Text Messaging for Contact Centers: The New Frontier
Conversational text messaging built for the contact center is the next big thing in customer service — the difference today between "good" and "great." Text messaging for contact centers makes it possible to meet business objectives like call volume while also catering to customers' demand for immediacy.
The business case
Today's "instant economy" has changed how customers want to do business — instant gratification, instant results, and instant communication. Contact centers are turning to texting tools to keep up. Consider the numbers: the average customer service email response time is seven hours, and even a relatively fast 90-second phone hold can feel like forever to an impatient customer. Text brings speed and convenience to both sides, without requiring a computer, desk, or even internet access the way chat does — customers stay free to go about their day.
Texting tools are also better for the business itself: they reduce inbound FTEs needed for the same oversight and compliance as a phone call, and agents can close a sale, open a ticket, or handle multiple customer conversations at once, all over text. The catch is picking the right implementation partner — done poorly, texting tools can cost more time, money, and frustration than they save.
Why Quality Voice & Data
With 130+ years of combined experience in technology, telecom, and business process management, QVD offers a flexible MMS/SMS platform that integrates without disrupting existing business processes:
- Integrates with just about any dialer, CRM, or legacy platform, and can text-enable any number, including existing 8XX and local numbers.
- Requires no change to voice services or telecom providers, and no number porting.
- Needs no software installs or configuration — the service can be turned on in under a day, and often under 30 minutes.
Customers can text-enable either their main call center number or each agent's individual line, depending on the use case. Text-enabling the main line lets you interact with customers in real time over text without changing your phone number, using either QVD's TextDesk™ web application (letting SMS agents handle multiple conversations at once, chat-style) or an API solution that integrates with your existing dialer or CRM to send formatted messages or pull key data points with one click.
For agents who own their own workflow, text can be added directly to each agent's DID, letting them send texts from their existing email account — no downloads, no software installs, no changes to phone numbers or email accounts, and texts can be archived using your existing process since the number is already paired with an email account.
