Refreshing your outbound call center strategy can breathe new life into your operations, improve performance and drive better results. Perpetually changing consumer preferences drive new trends and are reshaping outbound marketing strategies faster than ever in the contact center. As your campaigns become more successful, they typically equate to more frequent and higher-level touchpoints. In order to strengthen customer engagement, drive conversions, and create CX that sets you apart, you’re going to need an update to your outbound marketing strategy.
Let’s start with the specific objectives you want to achieve. We all want to increase sales revenue, improve customer retention, maximize adherence and optimize agent productivity. Your refresh shouldn’t be an overhaul. Small changes over time often lead to big differences in your bottom line. Pick one or two small objectives for refresh concentration. Smaller objectives may be as simple as: Upsell x widget, develop a new use for a key piece of technology, add a new KPI or metric to reports and forecasting, automate a process, or understand your target audience better.
Our next step is to evaluate your current outbound call center performance. You probably know what areas need improvement. If not, key metrics such as conversion rates, sales revenue, call abandonment rates, customer satisfaction scores and compliance adherence are a great place to start and can help you reverse engineer a refresh strategy from pain points. Connect your metrics to your objective(s) to help you measure success (or failure).
Ensure that your refresh strategy aligns with the latest compliance regulations. Think a few steps ahead. If this refresh is successful, what additional steps will you take? Are there compliance applications in the steps ahead? It’s always a good idea to review your consent, opt-out procedures, and calling time restrictions to ensure adherence with local and federal laws and regulations. Anticipating any changes in compliance requirements? Forecasting regulatory landscape changes can help you to avoid potential penalties or legal issues down the line.
Assess your technology stack and ensure it aligns with your refreshed strategy. Are there considerations or investments in advanced tools or platforms that can provide even more ROI once you’ve delivered a proof of concept and demonstrated success in the refreshed campaign?
Invest the time in a short but effective training and development clinic or series for your agents and administrators. Be sure to communicate your objectives and assessment methods for the refresh. Provide regular coaching sessions as needed, upskill them on preferred communication techniques, objection handling, compliance requirements, and product knowledge. Equip them with the necessary tools and resources to succeed in their outbound engagements. Consider beta testing with a subset of your agents for a smoother rollout and highly segmented metrics.
It's time to implement your refresh. The key is now to track the metrics related to your objectives and assess the impact of your refreshed strategy. Regularly review performance data, solicit internal and external feedback, and make necessary adjustments to optimize strategic outcomes. Be sure to monitor industry news, customer preferences, and emerging trends. And, if your strategy is truly innovative, you may want to consider a Cone of Silence).
Once you’ve established a proof of concept and demonstrated success, don’t wait too long to incorporate your refresh strategy into your overall marketing campaign. Regularly review and update your strategy as needed to stay aligned with changing customer expectations and market dynamics. Leverage data analytics to gain insights into your refresh. As with any new strategy, continue to identify patterns, trends, and areas for improvement. Use these insights to refine your targeting, optimize scripts, and make data-driven decisions that maximize the effectiveness of your new incorporated strategy. Ultimately, your refresh strategy should provide first steps in revitalizing your operations, and along the way demonstrate measurable results.
Alvaria Advanced Outreach can help your organization accomplish goals quickly and efficiently while honoring compliance requirements. Learn more about how to improve outbound contact outcomes.
