Britannia customers form a virtual queue

Call centre technology halves the number of hang-ups

Britannia Building Society has launched a new call centre tool that gives customers an option to hold in a queue without actually staying on the phone.

Following a successful pilot, the building society has installed the system that holds the customer in a virtual queue, allowing them to hang up and receive a call back when they reach the front of the queue.

A Britannia Building Society survey revealed more than half of people (54 per cent) said their personal banking experience would improve if someone was to ring them back instead of holding on the line.

Tim Franklin, Britannia's managing director of member business, said: ‘We recognise how frustrating it can be to be kept on hold and are committed to looking at new ways of improving our customer experience.’

Since rolling out the new call back tool Britannia has halved the number of callers hanging up before their call is answered. It has also resulted in an 82 per cent increase in calls being answered within 20 seconds.

The QueueBuster product provided by Netcall will help improve efficiency at Britannia’s contact centres in Leek (Staffordshire) and Bristol which receive between 3000-3500 calls per day.

All customers will have the choice to use the QueueBuster system or hold on the line in the traditional manner.

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