Retail workers can easily get inundated with phone calls asking about things such as hours & location, holiday specials, and more. VoIP for retail can make sure that a missed call doesn’t end up as a missed sale. CallHarbor takes care of your phone solution, so you can focus on taking care of your customers.
Using VoIP for retail within a UCaaS platform can help you streamline communication and cut costs, while giving your customers a better retail experience.
VoIP for Retail Features You Need to Succeed
Let’s take a look at some of the VoIP features that your retail location needs to succeed. From voice, messaging, video & mobile, you’ll create a better retail experiences for your teams and your customers. From auto attendants freeing up your employees, to SMS giving you the opportunity to communicate with your customers, VoIP + UCaaS will help you work smarter, not harder.
Auto Attendant
An auto attendant is an automated menu system that uses voice or number prompts to help callers navigate to the correct department. This type of VoIP phone system feature helps lessen the need for human answering.
Auto attendants are very easy to navigate and use, and they fill a very important role by ensuring that your callers aren’t kept on hold for long periods of time. This can up your customer service cred and keep your customers happy.
Utilizing auto attendants for VoIP for retail means you can use options such as “Press 1 for hours and location, press 2 to hear our seasonal specials, press 3 to talk to a staff member.” Being able to automate options such as business hours, seasonal specials, and route callers to the correct extension if they need to talk to someone specific will save everyone time.
Automated Business Hours/Time Frames
Within your CallHarbor system, there are three different time frames that can be created. These time frames help to automate different things such as auto attendants, answering rules, and more. The three time frames are:
- Always
- Certain days of the week and times – i.e. Business Hours or Weekends
- Specific dates or ranges – i.e. Observed Holiday or Vacation Schedules
The Always time frame is active when no other time frame is applicable.
If setting a Business Hours time frame, you can select Days of the week and times. You have the ability to check the days that are to be used in this time frame and move the sliders to accommodate the range you wish to set. If you wish to split the day into two ranges; morning and afternoon; then click on the green plus sign. This then allows you to set two different time ranges within one day. Continue on until your time frame has been configured and then click Save.
If you want to set a time frame for a holiday, you can utilize the Specific dates or ranges option.
Being able to set your daily business hours when using VoIP for retail gives you the ability to automate certain features on your phone system. You no longer have to remember to turn your phones to “night mode” at the end of the day, because they’ll automatically switch for you! Your after hours auto attendant and ring patterns will switch flawlessly at the time you have scheduled, so you can focus on closing up shop without the stress.
Scheduling out holiday hours ahead of time means you don’t have to worry about stressing on Christmas Day about whether or not your phones are ringing and ringing.
Music on Hold
Features such as Music on Hold can further enhance customer support. By using our powerful features, you can make customers trust and enjoy your retail location. Music on Hold can many time determine what the customer’s mood is like when they come off hold. According to Mitel, having music on hold actually makes the hold time seem shorter, which reduces frustration and increases caller retention rate. Music on Hold can also be used to increase sales or reduce support inquiries.
Another great option is utilizing Marketing on Hold. With Marketing on Hold, your retail location can inform customers about things such as holiday hours, special offers, or seasonal changes. These custom messages enhance a customer’s calling experience and promote the business at the same time.
Multi-Location Support
Many retail stores have multiple locations, and want to stay connected from location to location. Utilizing CallHarbor’s VoIP for retail makes sure each location is connected and clear.
VoIP for retail can help manage multiple locations without any hassle. We fully support multiple location capabilities. As long as there is an Internet connection, you can easily manage the flow of information. Plus, if each location is tied together with the same service, you can chat extension to extension across multiple locations. Transferring calls from each location is helpful and simple when all location are on our system. You can also add options to re-route calls to other locations if you are closed, or give callers the options to press 3 for the Livonia location, etc. right from your auto attendant.
Mobility & Flexibility
As hybrid work grows, collaboration via mobile app grows with it. It’s important to give your employees an option to stay connected without sharing their personal number. They can easily reach colleagues, and even send SMS message to clients utilizing their business phone number, too. It’s all of the perks of using a personal device, with none of the personal.
The CallHarbor Mobile App is available for Apple & Android, and can be used to do so much more than just call. The CallHarbor Mobile app allows you to take your business extension with you. You can place calls, receive calls, adjust answering rules, check voicemail, and send chat + SMS. You can also view the status of your other staff members right from your mobile phone. Simply login with your existing CallHarbor portal login and you will instantly be setup with your extension and personalized settings.
Running a retail business can be time consuming, especially if you need to be on the road to meet with vendors, pick up products, and more. Having the flexibility and mobility to take your phone on the go makes managers and owners feel at ease. Check out our blog post to read more details on why you should utilize the CallHarbor Mobile App.
SMS & MMS
With smartphone usage so integrated into society, using SMS and texting to provide quality customer service is a no-brainer. It has become a great way to reach customers effectively. The customer experience that SMS provides is high quality, because communication is direct, quick, and easy to use. When your business implements texting into its marketing strategy, your crew will be able to connect more readily with customers and respond easily to inquiries. Businesses who have adopted SMS and MMS customer service and marketing tools are finding that there are many uses of this channel of communication, and many successes.
Check out our blog post on how SMS + chat can improve your customer service.