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It's no secret that the key to call center efficiency lies in the tech stack. The market has a plethora of ever-evolving cloud-based solutions to help both agents and managers become more productive, even in today's fully remote world. When managing an inbound call center, efficient call routing is key to reducing KPIs like: average wait time, average handle time, and overall c-sat scores. In this article, we'll shed some light on how to use Salesforce and IVR technology to route callers more efficiently.

What is Salesforce Call Routing?

Salesforce Call Routing or Smart Routing is a feature that can detect the caller's incoming number and automatically route them to the most suitable -and available- agent to take that call. This means that if a customer is calling, the IVR can route the caller to the customer's account executive with no caller input or, alternatively, to a sales queue or voicemail if the AE is unavailable. 

With the rise of personalization at scale and the modern customer experience, Salesforce call routing is a game-changer on the voice communications front, which is key to driving sales and customer satisfaction.

How Does Salesforce Call Routing Work?

Legacy IVR solutions were hardware-based. These systems evolved into the digital age with the rise of IP Telephony and popular solutions like Asterisk, FreePBX, Elastix and more. Naturally new capabilities emerged, and big companies with huge budgets were able to integrate these systems into their existing CRM, ERP, and Databases to create self-service experiences and better call routing engines. Fast forward to today, and with the rapid evolution of the cloud, and fast adoption of SaaS, the landscape has changed and now any company can easily access a world-class business phone system with pre-built integrations in minutes with no need for large investments or technical knowledge.

Salesforce Call Routing combines a sophisticated IVR technology that automatically connects with Salesforce through a pre-built, no-code integration. This integration allows the IVR to query the CRM in real-time to determine who the caller is and route him or her to the right agent. Even more, if the Contact, Lead, Account, Case, or Opportunity owner isn't available at the time of the call, the IVR can automatically reroute the caller to another specified endpoint. Pairing this feature with screen pop and automatic call logging can further improve agent efficiency and customer satisfaction.

Benefits of using Salesforce Call Routing for Call Centers

Though the first benefit might seem evident -connecting callers automatically to the agent managing a callers' case instead of routing them to the standard support queue- Salesforce call routing reduces average agent handle time and boosts call center productivity while delivering an unmatched customer experience. Let's take a look at these 4 benefits:

1. Reduce average handle time

Average Handle Time (AHT) is one of the most critical KPIs for call centers. By using the caller ID of inbound calls, modern phone systems can automatically trigger a query to determine if that number corresponds with an existing object in your company's Salesforce records. If the caller ID matches a contact, lead, account, case, or opportunity, the caller will be automatically rerouted to the object owner. Consequently, this reduces average handle time and call transfers, optimizing each agent's average time on each call and avoiding inefficient call transfers and customer frustration.

2. Increase customer satisfaction 

Let’s be honest, getting put on hold sucks. More often than not, when we call large scale call centers we are transferred multiple times, put on hold and the overall experience is frustrating. Salesforce call routing enables companies to use their CRM data to route callers more efficiently.

• This is how it works:
• The caller enters case or order number into the IVR
• An automatic query is performed in Salesforce, even checking custom fields
• When the match is found, the caller can be presented with information like case or order status and options to connect them to an agent
• If the caller wants to speak with a human, the call is routed to the most knowledgeable  agent whom is presented with contextual information on screen 
• The customer receives a personalized experience which increases overall satisfaction.
  

If no match is found, the caller may be rerouted to specific queues or departments based on the caller input.

As call centers can route work more intelligently, they can distribute calls based on things like agents skills (skill based routing).

3. Increase first call resolution

First call resolution (FCR) measures the call center's ability to resolve customer issues in the first interaction. IVRs have become a great asset to improve this metric as it has enabled customers to resolve frequently asked questions autonomously. Plus, when incoming callers need human assistance, a Salesforce powered IVR can route the call to the most suitable agent while providing the agent with relevant customer information to resolve the more complex customer issues.

Call center managers who keep a close eye on improving FCR deliver a better customer experience, continuously work towards building strong bonds with their customers and tend to reach high satisfaction levels. Salesforce claims that 67% of consumers think a bad experience is a good enough reason to churn, and FCR can therefore avoid it.

4. Reduce average cost per call

The quest for efficiency is always a challenge that needs to be carefully balanced with customer satisfaction. With modern IVR systems, call centers can incorporate automation to solve simple needs and queries, saving a significant number of hours per agent per year. 

• Frequent queries that are automated by IVRs are:
• Check order status
• Check account balance
• Check case status
• Pay an open invoice
  

In order to achieve this, the IVR needs to integrate with other business systems and databases. Leading CTI vendors can enable this by integrating their IVR technology stack with Salesforce and provide a no-code or low-code solution that anyone can use to automate business processes.

If you want to test out a complete Salesforce IVR & CTI solution, signup for PhoneIQ and start your free trial today. 

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