first move needs to be to understand your customers and their most common pain points so that you can route them smartly. Find out what they usually want and design your call options around that.
Also, continuously monitor your transfer rate and iterate on the reasons why, each month or quarter. At the same time, give your agents the tools to jump in without needing a transfer if they can quickly do so to help stop unnecessary queue changes.
You must also remain aware that English-language callers may not be the only ones getting in contact. For example, according to Georgetown University, 80% of Spanish-language users who contacted state benefit lines in 2024 were disconnected before they reached a live agent. The results of this study highlight the requirement of transferring an agent with the correct language from the start, rather than transferring them later.
Centris can help by tailoring training efforts to your product or service and working with you to determine the best way to handle customer service. We can also offer skills assessments or coaching, keeping your team at the top of their game at all times.
Your Next Move with Centris for Better Call Flow
Call flow sounds easier than it is, as there will always be a subset of customers who fall outside of any script or process you create. However, mitigating all the other common call reasons can help you handle those likely to cause more challenges for your team.
To reduce transfers, talk to a company aiming to uncover every area where you leak customers during customer service processes. Schedule a discovery call with Centris today, and we can start mapping intent and refining your call routing for a better experience for all.
