And if you were a forward thinking megacorp, you could build something like this yourself. "Hiya, this is Paypal. Hit 1 to talk to ... Thanks. Type in your last four digits of your... Thanks Mr. McKenzie. Would you prefer to hold while waiting for a representative, or should we call you back in approximately 15 minutes? Hit 1 to..."
15 minutes later.
"Hello, is this Mr. McKenzie? Hiya, this is Steve at Paypal and I have your account brought up. What can I help you with today?"
I think that's far, far cheaper than $100k in dev costs and, if a 6 week test eliminates 5% of your CS spend while bringing your hold times down by 50%, that's like a career-making win. (Seriously guys: Twilio is the startup to watch. I say this while I'm literally wearing their sweatshirt but trust me, they're going to be massive.)
P.S. After you have it, you can trivially wire it into click-to-call on your webapp. "We can't show you that transaction, due to routine procedures meant to protect your account. Click here and type in your phone number, and we will have our Security Team contact you in the next five minutes. Thanks for using Paypal."
There are many SaaS companies which provide Call Center systems with the call back feature. It works just as you described. You call in and it asks for you phone number and calls you back when an agent is available. It even tells you your position in line if you call back too early.
Absolutely. There are a few startups doing this, ranging from hardware that companies install to software to "outside in" solutions like we're working on. As far as I understand this industry, the challenge is that they've all got massively complex dedicated IVR systems, and changing them is hard.
Some solutions will detect when call volumes are high, and allow you to put in your phone number to be called back. That's pretty cool, but you still have to call in, press buttons and wait to see if you get that message.
I agree though, in principle it's an area where companies could innovate. Unfortunately, customer service is typically approached as a cost to be minimized rather than an opportunity to be maximized. Zappos is the exception, etc.
15 minutes later.
"Hello, is this Mr. McKenzie? Hiya, this is Steve at Paypal and I have your account brought up. What can I help you with today?"
I think that's far, far cheaper than $100k in dev costs and, if a 6 week test eliminates 5% of your CS spend while bringing your hold times down by 50%, that's like a career-making win. (Seriously guys: Twilio is the startup to watch. I say this while I'm literally wearing their sweatshirt but trust me, they're going to be massive.)
P.S. After you have it, you can trivially wire it into click-to-call on your webapp. "We can't show you that transaction, due to routine procedures meant to protect your account. Click here and type in your phone number, and we will have our Security Team contact you in the next five minutes. Thanks for using Paypal."