What does it take to lose a customer? Just a couple of missed calls and unresolved issues that pile up when your customer service rep misses their tasks.
A call center CRM is a must-have if you want to prevent these instances. It’s the complete solution to improve customer satisfaction and boost revenue.
In fact, 95% of customer service leaders consider it to be an essential tool for businesses.
But what’s the difference between a call center software and a call center CRM? Why do you need a call center CRM?
Let’s answer these questions and pick the right call center CRM for your business.
What is a call center CRM?
A call center CRM is a software that helps customer service reps manage customer interactions. It does so by storing data from prior interactions such as contact information, previous purchases, and more.
Most importantly, a CRM software for call center:
- Helps your reps set up follow-ups
- Tracks number of calls made
- Monitors call center KPIs
- Generates IVR responses
But so does a call center software. Why do you need a call center CRM then?
Why do you need to implement a call center CRM?
Well, a call center crm and a call center software have a ton of overlap in terms of features. But, implementing a call center CRM software gives you a competitive edge and significantly improves customer satisfaction.
By providing a 360-degree view into the customer’s interests, a call center crm helps sales reps drive to-the-point and personalized conversations.
Whereas call center software is limited to just the basic features related to making the call. As a standalone tool, it’s not the best option to go for when compared to a CRM that comes with a call center integration.
Every call center CRM isn’t the same. Before you choose one that fits your requirements the best, you need to understand the most important features of the software and how they benefit your business.
10 features that your call center CRM should have:
1. Integrate with other business tools:
When you run a business, you will use a lot of tools for your business. This could be platforms for running ads like AdWords or Facebook, chat tools, or integrations with your customer support tools. Your call center CRM should be able to integrate with these multiple systems to enable all your business tools to work together as one system.
2. Connected desktop application:
For many businesses, the tele calling team works out of an office. In some cases, they alternate between the field and the floor. Which means your call center should work both on the mobile and desktop. Additionally, both the versions of the tool should be in sync with each other, allowing the agent to stay up to date of what is going on with his customers.
3. Automated call capture:
Whenever a new incoming call is coming into the system, there should be no need of entering it manually. By automating call capture, you ensure that none of the calls are missed out. This way you rule out manual errors where the agent may forget to log in the incoming calls that he gets in a day.
4. Transparent telephonic processes:
When a manager wants to take a look at the performance of his sales team, he should be able to attribute revenue to his call center team accurately.
Your call center CRM should be able to show how many calls an agent makes in a day, how many calls have resulted in a demo or a positive sales action, the content of these calls that he makes and the size of the deal that his calls have brought the business. This way you can map results accurately and also weed out poor performers.
5. Detailed customer history:
Making calls without knowing about the customer is equivalent to stabbing in the dark. Which is why your CRM should be able to show you what your lead actually wants and what his previous purchases have been like (in the case of an existing customer).
With this information, you will only improve your customer satisfaction by offering them a more customized experience.
6. IVR integration:
One of the functions of a call center that eats up a lot of your cost is routine queries. This could be inquiries regarding investments plans or available courses. Not only will they cost more manpower but could also eat away the time of your agents. Instead, by using an IVR integration, you solve this problem.
7. Availability and Quality based distribution:
A good call center CRM will automatically distribute calls to the agents. But, would just a random assignment of calls make sense? There may be times when some of the users may not be available or when the caller requires an agent with some expertise in his requirement.
Your CRM should be able to check which users are online and assign leads to them. It should also be able to check the requirements of the lead and assign it to the relevant call center agent. For example, if you get an inquiry asking for a car loan, then you send it to the agent handling car loans.
8. Activity-based call prioritization:
A typical call agent may have hundreds of calls coming his way on an average day. Prioritizing these leads is what will make them smart workers.
Your CRM should help your agents to classify them based on the activities they perform. For example, a lead visits the pricing page and submitted a form, then he’d be priority one. But, a lead just browsed on a product page and didn’t perform any action, then he’d be priority three.
Your agents can also set tasks and reminders or auto-dialing the leads so that they don’t miss out on any of the leads that come in.
9. Missed call and voicemail tracking:
Not just incoming and outgoing calls, your CRM should also be able to capture your missed calls and voicemails. It can then automatically assign the leads to the relevant tele-calling agent.
[Also read: 25 super-effective voicemail greetings for your business]
10. Real-time and historical reporting:
Your CRM should provide real-time data such as the average call time, average wait time and the average response time of their agents. This real-time data helps managers keep a check on the performance of the team.
Additionally, it should also give you historical information such as the number of calls an agent has made in a given time period, the number of deals he has closed or the number of tickets he has solved. It can also give information such as the best performing lead source, geography or agent. This will give the management an idea of the ongoing trends. They can then make strategic decisions for the growth of the company.
Benefits of implementing a call center CRM:
“The more you engage your customers, the clearer things become and the easier it is to determine what you should be doing.“
John Russell
This is exactly what a call center CRM does. If you still doubt what I say, then here are some tangible benefits that you will realize from using a call center CRM.
1. A complete view of the customer
Know every interaction that your customer has had with your business. With this data, you can deliver a much better solution to their issue or you can sell them a product/service better suited to their needs.
2. Increased accountability
A CRM helps you distribute, manage and prioritize your leads and calls effectively. Which gives your team no room for excuses anymore! :)
3. Reduced turnaround time
By automating the process and setting constant reminders, you can reduce the time it takes to call a lead/customer back.
4. Better efficiency
As a CRM reduces the need for manual work, you can now improve your efficiency. Your team can focus more on selling the product/service or solving the problem of the lead instead of routine tasks.
5. Lower costs
Automating your tele calling team will ultimately reduce the amount of labor required and save money in the long run. Since you are using two tools in one, you will be able to cut costs there as well.
6. Better customer experience
With so much going on, your customer is bound to notice, and you will see their satisfaction levels rise by leaps and bounds.
Now that you know all the important features of a contact center CRM let’s look at the top 5 ready-to-implement CRMs for call centers.
Top 5 call center crm software for 2023
1. LeadSquared
LeadSquared is a cloud-based CRM platform that helps businesses of all sizes manage their sales and marketing processes. It offers a variety of features, including lead generation, lead management, contact management, opportunity management, and more.
Pros:
- LeadSquared excels in lead tracking and management, making it a powerful tool for sales teams.
- Workflows and reports can be completely customized to suit specific business requirements and scale with your team.
- The call center crm comes with a comprehensive list of features, including a mobile CRM, to improve your call center’s efficiency.
Cons:
- The platform may be a bit slow to use while dealing with a large amount of data.
Reviews:
“One of the standout features of LeadSquared is its lead management functionality. I can easily capture leads from various sources, such as website forms and email campaigns, and seamlessly import them into the system. The ability to assign leads to team members and track their progress has greatly improved our sales efficiency. The platform also allows for lead scoring, which helps us focus on the most promising prospects and prioritize our efforts accordingly.”
Girish P. (via G2)
“The best part about LeadSquared is the way it allows me to manage my leads. I can schedule reminders, automate emails and follow ups, and track lead stages, which is very efficient, as it takes literally less than a minute. It has helped me get maximum output with optimized efforts.”
Yogesh S. (via G2)
Rating: 4.6/5
Pricing:
- Lite – $25 per user/month
- Pro – $50 per user/month
- Super – $100 per user/month
2. Zendesk
Zendesk is a well-known customer service and support platform that includes CRM capabilities. It’s suitable for small and medium businesses who aim to improve customer interactions.
Pros:
- Zendesk is user-friendly and easy to set up, making it easy to adopt for first time users.
- It offers support for various communication channels, including email, chat, and social media.
- The CRM can be easily integrated with third-party tools and software.
Cons:
- Depending on the features needed, Zendesk can become expensive as you add more agents or channels.
- The tool is well-suited for businesses that need a customer service solution, but it lacks other CRM features, such as marketing automation.
Reviews:
“Zendesk has a number of features that are intuitive and easy to learn. While batch update features can still be improved, I appreciate how they can streamline my work and save me time on what would be more tedious individual updates.”
Eric B. (via G2)
“Zendesk is a good platform for customer support if you’re in an environment where you don’t need too many social integrations. The platform is straightforward and doesn’t have too much of a learning curve.”
Jordan P. (via G2)
Rating: 4.3/5
Pricing:
- Team – $19 per user/month
- Growth $49 per user/month
- Professional – $99 per user/month
3. Nextiva
Nextiva is a communications tool for call centers to engage with customers or enable internal conversations. It is a VOIP platform that allows customer engagement over call, SMS, chat, surveys, and video conferencing.
Pros:
- Nextiva is affordable for businesses that require all the basic features. It is quite reasonably priced unless you need integrations with other tools.
- The UI is easy to use and requires limited tech-support.
- The mobile application makes it easy to handle calls and follow-ups on the go.
Cons:
- Nextiva falls short when it comes to customer support. Many businesses want the call quality to improve on the platform.
- Integrations with other tools and software is limited.
Reviews:
“In our office the strongest aspect of Nextiva is the moblilty of the platform that allows us to access our office phones from our desktops, cell phones, and in-office phones. The need to have accessiblity outside of our standard office hours is crucial to our operations.”
Jose B. (via G2)
“Nextiva has improved our efficiency in phone calls, transfers, and the number of lines they allow us to have. This is a huge factor in our everyday lives as we get a ton of traffic.”
Jordan C. (via G2)
Rating: 4.5/5
Pricing:
- Essential – $25.95 per user/month
- Professional – $30.95 per user/month
- Enterprise – $40.95 per user/month
4. Zoho Desk
Zoho Desk is another popular call center software that offers a range of features including help desk ticketing system, knowledge base, call routing, and reporting and analytics.
Pros:
- Zoho Desk can be easily integrated with Zoho’s suite of products and other third-party websites.
- The flexible platform makes it easy to customize ticket forms, workflows, and automation for support processes.
- The robust ticketing system efficiently manages customer inquiries and support requests.
Cons:
- Some users find the user-interface to be complicated which makes the system tough to configure. It also elongates the adoption time.
- The tool is a good option if your focus is on customer support. But, as a contact center CRM, it lacks many marketing automation capabilities.
Reviews:
“Zoho Desk streamlines customer service processes through a centralized interaction hub that effortlessly brings together various customer communication channels like email, chat, phone, and social media, all under one umbrella.”
Sebastien O. (via G2)
“I liked that it is part of a larger suite of business/company tools. Everything is integrated, easy to get set up and hit the ground running within 20 minutes.”
Derek T. (via G2)
Rating: 4.4/5
Pricing:
- Express – $7 per user/month
- Standard – $14 per user/month
- Professional – $23 per user/month
- Enterprise – $40 per user/month
5. CloudTalk
CloudTalk is a cloud-based call center software with comprehensive features including automatic call distribution (ACD), interactive voice response (IVR), call recording and transcription, and CRM integration. It is one of the well-known mobile-friendly call center solutions.
Pros:
- Competitive and flexible plans that make the tool affordable for businesses of all sizes.
- Short onboarding time since the tool is user-friendly and doesn’t require any technical expertise.
- Monitoring and analytics on the software help managers track call center KPIs.
Cons:
- The tool doesn’t scale well for large businesses as the number of agents and leads increase over time.
- Customer service is limited to email unless you have subscribed to the highest package. It makes it tough for businesses to operate if there is a major fallout.
Reviews:
“Cloud talk is simple to use with intuitive features that are easy to grasp. They have an affordable pricing scheme, and it takes no time to get started.”
Alexandra Joyce E. (via G2)
“It was easy to create the number and set up necessary steps with the drag-and-drop editor. Support and onboarding has also been good throughout, with various calls to establish our requirements and arrange a suitable package.”
Will N. (via G2)
Rating: 4.3/5
Pricing:
- Starter – $25 per user/month
- Essential – $30 per user/month
- Expert – $50 per user/month
Now that you’re equipped with all the information you need about call center CRM, I hope you’re convinced of its merits. If yes, then you should check out LeadSquared which comes with every single feature that I have mentioned.
It also comes with a universal telephony connector which allows you to integrate multiple contact center solutions. Head on down and take a demo!
FAQs
LeadSquared is the best CRM software for call centers. It’s a one-stop solution to connect with customers, dial numbers, and set up IVRs for automated communication. Tracking conversations and recording customer data helps call centers improve customer satisfaction.
A CRM helps your agents dial cold calls with ease, understand and track their intent, and manage leads and contacts. It’s a fast and efficient way to improve cold-calling productivity.
Implementing a CRM can transform customer service at call centers. The CRM tracks customer preferences and prior interactions to optimize conflict resolution and introduce opportunities to cross-sell and upsell offerings. Call routing and automation are great features to boost customer service.
