Senior Writer: Paras Kela
Date: October 29, 2024The ability to make phone calls via landline and subsequently through cellular networks is undoubtedly one of the biggest revolutions in the field of communication. While the non-commercial benefits are exemplary in their own right, this medium has had an unprecedented impact on connecting businesses around the globe, making way for a much better-connected world.
However, as technology has progressed, landlines are slowly becoming archaic due to a wide range of limitations. With the internet becoming increasingly accessible, newer technology is slowly but steadily taking over the world. VoIP or Voice over Internet Protocol is a technology that uses the internet to make and receive phone calls. Virtual phone system replaces the traditional landline wires with cutting-edge fiber optic cables that are able to relay sizeably more amounts of data.
As per Business Wire, the VoIP market is expected to grow to an astounding 183.7 billion by 2027, and with good reason.
VoIP based IVR for eCommerce
If you’re running an eCommerce business, you know that no matter how smart chatbots get, there is simply no replacement for a human voice when it comes to handling customer services as well as sales pitches.
Benefits of Hosted VoIP for Ecommerce
1. Cost-Effective
eCommerce companies invest heavily in after-sales services to ensure that their customers don’t feel forgotten once they’ve swiped their cards. However, traditional calling systems have often been a cause of great distress to eCommerce businesses, especially the small and medium ones. This is because the tariffs are exorbitant and the quality not so great, especially with international calling. Choosing a trusted eCommerce web design agency is crucial in ensuring that the online platform is optimized for integrating these VoIP-based automation tools seamlessly.
With VoIP, companies can simply buy a data plan and make phone calls via the internet. Data is significantly cheaper than the traditional call minutes, which is why companies have reportedly saved a staggering 90% of their international calling costs by switching over to VoIP.
For many businesses, the move has even cost them virtually nothing, except the one-time cost of setting it up. This is because they already have a commercial data plan since their business resides online.
2. Seamless Customer Experience
Prior to VoIP, the conventional customer service stations had a handful of landline numbers that the users could call for any grievances. If these numbers were busy, you had to hold the line until a representative attended your call. There was also very little sophistication or bifurcation of the calls depending on the nature of the inquiry. All calls would get routed through the same handful of landline numbers, which resulted in rampant traffic mismanagement.
However, you can boost your business communication with a virtual phone system. For example, with VoIP, companies could give their callers options on what department they want to get in touch with and route their calls accordingly. This made the operations seamless and reduced the redressal time drastically. If the lines are busy and no executive can attend the call, the customer can simply leave a voicemail summarizing their issue, and the representative can get back to the caller with a solution once they hear the recording.
Once the system registers the voicemail, an automated email with a reference number can be sent to the user as an acknowledgment, all of this with a few simple steps.
3. Available 24/7
One of the biggest advantages that eCommerce companies have over brick-and-mortar stores is that there is no downtime. With VoIP, the internet empowers businesses to always stay open now and allows them to answer their customers 24/7. What’s even better is that they can do so without hiring any additional resources to stay by the phone throughout the night by employing an IVR system.
The customers do not have to wait for a particular time window to get their concerns resolved. They can call during any hour and still get their queries answered by a representative or through a series of prerecorded messages. VoIP also allows companies to own a local phone number which makes the customers feel like they’re talking to someone from their part of the world, while the representatives may be answering from anywhere across the globe.
4. Saves Time
Traditionally, businesses set up calling centers big or small- depending on the kind of traffic they get. However, there is a huge downside to routing the calls directly to your executives. Not all the calls deserve their time or attention, and could simply have been resolved through a smart setup of recorded messages.
This can be done by installing a VoIP-based IVR (Interactive Voice Response) system. The IVR lets you design several algorithms and record voice messages for all the steps. These messages guide the caller through various actions that they may wish to perform like register a complaint, inquire about the status of their shipment or a refund, etc. You can provide them with an option to talk to the executive if their issue is unique and isn’t listed on the IVR. Overall, you can significantly enhance customer engagement using a virtual phone system.
This way, your representatives will only speak to queries that are uncommon or are urgent in nature. Over the last few years, we’ve seen businesses across domains employ such systems to automate most of their customer service handling.
Conclusion
As eCommerce companies around the world continue to look for ways to provide the best in class services to their customers, while also cutting down their operational costs and inefficiencies, VoIP-based automation tools have emerged as a clear choice. These intelligent virtual phone systems are highly customizable and can be operated from anywhere with a stable internet connection, which makes them compatible with the changing global paradigms, especially in the post-pandemic world.
Paras Kela brings a wealth of IT knowledge to his writing, with a strong focus on technical content. In recent years, he has specialized in virtual telephony solutions, creating clear and insightful content. His passion for technology, experience in the IT field, and dedication to learning new trends make complex topics easy to understand.
