A high call abandon rate can lead to potentially disastrous results. Here’s why – and what to do about it.
Call abandon rate is a point of concern for inbound call centers because it usually means your customers are waiting too long to talk to someone. For an outbound call center, however, abandoned calls are a very different concern. We’ll get to the details in a minute, but first, let’s take a little journey.
Imagine you’re at home. You’re waiting on an important call, but you aren’t quite sure what number it will come from. Just as you step outside to take the dog for a walk, the phone rings. Your dog is staring at you, waiting to go out, your keys are hanging in the door, and your neighbor is trying to say hello. You answer the phone and hear…
silence. You say hello again only to hear more silence. Then after another short gap, you hear background chatter, and someone speaks from the other end of the line a questioning, “Hello?”
If it took longer than two seconds between the time you answered the phone and the call center agent on the other end responded to you, that’s what the FTC refers to as an abandoned call. And it could get you in big trouble if it’s happening in your call center.
Call Logic’s auto-dialer and call management software offers dozens of helpful tools to increase your success and simplify your daily tasks. Call for your free consultation today to learn more!
Your call abandon rate is too high. Find out what to do.
It may sound counterintuitive for an outbound call center to have much of a call abandon rate at all, especially since you are actively trying to reach people. It happens more than most people realize, though.
As part of the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR), the FTC defines an abandoned call as one in which “a person answers it and the telemarketer does not connect the call to a sales representative within two seconds of the person’s completed greeting. The use of prerecorded message telemarketing, where a sales pitch begins with or is made entirely by a prerecorded message, violates the TSR because the telemarketer is not connecting the call to a sales representative.”
This most often happens when you use dialing software that dials multiple numbers at once for each available call center agent. The theory is that if the software dials, say, five numbers, only one of those will connect to a person, at which point the software will transfer the call to an agent. That’s where that dead air comes from when you get sales calls. The problem lies in the fact that that call setup is based on statistics. So while you may indeed only connect with one in every five callers, it’s entirely possible you’ll connect with two or three of them on one call. And since there’s only one agent, well, those other two calls are most likely abandoned.
Your call abandon rate has to be under 3% to maintain compliance. That might not seem too difficult, but two seconds is not very much time. And if you haven’t looked at the fines for TSR violations lately, you may want to check those out. Depending on the violation, the FTC can levy a fine of more than $43, 000 per call. You can see how it wouldn’t take much to get into the million-dollar-fine territory.
Don’t fear! There is one very easy and simple step you can take to avoid this issue entirely.
If you use Call Logic, you don’t need to worry about abanded calls at all. Why? First, we keep it simple with one call at a time. Don’t make the mistake of thinking this means fewer calls. Call Logic has several powerful features that make people more receptive to your calls. One of the most important of these is that there is no lag time between when someone picks up and when you can begin speaking to them. In other words, there’s no dead air.
Let’s also talk about the provision in the TSR around prerecorded messages. You are allowed to leave messages, but that’s if an answering system picks up your call. And with the benefit of voicemail drop, you can simply click, and the software will leave a message for you while you move on to your next call.
One other benefit of Call Logic is that you don’t need to worry about the Do Not Call list, since the software automatically scrubs your list for each call.
So if your call abandon rate is inching upward and you’d like to stop stressing about it, it might be time to look into new software.
Make more calls in less time with Call Logic. From donor profile management to automated voicemails to built-in compliance, we’ve got you covered in every aspect of your business. Call for your free consultation today to learn more!