Beyond CCaaS: How to turn your Contact Center into a Revenue Center

The leadership of every consumer company understands that the quality of their customer interactions will impact their bottom line. In fact, 40% of American consumers stopped doing business with a brand after just one bad interaction, according to Zippia. So why does it feel like every company is ignoring this principle when I interact with them? Why does it feel like their primary goal is trying to reduce the cost of their contact center? Well because they are, and it is.

Bad data and technology decisions are at the core of this issue. Legacy CCaaS and helpdesk software is missing the concept of real-time customer data. And traditional B2B customer relationship management (CRM) software is not useful for non-linear B2C consumer experiences. We need "marketing automation" software (aka unified customer profiles, event-driven systems and a/b testing) like Regal.io in the call center software stack to empower teams to start looking for incremental revenue instead.

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Contact Centers as Costs Centers

The unfortunate reality is that most call centers and contact centers are still being run as cost centers; their goals include deflecting interactions and lowering AHT instead of looking at how to maximize customer lifetime value. And IT teams supporting those contact centers are still evaluating call center solutions and contact center software based on these decades-old cost-reduction paradigms. 

This leads to a world where contact centers are forced to reduce the cost as much as possible using automation for inbound calls (eg. IVR), outbound calls (eg. list-based dialers), and identical messaging and handling (eg. script compliance) instead of focusing on business needs. And in turn, you create a customer experience that treats every user the same to save money, even if that’s not optimal for the business or customer engagement.

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Missed Opportunities

Take a simple example – a customer (let’s call them Tally) you think will be worth $1,000 (2x your average) over their lifetime has just signed up, and your concierge team is trying to reach them with no success.

Missed Opportunity: Outbound

Tally then clicks on a marketing email with a value prop that appeals to her and visits your site before getting stuck. Even if the contact center team was forward thinking and wanted to use customer engagement as a signal for when to reach the customer, legacy Contact Center Software as a Service (CCaaS) dialers were built to dial a predetermined list of customers x times for y days. 

Legacy CCaaS doesn’t have the connection to your website or marketing data or the automation needed to try and reach her. CCaaS dialers also literally don’t have the ability to change the priority of outbound dials within a calling queue - so even if you could get the data there, there is a technical limitation to dialing her.

Missed Opportunity: Inbound 

Tally then makes an incoming call to  the support team to try and get help. As it’s seen as a support interaction, the interactive voice response (IVR) automatically deflects her to a digital self-serve channel instead of passing her to the concierge team. The IVR doesn’t have access to the full customer information data profile in real time.

So are these obvious opportunities missed because the people running call centers and contact centers don’t get it? Of course not. In my experience, it’s 25% incentives and 75% technology choices. Incentives are causing teams to pick the wrong tech, and that tech is dictating their sub-optimal strategies.

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The Wrong Incentives + Legacy Tech = Bad Customer Experiences

25% – Start with incentives. Marketing teams are given a budget to go and generate more revenue and when they are looking for technology that will help generate more revenue, it’s evaluated on the Return on Investment (ROI). For every $1 spent on this new tech or strategy, will we generate at least $2 in the next year? If yes, continue; and if no, stop. 

Contact center teams, on the other hand, are told every year to figure out how to reduce costs without dropping customer NPS. So they present cases of how to buy tech that deflects interactions, increases automation, reduces headcount, etc. For every $1 spent they are expected to reduce more than $1 in cost. Revenue is rarely discussed.

75% – Now to tech. It’s an extremely antiquated software category relying on paradigms from over 30 years ago. Under 40% of the 16 million contact center seats have moved to cloud-based software (vs over 90% using AWS, Google Cloud, etc). And when the contact centers do move, they are starting with RFPs that list every feature in the legacy on-premise software systems so the cloud versions end up being nearly identically focused on cost reduction instead of anything new. 

At this point, the Cloud Contact Center as a Service (Cloud CCaaS) leaders Genesys and NICE inContact are 30+ years old themselves. To exacerbate the issue, they have built up an army of salespeople and certified partners who previously worked in contact centers and know how to sell their products on a cost-reduction business case to the teams who have been given cost-reduction goals.

It’s a frustrating situation – I challenge you to find another category of software that is so far behind in maturity. Clearly, contact centers are a critical function with many dependencies, and there are hundreds if not thousands of human agents in the tool daily whose workflows might be disrupted by change, but change is coming.

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Beyond CCaaS 

The best contact center teams (and their company leaders), are already starting to change incentives by asking “How can we make our contact center a revenue driver?” They are looking for cases where $1 of incremental people or tech costs leads to $2 in incremental revenue. And I am starting to see revenue targets owned by contact center leaders who are asked to think about the end-to-end customer journey. The title Chief Customer Officer at consumer companies is a good indication there is one leader responsible for the complete customer journey from marketing through sales and customer service. So how do we change the tech?

Marketing teams have the right strategy – starting decades ago, marketing switched to cloud-based cross-channel marketing automation platforms like Braze and Iterable that aggregate customer data to personalize each touchpoint to drive higher engagement and higher conversion. At this point, it is no surprise that using data to drive personalization results in more revenue, and the tools have expanded into more advanced customer profiles, orchestration, and A/B testing capabilities to empower marketing teams to find even more ROI. In the contact center, Regal is the first platform to bring marketing automation concepts like a real-time unified customer profile, orchestration, and A/B testing to customer conversations happening omnichannel via phone, SMS, email, chat, and AI bots. And it’s all available over API as well.

Is Regal cloud-based? Of course. Is Regal a CCaaS? Yes, Regal has all the features of a legacy Cloud CCaaS including IVR, ACD, outbound campaign management, and dialers. But that’s table stakes. To go beyond CCaaS, we have built customer data capabilities, more advanced IVRs, and new event-based outbound campaigns from the ground up to allow brands to drive personalized interactions, and A/B tests to find the best ROI. Bringing marketing automation into the contact center to treat millions of customers like one in a million is the new frontier, and brands that are not keeping up will quickly fall behind.

The upcoming addition of automated AI bots for digital channels and voice will only widen the gap between companies looking at the Contact Center as a Cost Center and those using marketing automation to drive revenue. Bots will lower the cost of having a human-like conversion on digital channels and voice, leading to more opportunities where the incremental revenue will be worth the incremental cost. If you are just reducing costs with AI, you will be missing huge revenue opportunities.

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Industries that Need to Move Beyond CCaaS

Replacing antiquated phone systems with Regal can benefit just about any consumer business. However, High Consideration Industries like Healthcare, Financial Services, Local Services and Education need to change today because customers expect a personal touch, and they will leave businesses that do not offer that level of engagement.

Healthcare

By partnering with a dynamic contact center solutions provider like Regal, healthcare organizations that are moving from in-person care to telehealth and digital care can connect customers and patients with the right agent at the ideal time in their journey for improved customer satisfaction.

• Sales & Acquisition
  • Sales: Selling patients healthcare services, wellness programs, or health screening packages.
  • Insurance Verification: Contact patients at their phone numbers to verify or update insurance information before appointments or procedures.
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• Support & Customer Service
  • Appointment Reminders: Calling patients to remind them of upcoming appointments or to reschedule missed appointments.
  • Medication Adherence: Reminding patients to refill prescriptions or to adhere to medication schedules.
  • Post-Discharge Follow-Up: Checking in on patients after hospital discharge to monitor recovery and address any concerns.

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Healthcare Case Study

Perry Health, a diabetes healthcare provider, boosted sales by 23% with Regal’s, event-driven Task Manager and Patient Engagement platform. Utilizing Regal's omnichannel approach, integrating phone, SMS, and email, Perry Health quadrupled sales team productivity and saw a 50% increase in engagement rates. 

This streamlined workflow and enhanced patient interactions resulted in significant revenue growth and strengthened patient relationships. Regal.io's seamless integration empowered Perry Health to achieve sales objectives while delivering personalized, timely care.

Perry Health Case Study

Financial Services

The Regal platform is also a great asset for financial services businesses. By adopting Regal’s technology and branded caller ID tools, brands in this vertical have boosted answer rates and improved along several other key metrics as customer expectations for digital banking skyrocket.

• Sales & Acquisition
  • Loan Application Follow-Up: Contacting customers who started a loan application but did not complete it, to assist them in finishing the process.
  • Credit Card Offers:  Reaching out to existing customers to offer pre-approved credit cards or special rates based on their banking history.
  • Investment Product Promotion: Informing customers about new investment opportunities or products that align with their financial goals.
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• Support & Customer Service
  • Fraud Alerts: Calling customers to verify transactions when suspicious activity is detected on their accounts.
  • Document Submission Reminder: Reminding customers to submit required documents for loan processing or account updates.
  • Account Setup Assistance: Helping customers complete the setup of online banking accounts or mobile banking apps.

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Financial Services Case Study

SoFi, a prominent consumer fintech brand, achieved outstanding results with Regal's targeted calling and texting solutions. By leveraging Regal's tailored sales tool, SoFi enhanced member engagement, resulting in a 66% increase in reach among graduates. Moreover, they experienced an 8% boost in funded loans. Regal's Journey Builder facilitated personalized, cross-channel outreach, enabling SoFi to efficiently connect with customers. 

With Regal's AI-powered capabilities, SoFi could trigger custom follow-up actions based on conversation insights. Through strategic implementation, SoFi maximized outreach effectiveness, demonstrating Regal's value in optimizing customer support and sales interactions to drive financial growth.

SoFi Case Study

Local Services

Make no mistake — Regal isn’t just for big brands or national service providers. Local service providers with contact centers can also benefit from our SaaS solutions, multichannel tools, and call flow optimization features. This is a particularly competitive market where the vendor that gets the customer on the phone first wins the job the majority of the time.

• Sales & Acquisition
  • Service Appointment Setting: Contacting potential customers to schedule service appointments or consultations.
  • Promotional Offers: Informing customers about special deals, seasonal maintenance services, or loyalty discounts.
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• Support & Customer Service
  • Service Follow-Up: Calling customers after a service visit to ensure satisfaction and address any unresolved issues.
  • Appointment Reminders: Reminding customers of upcoming service appointments or annual maintenance checks.

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Local Services Case Study

Angi, a home services giant, achieved 3x growth in key members year-over-year with Regal's solutions. By leveraging Regal for strategic calling and texting, Angi personalized member interactions and saw a surge in booking requests per customer. Regal's omnichannel capabilities enabled seamless engagement orchestration, driving revenue and enhancing customer experiences. 

With self-service features, Angi optimized outbound and inbound communication, connecting members with personalized support from home specialists. This resulted in significant revenue growth and solidified Angi's leadership in the industry.

Angi Case Study

Education

Regal has also become a valuable partner to organizations in the education sector as well. Our callback tools, dialing software, and other features have helped education organizations make more connections through different communication channels. Deciding to go back to school is a particularly emotional decision, and digital-only application flows do not cut it – a personal touch is still needed.

• Sales & Acquisition
  • Enrollment Outreach: Reaching out to prospective students to discuss educational programs, admission requirements, and application deadlines.
  • Program Promotion: Informing potential students about new courses, workshops, or special educational events.
• Support & Customer Service
  • Registration Assistance: Helping students with course registration issues or advising on class selections.
  • Feedback Collection: Calling students or alumni for feedback on courses, facilities, or overall educational experience.

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Education Case Study

Career Karma, a leading career advancement platform, witnessed remarkable growth with Regal.io as their SMS partner. Regal.io's integration empowered Career Karma to achieve a 2x increase in conversions and a 25% lift in engagement rates. By automating outbound calls and leveraging real-time data, Career Karma optimized lead prioritization and delivered personalized customer journeys. 

Regal.io's Conversation Intel feature enhanced call conversions by automatically assessing 100% of agent-customer calls for key actions. Through strategic implementation, Career Karma capitalized on Regal.io's capabilities to enhance customer experiences, driving significant growth and success in their business endeavors.

Career Karma Case Study

Innovative Contact Center Solutions With Regal

The transformation of contact centers from cost centers to revenue centers represents a pivotal shift in business strategy. Traditional contact centers often operate with outdated technology and misaligned incentives, resulting in inefficiencies and missed revenue opportunities. However, innovative solutions like Regal offer a pathway to unlock untapped potential and drive revenue growth.

By embracing personalized, data-driven engagement strategies, organizations can transcend the limitations of traditional contact center software and transform their operations into revenue-generating powerhouses. Industries such as healthcare, financial services, local services, and education stand to benefit immensely from this shift towards revenue-centric contact center strategies.

Case studies within these industries demonstrate the tangible impact of leveraging innovative contact center solutions like Regal to drive revenue growth and enhance customer experiences. By adopting a revenue-centric mindset and embracing innovative solutions, organizations can position their contact centers as strategic assets that drive business growth and success in today's competitive landscape.

Learn about Regal’s products and services, read our blog posts, or email us. We are happy to discuss how our platform’s solutions can transform your business.