Abandon Rate

What is Abandon Rate?

Abandon rate is the percentage of work abandoned by the customers before completing the intended or supposed task. Abandon rate is the metric used on a large basis in call centres and e-commerce. In such fields, an abandon rate simply refers to the percentage of people who cut the call before they receive the answers for their solution from a corresponding service provider. Also, it is known as a call abandon rate in such cases.

If the abandon rate is high, it means that the call centre is under-allocating or the number of online retailers is relatively high.

Importance of the Abandon Rate

Abandon rate is very beneficial for the companies as it can be used to determine the level of satisfaction of the customers and also to know their habits.

In an inbound call centre, an abandon rate is primarily used to calculate the percentage of the calls that the customers abandon before they are connected to the agent for talk. It is calculated by dividing the total abandoned calls by the total inbound calls.

If the waiting time is long, then, in that case, a rise in the abandoned rate can be seen as the customers do not wait for a long time to talk with an agent, and therefore they cut the calls before they get connected to an agent.

Apart from this, for e-commerce companies, abandoned rates are determined by the rate at which the virtual carts of the customers are abandoned without making the purchase or before the check-out procedures. To calculate the abandon rate, the total number of abandoned carts is divided by the total number of transactions the customers make.

E-commerce can use this data to improve their services and marketing skills. It can be done so by using the details of the contents which are added to the carts by the customers.

Reducing Abandon Rate

The following are some techniques that can be used to reduce the rate of abandoned calls:

Occupy Customers while they are Online

It becomes boring for the customers to keep waiting for their call to be connected to an agent, and therefore they hang up the call after waiting for some time. Sometimes the customers need to wait for so long that it becomes frustrating for the customers to wait.

In such a situation, the companies need to take some steps so that they can engage the customers in some activity. The customers can be engaged by asking them for some details like their name or address before they are connected to an agent to solve their queries.

This can also reduce the time period customers are put on waiting in starting of the call. With such details, the system can immediately provide the customer's profile details to an agent as soon as they connect, and the agent can also directly listen to problems and provide solutions about them without asking for such personal details.

Offer Virtual Queuing

The call centres or the e-commerce companies can also offer their customers call-back service in which the customers will be able to choose the timing according to their convenience and ask the queries accordingly to an agent. Also, customers can be asked to receive calls within minutes of their call instead of just being put on hold in the waiting line.

By doing so, the rate of abandoned calls can be reduced, and the customers will not get frustrated waiting in the queue. By offering the call-back service, the customer's time can be saved too.

It can also help to gain the loyalty of customers by calling them back and showing an example of excellent customer service, which ultimately makes the customer loyal to the company.

Call-back service enables the customer to complete their other work while the agent gets back to them by calling.

Schedule more agents during the Peak Time

The call centres or e-commerce may also engage more workers or agents when the chances of getting calls from customers are very high. If there are more workers to attend to the calls of the customers, then in such a case, the customer does not need to wait for long in the queue.

But, it is not possible for all organizations to hire more workers because of their low budgets, which can act as an obstacle in this case.

But, we cannot deny that by hiring more workers during peak times, the call waiting period can be reduced very easily, which can ultimately help reduce the number of abandoned calls.

However, suppose the company is not able to hire more people because of their small budget or for any other economic reasons. In that case, they can use the available employees in an efficient manner while allocating them during peak hours or during a product launch when the chances of getting calls from customers are high.

Informing Customers about Waiting Time

One another best way to reduce the abandoned rate of calls by customers is to inform the customers about their waiting period.

Suppose the company manages to inform the customer of the duration of time for which they need to wait to get connected to an agent. In that case, the customers can wait accordingly as in such a situation, they know for how long they need to wait and are not clueless.

Also, if the company informs the customer about their waiting period, then the customers can ask them to call them back if such an option is also available and can do their other work.

Providing Proper Training to the Staff

Suppose the staff or the agent are trained by the company properly on how to improve the overall customer experience and informed more about what kind of queries a customer may ask. In that case, the staff will be able to answer their queries quickly, which could also lead to fewer abandoned calls and improved customer experience.

Also, a good customer experience helps the company in the improvement of their brand image, and therefore the staff must be given proper call centre training which can help them in enhancing their skills and make them able to manage a large number of calls by the customers quickly and efficiently.

Quick service no doubt improves the customer's experience, and customers appreciate the company's and the staff's efforts, too, if their queries are addressed quickly. But, it should be taken care that there should not be any compromise in the quality of service while providing quick service.

Not only is the training important for the staff to handle the large volume of calls efficiently but also the staffs should be provided with working of company's tool to lessen the handling time of a customer's call.

In many situations, it has been seen that even when the number of staff is adequate and well-trained, they cannot manage a good number of calls because the systems provided to them for handling calls or for working are too slow to respond and work quickly.

Technology has improved a lot; therefore, e-commerce businesses must use such technology in solving the queries of the customers too. The staff must be provided with the latest technologies which do not act as a barrier in their work as a slow system does.

Offer Customers Multiple Platforms to raise Queries/Problems

If a company is getting a lot of calls from customers regarding their queries and problems, then is such a case, the company may offer some other platforms online where the customers can reach and raise their problems and queries by chatting to an online agent in a chatbox available on the website of the company.

Most of the calls made by customers are related to minor recurring problems, which can also be resolved by creating a column on the official website for "Frequently Asked Questions" and their answers.

By doing so, the customers will be able to solve their minor problems independently and will not call an agent to talk and solve their problems. It can save the precious time of the customers as well as the time of the agents by not connecting them on calls.

Customers can be informed about these other platforms at the start of the call itself, where they can reach out to resolve their issues instead of waiting for a call to connect with an agent.

But, it is to be noted that in order to go and visit other platforms offered by the company, customers can also disconnect calls, but dropping such calls can be considered under a good abandon rate. It also reduces the company staff's workload because of the huge number of calls from customers.

Solving the Problems of the Customers from the Root

Customers sometimes make repeated calls with their queries or product-related defects as their problems are not resolved after the first interaction with the agent. It also sometimes causes increases in abandon rates. Therefore, in such a situation, the company must look at what the defect is and remove that defect from the product as early as possible.

In some cases, there may be a possibility that some common defect exists in a product, and due to this, all the customers who bought that product may face the same problem with the product. This can increase the chances of getting calls from similar customers with similar questions.

This can be solved by notifying the concerned teams, which can address the common fault due to which customers are facing issues, and customers are calling in large numbers. After finding a solution, a company can call all of those customers or communicate over the mail about a solution, such as a replacement or a refund. By doing so, companies will be able to reduce the number of calls and the abandon rate.

The best way to avoid high call abandon rates is to eliminate defects in the products. It will also ultimately increase customer satisfaction, which is good for any company looking to build on its brand name.

The Bottom Line

An increase in the abandon rate represents that the service which the company is providing to the customers is not satisfactory. In such a situation, your customers may shift to your competitor, hoping they will provide good quality services.

Abandoned calls should be seen as a missed opportunity for the company to have a meaningful interaction with its customers. It becomes very important for any company to lower the abandon rate as it affects the loyalty of their customers towards the company.

The steps mentioned above can help any company in reducing the abandon rate. Nevertheless, these are not the only solutions available, and the company may choose to take some other steps to reduce the attrition rate.