Interactive Intelligence Article Sample

Caller tolerance can change day by day, or hour by hour, in baffling ways. Sometimes, when customers have to remain on hold for longer periods than they're used to, they wait. Other times, when service levels are good, abandonment rates are inexplicably high.

Organizations that maintain high levels of service tend to see abandonment rates of 2% or 3% – sometimes less – as the norm. But no organization has zero abandonment for long. Any time there is a queue, there is opportunity for callers to abandon.

In the final analysis, you can’t control how callers will react or the myriad of circumstances that influence their behavior. But you can control how accessible you are. Concentrate on accurately matching resources with workload, and abandonment will generally take care of itself.