The number of robocalls in 2021 will reach an estimated 51 billion. Because of the number of robocalls targeting customers in the finance industry, financial call centers need to work hard to maintain consumer confidence. Explore the challenges to this goal and how you can promote a positive relationship with credit card companies, banks, mortgage brokers, and other finance companies.
Growth of Financial Call Centers
Many financial institutions are investing heavily in customer experience improvements. With multiple convenient ways to connect and a streamlined experience, these institutions seek to improve consumer confidence.
Call centers are a major part of this strategy, particularly as banks continue to close physical locations and focus on digital services. Over 6,600 banks closed between 2014 and 2018, so call centers maintain clear communication channels with customers who are less likely to go to a physical location.
Pandemic Effects on Financial Services
The COVID-19 pandemic meant a number of changes to the finance industry. Many branches closed during the pandemic, and institutions continued to expand their use of financial call centers to connect with customers. Voice communication is now the preferred method of contact for consumers in the industry.
Challenges for Financial Call Centers
There are a few major challenges to gaining consumer confidence for both institutions and financial call centers. As the industry transitions to a voice-communication-based model, call centers need to avoid being associated with scams, fraud, and robocalls. Consider these challenges as you continue to connect with customers through your call center services.
Building Trust in Consumers
You need to help consumers place confidence in your voice communication services. With over half of all calls going unanswered, you need to find ways to build trust in voice communications and in these services connecting consumers to financial institutions.
Combatting Call Spoofing
One major factor in the loss of financial call center trust is call spoofing. As the FCC combats call spoofing, it’s important to avoid this tactic and find alternative ways to reach new customers and gain trust.
Be sure you’re aware of the reputation of your number. Monitor your number to be sure the caller ID isn’t displaying a false number or company information. This can harm consumer confidence for your call center and the institution you’re representing.
Increasing Call Blocking Measures
With approximately 75% of financial service professionals believing their calls are flagged or blocked, financial call centers need to protect phone number reputation. Numbers can receive flags by consumers or carriers, so be sure you follow carrier guidelines and connect consumers with a live agent to maintain a good phone number reputation.
Finding Tools To Help Financial Dialing
A predictive dialer can help you manage high volumes of calls and improve the efficiency of your agents by minimizing dropped calls. Unfortunately, an improperly managed dialer can also lead to numbers getting flagged and a drop in consumer confidence.
Find the right tools and best practices to improve your financial dialing experience. Tailor your dialer to the number of calls you make and receive to be sure you don’t overuse the same numbers. Invest in a reliable list to avoid making calls that are already blocked or flagged.
Registering Your CNAM
Avoid the risk of call spoofing and other scams by registering your CNAM. This protects your numbers and helps maintain confidence in the financial call center industry. Register your number with carriers to receive reports on the state of your number and help remove unwarranted flags.
Scanning Numbers for Flags
Registering helps you scan for any potential flags. Unfortunately, these can be applied throughout the number’s lifecycle by carriers or consumers. A single scan isn’t enough to ensure your dialing pool is free from flags. Set up a routine cycle of scanning and reviewing your pool as part of good number hygiene.
Purchase More Numbers Than Needed
A small pool of numbers can be severely limited if one or more receives flags. Instead of letting your financial call center services grind to a halt due to a handful of flagged numbers, order excess numbers to keep your necessary pool. Simply swap out and reassign your agents to keep them calling confidently and flag-free.
Swapping Numbers Out Frequently
Don’t wait until a number becomes blocked to give it a cooling off period. Routinely swapping numbers is a great way to remove the risk of dialing it more than 100 times in a day, which typically leads to an automatic flag by a carrier.
Letting Numbers Cool Off
This cool-down period should last between 60 and 90 days. This period is typically long enough to allow flags to fall off. Removing flags in this way helps you maintain a pool of legitimate numbers to be used in inbound and outbound calling. Once the flags fall off, you’re ready to use the number again in your pool.
Assigning Numbers to Departments
A major challenge that can seriously impact consumer confidence, reusing numbers between departments dramatically increased the risk of a flagged number. Invest in new numbers for various financial services, rather than swapping numbers between collections departments, customer service lines, and other financial service areas.
Improve Consumer Confidence
Establish a confident connection between consumers and financial institutions with your call center. Don’t let scams, flags, and other challenges reduce the effectiveness of your voice communication services. Learn more about Call Tools and how these services help financial call centers keep the industry moving forward.
