4 ms·

Virtual queue

73 points by damian2000 11y ago

rolfvandekrol 11y ago
The article is quite opinionated towards this system, while I think the main beneficiary of this, is the call center. And not because they actually operate more efficiently, but because the can fake more efficiency. When I pick up the phone, to call a company, it is usually because they already did something wrong, and I need help with that immediately. In all other cases I wouldn't contact them or would have send an e-mail. The article claims that "the best bet for improving both customer satisfaction and contact center operations" is some queue management stuff and so on, but I think the "best bet" would be getting someone on the phone asap. And asap is not after 20 minutes of waiting time (whether on the phone, or off the phone).
- callahad 11y ago
  > asap is not after 20 minutes of waiting time (whether on the phone, or off the phone). Sure, but if the prevailing queue conditions mean I'm forced to wait 20 minutes regardless, I'd much rather do that without a phone to my ear. I'd even prefer a 40 minute virtual queue to a 20 minute physical queue, so it seems appropriate for there to be some discounting of virtual queue times when compared to physical ones.
  - sanotehu 11y ago
    Yes. Being in a queue means you have to constantly keep an ear out for being transferred to an actual human being. Which can be quite hard when the hold music is regularly interrupted with voice announcements. Yes I realise my call is important to you, but if you didn't tell me that every 10 seconds I could stop listening so hard and (maybe?) enjoy the music. As an aside, their comparison of voluntary queuing with and without virtual queues is suspect as they seem to inform the customer about the length of the queue only when they also have the callback system. These are two separate things and should be measured separately.
    - jib 11y ago
      The stats piece is close to nonsense as well, if you measure ASA from your phone system's call duration when you have a virtual queue you are lying to yourself at best.
- jib 11y ago
  The math of say 10 sec max queueing vs say 5min wait time is pretty straight forward but maybe not intuitive. You pay significant (30%+ sometimes, depends on volume) overhead for those last minutes (queueing theory, Erlang C formula). For that reason, it's nice to do something like this. Low customer effort cost but high savings. Virtual queueing through the phone is a bit meh, you still have to pick up the phone in the first place. Doing it through the web though gives imo a less annoying experience - wait time less visible and only have to pick up the phone once.
- saosebastiao 11y ago
  Queueing exists for a reason...the variability of arrivals makes it extremely expensive to provision for high levels of availability. If you are like most people, you aren't willing to pay the true costs of what you're asking for.
- odonnellryan 11y ago
  > When I pick up the phone, to call a company, it is usually because they already did something wrong, and I need help with that immediately. That might be true in even most cases (I doubt even this based on only my experiences), but certainly not all! Think: IT support. Did they do something wrong? No. Your PC broke. No fault here. Think: you have a question about your bill. Just a question, but it's nagging you. No fault here. Think: maybe you left your lights on and need AAA! You need immediate assistance, but you'll have to wait in queue anyway. This is your fault, but it isn't like listening to Aerosmith is going to make you feel better! Let them call you back. > I think the "best bet" would be getting someone on the phone asap. Well, it is impossible to know who needs immediate assistance VS who doesn't. Maybe two pronged: 1) to be called back ASAP 2) to be called back when we're more available? First is the queue how it is. Second is a low-pri queue for people who are honest?
- raverbashing 11y ago
  Or, you know, a lot of companies are offering alternative choices besides calling them, but it seems few people avail of them So yeah, I understand why they might want to increase attrition for things like frequently asked questions that are on the website and other simple operations.
- njharman 11y ago
  > I pick up the phone, to call a company, it is usually because they already did something wrong, and I need help with that immediately. That is a very narrow case. Others I've personally used - place order - schedule appt, make reservation - check status - make change to order/appt/etc - cancel order/appt/etc - talk about suspicious activity
the_mitsuhiko 11y ago
There are systems in at least the UK that will queue for you on a callcenter. You call them first, they queue for you and when the call picks up you get the call joined by them calling back to you. Never used it though.
fest 11y ago
The wikipedia article is about incoming call queueing which I find good even from end-user (caller) perspective. What I found more interesting is that at least some telemarketing call centers actually use outgoing call queues. The reason for this is: 1) They anticipate some percentage of unreachable numbers; 2) To maximize efficiency- operators don't spend time waiting on somebody picking up the phone, they are only engaged when there is someone on the line.
- hammock 11y ago
  Yes- if you ever picked up the phone and there is 3-5 second delay before you hear someone, that is the queue/robodialer realizing someone picked up and sending you to the telemarketer
  - damian2000 11y ago
    So the fake virus scammers who call from 'Microsoft' are also using the same system then ...
beejiu 11y ago
Another nice system is for you to 'queue jump' when you call back after a certain time. E.g. if you call before 10am at a busy time, you have the option to call back after 12pm and you will be guaranteed a direct connection to an operator.
- pervycreeper 11y ago
  Nice for the caller, yes.
  - odonnellryan 11y ago
    I got started working in an IT call center: I can guarantee you, it's nice for everyone! First: we were ABSOLUTELY required to keep the calls flowing. Did not matter how many we got: if a call went above 5 minutes in queue...which did happen with our volume to tech ratio...we all were berated: I'd go as far as saying verbally abused at times (think: directors literally stomping their feet on the floor and screaming at you.) Second: no one likes to wait on the phone. It's annoying. They want their problem fixed. If they have to wait on the phone they'll just be more angry by the time they speak to a tech. Third: you're still handling the same number of calls, most likely. Sometimes even less! We'd have people call and abandon constantly, so that'd drive up our numbers and make us look really bad (they didn't want users abandoning.)
codezero 11y ago
Does anyone provide this as a third party service? It'd be pretty cool to be able to drop a number I know I am going to need to call, and wait over to someone else who will do a ringback for me.
- lojack 11y ago
  I've used FastCustomer in the past successfully. It's a mobile app that calls customer service numbers and connects you after waiting in a queue.
Yhippa 11y ago
It's like lazy-loading people's attention.
jv22222 11y ago
When we took our kid to get a picture with Santa this year they used a virtual Queue. It allowed them to backup a queue of customers up to 8 hours! Customers registered at the top of the line and then were sent away. They texted 30 mins before and then 5 mins before. It was quite effective. When we finally arrived we were in front of Santa in 5 mins.
oasisbob 11y ago
I tried to use this feature while on hold ... once. They returned my call using a poorly tuned predictive dialer, I listened to 20-30 seconds of silence before the call dropped. There was no second attempt.
- eclipxe 11y ago
  I use this all the time. Never had an issue.
nathan_f77 11y ago
We used this callback system when I worked at a call center selling products from TV infomercials, although it wasn't anywhere near as advanced as the example in this article. The dialing was automated but we had to manually initiate each call, and make sure we were speaking to the right person. I don't even know how many times I've said the phrase "We are currently experiencing a high volume of calls". Hopefully never again.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

73 points by damian2000 11y ago

The article is quite opinionated towards this system, while I think the main beneficiary of this, is the call center. And not because they actually operate more efficiently, but because the can fake more efficiency. When I pick up the phone, to call a company, it is usually because they already did something wrong, and I need help with that immediately. In all other cases I wouldn't contact them or would have send an e-mail. The article claims that "the best bet for improving both customer satisfaction and contact center operations" is some queue management stuff and so on, but I think the "best bet" would be getting someone on the phone asap. And asap is not after 20 minutes of waiting time (whether on the phone, or off the phone).

callahad 11y ago
> asap is not after 20 minutes of waiting time (whether on the phone, or off the phone). Sure, but if the prevailing queue conditions mean I'm forced to wait 20 minutes regardless, I'd much rather do that without a phone to my ear. I'd even prefer a 40 minute virtual queue to a 20 minute physical queue, so it seems appropriate for there to be some discounting of virtual queue times when compared to physical ones.
- sanotehu 11y ago
  Yes. Being in a queue means you have to constantly keep an ear out for being transferred to an actual human being. Which can be quite hard when the hold music is regularly interrupted with voice announcements. Yes I realise my call is important to you, but if you didn't tell me that every 10 seconds I could stop listening so hard and (maybe?) enjoy the music. As an aside, their comparison of voluntary queuing with and without virtual queues is suspect as they seem to inform the customer about the length of the queue only when they also have the callback system. These are two separate things and should be measured separately.
  - jib 11y ago
    The stats piece is close to nonsense as well, if you measure ASA from your phone system's call duration when you have a virtual queue you are lying to yourself at best.
jib 11y ago
The math of say 10 sec max queueing vs say 5min wait time is pretty straight forward but maybe not intuitive. You pay significant (30%+ sometimes, depends on volume) overhead for those last minutes (queueing theory, Erlang C formula). For that reason, it's nice to do something like this. Low customer effort cost but high savings. Virtual queueing through the phone is a bit meh, you still have to pick up the phone in the first place. Doing it through the web though gives imo a less annoying experience - wait time less visible and only have to pick up the phone once.
saosebastiao 11y ago
Queueing exists for a reason...the variability of arrivals makes it extremely expensive to provision for high levels of availability. If you are like most people, you aren't willing to pay the true costs of what you're asking for.
odonnellryan 11y ago
> When I pick up the phone, to call a company, it is usually because they already did something wrong, and I need help with that immediately. That might be true in even most cases (I doubt even this based on only my experiences), but certainly not all! Think: IT support. Did they do something wrong? No. Your PC broke. No fault here. Think: you have a question about your bill. Just a question, but it's nagging you. No fault here. Think: maybe you left your lights on and need AAA! You need immediate assistance, but you'll have to wait in queue anyway. This is your fault, but it isn't like listening to Aerosmith is going to make you feel better! Let them call you back. > I think the "best bet" would be getting someone on the phone asap. Well, it is impossible to know who needs immediate assistance VS who doesn't. Maybe two pronged: 1) to be called back ASAP 2) to be called back when we're more available? First is the queue how it is. Second is a low-pri queue for people who are honest?
raverbashing 11y ago
Or, you know, a lot of companies are offering alternative choices besides calling them, but it seems few people avail of them So yeah, I understand why they might want to increase attrition for things like frequently asked questions that are on the website and other simple operations.
njharman 11y ago
> I pick up the phone, to call a company, it is usually because they already did something wrong, and I need help with that immediately. That is a very narrow case. Others I've personally used - place order - schedule appt, make reservation - check status - make change to order/appt/etc - cancel order/appt/etc - talk about suspicious activity

the_mitsuhiko 11y ago

There are systems in at least the UK that will queue for you on a callcenter. You call them first, they queue for you and when the call picks up you get the call joined by them calling back to you. Never used it though.

fest 11y ago

The wikipedia article is about incoming call queueing which I find good even from end-user (caller) perspective. What I found more interesting is that at least some telemarketing call centers actually use outgoing call queues. The reason for this is: 1) They anticipate some percentage of unreachable numbers; 2) To maximize efficiency- operators don't spend time waiting on somebody picking up the phone, they are only engaged when there is someone on the line.

hammock 11y ago
Yes- if you ever picked up the phone and there is 3-5 second delay before you hear someone, that is the queue/robodialer realizing someone picked up and sending you to the telemarketer
- damian2000 11y ago
  So the fake virus scammers who call from 'Microsoft' are also using the same system then ...

beejiu 11y ago

Another nice system is for you to 'queue jump' when you call back after a certain time. E.g. if you call before 10am at a busy time, you have the option to call back after 12pm and you will be guaranteed a direct connection to an operator.

pervycreeper 11y ago
Nice for the caller, yes.
- odonnellryan 11y ago
  I got started working in an IT call center: I can guarantee you, it's nice for everyone! First: we were ABSOLUTELY required to keep the calls flowing. Did not matter how many we got: if a call went above 5 minutes in queue...which did happen with our volume to tech ratio...we all were berated: I'd go as far as saying verbally abused at times (think: directors literally stomping their feet on the floor and screaming at you.) Second: no one likes to wait on the phone. It's annoying. They want their problem fixed. If they have to wait on the phone they'll just be more angry by the time they speak to a tech. Third: you're still handling the same number of calls, most likely. Sometimes even less! We'd have people call and abandon constantly, so that'd drive up our numbers and make us look really bad (they didn't want users abandoning.)

codezero 11y ago

Does anyone provide this as a third party service? It'd be pretty cool to be able to drop a number I know I am going to need to call, and wait over to someone else who will do a ringback for me.

lojack 11y ago
I've used FastCustomer in the past successfully. It's a mobile app that calls customer service numbers and connects you after waiting in a queue.

Yhippa 11y ago

It's like lazy-loading people's attention.

jv22222 11y ago

When we took our kid to get a picture with Santa this year they used a virtual Queue. It allowed them to backup a queue of customers up to 8 hours! Customers registered at the top of the line and then were sent away. They texted 30 mins before and then 5 mins before. It was quite effective. When we finally arrived we were in front of Santa in 5 mins.

oasisbob 11y ago

I tried to use this feature while on hold ... once. They returned my call using a poorly tuned predictive dialer, I listened to 20-30 seconds of silence before the call dropped. There was no second attempt.

eclipxe 11y ago
I use this all the time. Never had an issue.

nathan_f77 11y ago

We used this callback system when I worked at a call center selling products from TV infomercials, although it wasn't anywhere near as advanced as the example in this article. The dialing was automated but we had to manually initiate each call, and make sure we were speaking to the right person. I don't even know how many times I've said the phrase "We are currently experiencing a high volume of calls". Hopefully never again.

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]