There’s a right way and a wrong way to set up call transfers in Amazon Connect, and it could make all the difference between a customer’s experience with your contact center.
One of the most common tasks performed in any contact center application or phone system is the simple call transfer. But this is also a dangerous time for any customer service interaction. What happens in the handoff could make or break the customer’s experience, and customer experience will make or break your business.
Because of this, it is important for you to understand what a transfer is and how it works within the AWS Connect. Cold transfers all you to make the handoff without risking a costly fumble.
Call transfer modes for Amazon Connect
There are three types of transfers recognized in the AWS Connect:
- Warm transfers
- Cold transfers
- Blind transfers
Warm transfers
A warm transfer is the best way to handle any transfer within a call center or phone system. During a warm transfer, you put the caller on hold, connect to the third-party, identify yourself to the third-party, conference everyone together, introduce the customer to the third-party, and disconnect from the conference.
Warm transfers provide superior customer service because they make sure the customer is taken care of every step of the way. There is clear communication between the customer and the initial contact, then between the initial contact and the third-party, and finally, an in-person introduction to confirm that the customer has been transferred to the third-party before leaving the conversation.
The problem with warm transfers is that there are many different connections and processes going on that are subject to user error, and these errors can lead to the customer being disconnected and having to start all over again. This process can also be very time consuming, especially if you are in a high call volume situation. For many call centers, the warm transfer is not a realistic way to handle high call volumes.
Cold transfers
In a cold transfer, you keep the customer on the line, connect to the third-party, and disconnect from the call only after the third-party picks up the transferred call. This approach saves a lot of time and limits the number of hand-offs involved in the transfer process.
Blind transfers
This is the worst type of transfer. This involves calling the third-party with the customer on the line and disconnecting from the call as it dials them. Blind transfers should never happen because there is no way of knowing whether the third-party answers the phone. And if they don’t, the customer is forced to call into the call center again and repeat the process. This leads to upset and angry customers.
Choose a warm transfer or cold transfer, never blind
You should never use a system to perform a blind transfer. But when should you choose a cold transfer over a warm transfer?
In the contact center, time is critical, and while it is always best to handle calls as a warm transfer from one party to the next, it isn’t always the best choice when you have a busy phone queue. If the person you are transferring the customer to has been apprised of the situation, you don’t need to make introductions before the handoff. In these cases, a cold transfer is good enough to ensure the customer is properly taken care of and you save time on the call as well.
How cold transfers work in Amazon Connect
Any interaction in a contact center will have three connections: inbound connection, agent connection, and outbound connection.
Cold transfer process where the third party picks up
The customer calls in on an inbound connection, the agent picks up and realizes that the customer will need to be transferred from the agent connection to the third-party via an outbound connection. The agent puts the customer on hold and initiates the cold transfer by dialing the third-party. Once the third-party picks up, the conference between the customer and the third-party begins, and then the agent disconnects and moves on to the next call.
Cold transfer process where the third party does not answer
The customer calls in on an inbound connection, the agent picks up and knows that the customer needs to be transferred to the third-party via an outbound connection. The agent puts the customer on hold and dials the third-party, but the third-party does not pick up, so the agent disconnects from the third-party and resumes the call with the customer to find another way to help them.
These are just a few of the functions that you can configure using Amazon Connect. If you are looking for advice on how to integrate Amazon Connect into your contact center platform, contact us here at CloudHesive. We deliver custom solutions using Amazon Connect, Amazon Workspaces, AWS Managed Services, and a variety of other services. Give us a call at (800) 860-2040 to speak to one of our Amazon Managed Services experts today!
