Hosted Call Center
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Customer support
Call Center software
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Conversations over the phone are still an important contact channel for both companies and their customers. It’s true that other means of communication like messaging apps, live chats, or chatbots are becoming increasingly popular, but a good, old phone call is still a form of communication that many customers will choose to get in touch with one of your company’s representatives.
Why Phone Support Still Matters
This study proved that 69% of customers prefer phone support over chat or other support channels. And even though another study indicated that 71% of respondents believe live chat will become more popular than emails and phones by 2021, call centers are still a building block for customer service and customer support.
First Contact Call Center Templates
We have created a set of first-contact templates for call centers. When a customer reaches out to your contact call center for the first time, these templates will help you provide your customers with the best possible experience over the phone. Feel free to copy them and use them word for word, or modify them according to your needs and leverage them in a different format.
First Contact Template 1
Hello! My name is [name], I’m a [agent’s position], from [name of team/department/company]. How can I help you today?
[Customer greeting]
If the customer reports an issue or a problem:
I’m really sorry to hear that. I can only imagine how frustrating it must be. Could you give me some more details so that I can help you more effectively?
[Customer agrees]
Perfect, please be so kind as to answer the following questions. Sorry for bothering you, but I really need to know a little more in order to help you. [A list of a few questions that will help the agent support the customer better]
[Customer answers questions]
Great, thank you! I’ve noted everything down, thank you for your patience. It seems that we are able to resolve this issue right away. Do you have two more minutes to stay on the line with me so that we can find a solution to your problem together?
[Customer agrees]
[Agent continues the conversation and aims to resolve the problem in a few minutes]
First Contact Template 2
Hi there! It’s [name] from [company/team/department] speaking. How are you doing today?
[Customer greeting]
If the customer reports an issue or a problem:
Oh, I’m really sorry that you’ve experienced such issues with our [product/service]. Please give me your full name and [order number/account login/customer number] so that I can find your information in our system and start dealing with that issue.
[Customer provides details]
Okay, I’ve logged in to our system, and I can see that [describe the current status of an order/possible product flaw/potential cause of an issue with a service]. Is that right?
[Customer confirms or declines]
Thank you for this information. It seems that we won’t be able to solve this issue during our conversation, so I’ve just created a problem report and our system will assign a unique number to your issue. Is that okay?
[Customer confirms]
In the next few minutes, you’ll receive an email confirmation with your ticket number. You can check the status of your request by clicking on the link included in the email. It may take us up to [1/2/5…] days to resolve your issue. We will contact you via [phone/email/messaging app] to inform you once the problem has been addressed. Would that work for you?
[If the customer confirms] Thank you for getting in touch with us. We’ll do our best to resolve this issue as fast as possible.
[If the customer declines] If this doesn’t work for you, please tell me what would be the best outcome for you or how long are you willing to wait for us to deal with the problem.
[Conversation continues until the agent finds the most satisfactory solution]
First Contact Template 3
Good morning/Good afternoon/Morning! You have reached [company]’s [department/team name] contact center. I’m happy to assist you today. Please tell me your issue.
[Customer greeting]
If the customer reports an issue or a problem:
I can only imagine how frustrating [the situation described by the customer] must be for you. I promise I’ll do my best to find the right solution for you as quickly as possible. What’s your name?
[The customer says their name]
[Customer’s name], please describe your problem thoroughly by answering a few questions. This information will be really helpful [list of questions]
Okay, [customer’s name]. It seems that I need to involve our tech team to help you with the [issue/problem/technical flaw]. Usually, it takes up to [3/5/7] days to address such problems. Let me create a ticket for our technical support. You can check the status of your report by logging into our dashboard. Do you know how to do that?
[If the customer says ‘yes", the agent can continue. If the customer says “no”, the agent should explain how to log in to the dashboard]
So, as I said, our tech team will take care of your request, and you can follow the progress in our dashboard. When this problem is dealt with, we will also send you an email or call you. Which communication channel works better for you?
[Customer chooses the channel]
That’s great. Thank you for reaching out, and let’s stay in touch. Is there anything else I can help you with?
[If the customer says ’no", the agent can finish the conversation. If the customer says “yes”, the agent should talk with them to get more details]
Once again, thank you for contacting us. And remember, if you have any other requests, don’t hesitate to contact us.
Key Elements for Effective First Contact Calls
When implementing these templates, remember to include these essential elements in every first contact conversation:
- Greeting - A warm, professional welcome
- Agent identification - Name and position of the agent
- Company identification - Name of the company and department
- Empathy - Show understanding of the customer’s situation
- Active listening - Ask clarifying questions to understand the issue better
- Clear next steps - Inform customers about timelines and how they’ll be contacted
- Professional tone - Maintain a friendly yet professional demeanor throughout
These templates serve as a foundation that you can customize based on your company’s specific needs, industry, and customer service philosophy. The key is to make customers feel heard, valued, and confident that their issue will be resolved.
