Fonolo
Enhancing the Caller Experience with Call-Back Solutions

Proactive enterprises are continuously searching for new avenues to improve the caller experience and keep up with increasing consumer expectations. Call centers that focus on enhancing interactions with customers are concentrating on eliminating hold time and offering a call-back option instead. “Hold time is central to the value that Fonolo brings. We allow companies to replace hold time with call-back to raise customer satisfaction which, in turn, helps increase customer loyalty,” says Shai Berger, Co-Founder and CEO, Fonolo.

Fonolo enables call centers to realize the benefits of call-back technology. When hold times are prolonged, callers are prompted to use the call-back option, whereby the call gets transferred to Fonolo, the caller's phone number is confirmed, and a call-back is scheduled at the caller’s convenience. Meanwhile, Fonolo holds the caller's place in line until an agent is free, looking to them like any other inbound call. Fonolo then calls the customer back and connects them with the agent. “From the call center’s perspective, it helps them deal with traffic surges in a more efficient way and reduces abandon rates, which is an important metric to improve efficiency,” adds Berger.

Fonolo helps call centers deal with spikes in call volume during specific days of the week, even certain hours of the day. “Our call-back service reduces spikes in call volume by deferring calls until more manageable times, allowing for more efficient use of call center agents,” says Berger. Fonolo is compatible with all major call center infrastructure vendors (Avaya, Genesys, Cisco) and cloud-based call center offerings.

Fonolo also allows customers to seamlessly transition from a company's web page, mobile app or chat, and escalate those interactions to a phone call. Web Rescue, Fonolo’s solution for websites, is typically added to the `contact us’ page where customers can instead request a call-back and escalate to live assistance.

A visual representation of the IVR enables the customer to skip menus and click on the option that best represents their need.The widget can also ask questions in advance of a call: For example, a reference number, frequent travel number and so on, so the customer does not have to repeat the same information to the agent.Fonolo then phones the call center, navigates the IVR, waits for the right agent, passes along contextual information and calls the customer back. This alleviates two of the major reasons for customer dissatisfaction: Being put on hold and navigating the IVR menu.

Fonolo’s Mobile Rescue lets customers easily connect to a live agent directly from their mobile app. This easy-to-use functionality gives mobile customers an intuitive way to request a call-back right from any mobile device.

Berger’s engineering background has helped him to look at the technology ecosystem as a whole and ascertain the way technology is priced, sold, and packaged. The company’s cloud-based service and the pricing based on a consumption basis offer an added advantage.

In an insightful example, 1st United Services Credit Union, which is a not-for-profit banking alternative, had the task of matching the advanced customer service and functionality offered by large national banks, while also catering to the requirements of the millennial generation. “Because of the smooth implementation of all three of our products—Web Rescue, Mobile Rescue, and In-Call Rescue—in less than six weeks, they were able to raise the number of new loan applications from the younger demographic. Tracking the incremental new loans, an estimated 10 million dollars had come in through Fonolo in the first year of deployment,” says Berger.

“Our ability to help companies improve the customer experience while lowering costs has resulted in an amazing demand for our services. Being able to deliver this as a pure SaaS solution means we're able to help companies make the most of their resources, regardless of their scale,” concludes Berger.