Display Average Wait Time

When a customer is trying to get in touch with your organisation via contact channels like live chat or video chat, there’s always a chance they’ll encounter a queue. 

If they do, they’ll have to endure a short wait to speak to your contact centre agents. 

But what happens when your customers aren't aware of how long they'll be waiting? 

What if your customers deem even a short average wait time as unacceptable?

Previously, your organisations' customers had no way of knowing your call centre's average wait time.

Thanks to Talkative's latest update, that's no longer the case.

Now, contact centre managers and supervisors can automatically update customers by displaying average wait times within your chat widgets. 

This function lets your customers know their wait time before starting a chat or call. 

You can also use this feature to present interaction opening and closing times too! 

However you choose to deploy this feature, once you’ve chosen your display message, your chat widget will update in real-time. 

It means there’s no manual updates to be made by you or your team.

What’s more, you can present your average waiting time data/opening and closing data over multiple queues and channels. 

As such, you can present accurate waiting times across all your queues/channels - as seen in the image to the right. 

In turn, your site visitors will enjoy a less frustrating customer experience. 

At the same time, you’ll enjoy a more manageable queuing system and happier customers overall. 

Use cases

Say you’ve got a customer who wants to speak to your support agents via live chat, and at the moment they get in touch, they’re a little pressed for time. 

After discovering your average wait time in your chat widget, this customer can now choose whether to reschedule their chat for a time that better suits them. 

On the other hand, say you’ve got another customer who’s waiting within the queue. 

However, this customer doesn’t mind a short wait - they just want to get a rough idea of how long they’ll be waiting. 

Thanks to the average wait time display, you can now manage your customers’ expectations. 

As a result, this example customer will be satisfied and happy to wait for their interaction. 

Further examples

You can also use this new feature to hide contact options (e.g. start chat) if the wait time is too long. 

Alternatively, you can choose to hide the wait time information if it exceeds a certain amount of time.

Once again, these options are great news for your chat or call queue management.

Finally then, you can also show the average wait time in chat queues after the customer has started the interaction. 

Again, this can be hidden if it exceeds a certain size.

However you choose to deploy this new feature, this latest update means your contact centre agents will face a lower abandonment rate. 

They’ll also face fewer customer calls and chats from impatient or frustrated end-users.

With this in mind, presenting your customers with average wait times and opening/closing times is a fantastic way to improve customer satisfaction for your contact centre. 

How is the average waiting time calculated?

To calculate the average wait time, Talkative analyses the previous thirty minutes of interaction data.

Once you've switched on your average wait time display, the function will automatically update for your customers, neatly displayed within your website or app’s chat widget.

Should you always display your average waiting time?

Displaying your average wait time has some great benefits for both your support agents and your customers - particularly during busy periods or peak interaction times. 

Nevertheless, you might want to weigh up when it's best to deploy this feature, depending on your needs. 

For instance, some customers might be put off from getting in touch if they are facing an overly long wait.

On the other hand, what one customer deems an acceptable waiting time, another might deem an example of poor customer service.

The problem is, these customers are going to face a wait either way. 

So, what’s the solution?

When used correctly, average wait time displays can provide your customer with a superior experience. 

But the key lies in providing your customers with other contact solutions, should they deem your wait times as too long.

For example, a customer callback option is a great way to save customers time.

So too is a customer service chatbot or AI virtual agent. This option can deflect customers with basic or frequently-asked-questions, providing them with automated real-time service.

It’s another win for lowering your abandonment rate, as well as making sure your customers' questions are answered quickly.

Getting started

To display the average wait time to your customers, check out our support article.

And for more information on the other features related to this release, check out our latest release notes.