It’s no secret that excessive queue times can severely damage the quality of customer experiences (CX), bringing down loyalty, engagement, and repeat business.
Customers are okay with waiting for anywhere between 20 seconds to 2 minutes, beyond which they are likely to hang up. If they were at the “desire” stage of conversion, a long queue can erode their interest and make them switch to a competing brand. That’s why it is advisable for contact centres to keep queue times to a minimum, and design the queueing experience intelligently to optimise CX even as customers wait.
A Short Queue Tips the CX Scale in Your Favour
Customers will initiate an inbound interaction either to address a problem (which is possibly causing them frustration) or to find out information that will help them on their purchase journey.
In the former scenario, a long waiting period compounds the sense of frustration, placing your agent at a disadvantage when they finally do start to tackle the interaction. The customer might get angry, express their disappointment, or expect a faster resolution, and the agent must work harder to comply. And in the latter scenario, excessive queues will lead to disinterest and eventually disengagement. The customer might change their minds and lose interest in the purchase, unable to get the information they needed on time.
In both cases, the CX suffers, which means that you lose out on a revenue generation opportunity.
Conversely, a short queue tips the scales in your favour. It positions you as a brand that values the customer’s time. It allows agents to convert leads while they are still “hot.” And agents can focus on resolving the issue at hand without having to be apologetic or address pre-existing frustration.