Callback instead of hold: a small switch with a big effect

Hold music is a strange promise. It says: we will be with you shortly, as long as you stay on the line. Hang up and you lose your place. Stay, and you listen to music instead of solving your problem.

A callback offer turns this around. The place in the queue is kept, but the customer does not have to stay. She hangs up, and the contact centre calls her back as soon as someone is free.

#What changes with a callback

For the customer, the wait does not disappear, but it becomes free time. She can cook, work, pick up the children. The time she actively spends on the call only starts when someone is there for her.

The team's situation changes as well. Callbacks smooth out peaks, because they can be placed in quieter minutes without anyone giving up. And conversations start more calmly, because nobody has ten minutes of hold music behind them.

People with little time gain the most. Someone calling between two appointments gets a realistic chance of settling the request the same day, instead of putting it off until tomorrow.

#Two kinds of callback

There are two basic variants. Both have their place, and many contact centres use them side by side.

Many teams start with callbacks in queue order, because they can be introduced without changing the schedule. Scheduled callbacks follow once scheduling takes them into account.

#In voice self-service: the offer at the right moment

In voice self-service, timing is everything. Offered too early, a callback sounds like a brush-off. Offered too late, the customer has already invested so much time that she does not want to give up her place.

A proven rule: the offer comes when the expected wait exceeds a threshold you define. It states the wait honestly and leaves the choice: "The wait is about twelve minutes. Would you like to hold, or shall we call you back?"

The callback number is suggested, usually the one the customer is calling from. A short confirmation step prevents callbacks going to a switchboard or a withheld number.

What happens after hanging up matters too. A short SMS confirming the expected callback time reassures the customer that her place really is being kept.

#In web messaging: a callback as an alternative to waiting

Chat has waits too, and a callback can be the better answer there as well. That is especially true when the request is complex or quicker to resolve by phone.

Offering a callback in web messaging carries more context than the phone can: the conversation so far, the request, perhaps a document. The employee does not call blind; she calls with the case in front of her.

With proactive engagement, a callback can even be offered before someone reaches out, for instance when an online application stalls.

Next best action

#Rules that make the callback happen

A callback offer is a promise. To keep it, you need rules that are settled before launch.

The last point is often underrated. A callback where the employee knows whom she is calling and why starts with "You called about your bill" rather than with a question.

#Callbacks belong in the plan

Callbacks are work done later, but they are still work. In call distribution, they are treated like any other contact: with priority, skills and a service level.

The same goes for planning. Anyone offering scheduled callbacks has to align the slots with staffing. Why the forecast needs to know about events for this is covered in Forecasting with events.

#How to tell whether it works

Whether the switch pays off shows in your own data. Three questions help with the analysis:

• How many callers accept the offer, and at what wait?
• How many callbacks reach the person on the first attempt?
• How many requests are fully resolved during the callback?

The answers show where to adjust: the threshold, the number of attempts, or the context that reaches the employee.

The guide Workforce planning in the contact centre covers the basics of staffing. The glossary explains terms such as interactive voice response (IVR) and service level.