Setting up cloud telephony is no longer an option for businesses that want to upgrade their business communication. It helps you to deal with calls swiftly, respond quickly, and create a more seamless customer experience. But the reality is that a lot of businesses make basic mistakes in set-up. Those mistakes result in annoyed callers and potential business misses.
Mistakes are not always technical. Sometimes they involve using complex menus or robotic language in IVR scripts. In this blog post, we’re going to discuss such common mistakes people make when setting up cloud telephony for business.
Mistakes People Make While Setting Up Cloud Telephony
Cloud telephony is a phone system that runs on the internet. It helps businesses make and receive calls, manage call menus, and talk to customers without using traditional phone lines or heavy equipment. There are mistakes that businesses make while setting them up. The following are the top ones among them.
Mistake 1: Overcomplicating the IVR Menu
The worst thing companies do is create IVR menus with too many choices. Having to push through five or six layers of options to get to the person with the answer, customers get frustrated.
IVR menu should be short, crisp, and easy to understand. Priority should be limiting options instead of adding a dozen voices to the menu. While setting up, businesses should focus on the main options that get callers where they need to go, fast.
As an example:
- Press 1 for Sales
- Press 2 for Support
- Press 3 for Billing
This way, things will be much better than a list of six or seven departments.
The simpler you keep your menu, the smoother the process of ordering your products will be. Doing this will send the primary message to your customers that you respect their time.
Mistake 2: Using Robotic or Jargon-Heavy IVR Scripts
Another mistake that businesses make while setting up cloud telephony is using the wrong IVR scripts. By this, we are referring to writing IVR messages that sound robotic or are full of industry jargon.
Callers feel disengaged when they hear a robotic-sounding voice or terminology. Doing that doesn’t readily make sense to them, and they are likely to click away. Instead of being robotic, communicate in language that’s plain and human.
A good strategy is to run the text scripts through the Humanizer Pro AI tool before you feed them to your cloud telephony system. The tool will remove unnecessary jargon and make your text sound human-friendly while using simple words.
Simple, plain words will create a sense of familiarity and assurance for the caller. Making your IVR scripts more human-focused will make your customers trust your brand more, so it’s worth doing that.
Mistake 3: Ignoring Call Flow Testing
While testing things seems like common sense. Still, an alarming number of businesses configure their cloud telephony system and forget to actually test what the actual call flow will look like.
So, customers may wind up stuck in loops, encounter broken transfers, or reach the wrong department. This is a source of frustration and does not make your business look professional.
By testing the call flow before you go live, you can catch these early. For testing, do the following:
- Dial your number and use prompts
- Test some of the options
- See if the system is simple to navigate
Regular testing also tells you that your updates or changes didn’t break things in new ways for callers. Tested call flow ensures that customers find the right help without waiting on the line.
Mistake 4: Not Considering Scalability
Another mistake that businesses make frequently is not calculating the requirements for growth and scaling. They make choices based on currently envisioned tasks.
And in the future, if you ever have a spike in call volume or grow your team, a system that can’t scale will have a hard time keeping up. This makes the customers wait longer, and also makes them mad.
The intelligent thing to do is to select a cloud telephony solution that can scale with your business. Choose plans that are flexible, easily upgraded, and that support larger teams.
Doing this will save money and nerves if you think about scalability from the start. Because you won’t have to pay for the consequences in the future for your present mistakes. Plus, it will keep the communication as easy as now, even if the size of your business grows.
Mistake 5: Poor Integration with CRM and Support Tools
Another common mistake for businesses is failing to integrate their cloud telephony system with their CRM or support tools. When calls and customer information are not unified, agents lose time gathering basic information or toggling between systems. This clogs up service and drives customers nuts.
When properly integrated, agents can see an individual’s caller ID, past touchpoints, and the support history as soon as they’re on the line. This leads to faster and more personalized conversations.
Remember, CRM integration for telephony is one small step that makes a huge difference in customer experience.
Mistake 6: Overlooking Employee Training
All the strategies go pointless if employees cannot use them properly. Lots of businesses do the hard work of setting the system up. But they fail to properly train their employees on how to use it, which is followed by confusion, delays, and dissatisfied customers.
Training isn’t really that complicated. Give simple, step-by-step instructions and short practices. Ensure staff learned how to address calls, transfer them, and use key features. Conduct practice sessions, which will help everyone stay in the loop when new features are introduced.
Know that well-trained employees get the best use out of your cloud telephony solution and provide professional, prompt service to customers.
Final Talk
Setting up cloud telephony is not just about the technology. It is about creating a smooth and friendly experience for your customers. Avoid the common mistakes we discussed above and build stronger connections. Keep things simple, human, and scalable, and your cloud telephony system will work as a real asset for your business.
