Put yourself in the shoes of a customer calling your business. They might be calling for support with a complaint, or they may be looking to buy something. Either way, their relationship with your business is on the line.
Customer calls are one of the most important parts of your business. Done well, they can help you build strong relationships with your customers and close more sales. Done badly, and you might lose a customer.
Creating the best possible experience for your customers when they call you is therefore critical for the success (or failure) of your business—and warm transferring can be a key part of this.
In this practical guide, we’ll explain both warm and cold transfers so that you know exactly what these key terms mean in the world of customer service. We’ll then explore the key differences and examine the benefits of using warm transfers. Want to know more? Keep on reading.
What is a cold transfer?
Let’s say you’ve just identified a new potential customer for your business. After all the hard work that goes into lead generation, you’ll want to make sure that you turn the lead into a paying and loyal customer.
However, at some point in the customer lifecycle they get in touch with your customer support team. They speak to an agent from one department who soon realizes that the customer would be better off speaking to another agent in another department. The first agent then transfers the customer to the correct department, but without passing on any customer information.
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What’s the biggest issue here? Simply put: when the customer speaks to the second agent, they have to repeat their issue all over again. They may even have to repeat key details, such as their name, phone number or product information. As you can imagine, this can be incredibly frustrating for the customer.
This scenario is a cold transfer, also known as a blind transfer. The first agent simply passes the customer to the second agent, without providing any context about the customer or details about their query. Essentially the second agent is going into the conversation cold or blind as they lack essential knowledge about the customer.
What is a warm transfer?
On the other hand, a warm transfer is when the first agent provides enough information and context for the second agent. This allows the second agent to seamlessly carry on dealing with the customer and their problem—without the need to backtrack or ask for repeat information.
There are a few things to consider when carrying out a warm transfer. As a minimum, the first agent needs to pass on the customer’s name or their account number. Ideally, though, the second agent should get as much information as possible about the customer’s issue.
Think about how much the customer will benefit from a warm transfer. Rather than having to explain their problem twice or reiterate their account number, they will be welcomed with a warm and friendly greeting using their name. They’ll also be able to quickly get right to the issue they want to resolve.
Warm transfer vs cold transfer: key differences and benefits
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So it’s fairly obvious—from a customer’s point of view, warm transfers carry a lot of benefits. However, switching from a cold to a warm transfer will include trade-offs. That’s why we’ve put together a list of factors you should consider when choosing between cold and warm transfers in your contact center.
1. Personalization
Greater personalization is important if you want to make sure potential customers become loyal customers. By using a warm transfer, you personalize calls and make callers feel valued. Callers will always feel welcomed by an agent, adding a significant human element to your customer interaction.
To carry out a warm transfer, agents should be trained to be able to quickly establish a rapport with customers, as well as efficiently collect information about their issue. Rather than simply pressing a number and sending a customer to a different department, this will help the customer to feel that the agent is genuinely interested in their call, right from the start of their interaction.
The personalized experience should then continue through the next stage of the warm transfer, with the second agent already aware of the customer’s name and issue. They might pick up the conversation by asking ‘I hear that you’ve got an issue with your connectivity, is that right?’. This will make sure the customer feels they’re in the hands of people who care about them.
2. Customer experience
We’ve all experienced being quickly passed along to a second agent when we’ve called customer support, which is often frustrating and time-consuming. This only gets worse when, as a customer, you have to repeatedly explain complex issues to different agents.
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This can seriously damage your customer satisfaction levels. Your customers will think your organization is badly run and won’t see your customer service team as a cohesive group, able to deal with the customer’s whole context.
Customer satisfaction also partly depends on how quickly their issues can be dealt with. If they have to re-explain their problem many times through multiple cold call transfers, they’re unlikely to have a positive customer service experience. To provide a faster resolution for your customers, warm transfers are the way to go.
3. Productivity
It’s also important to consider how much time cold calls waste due to information being siloed between different departments. For example, when an agent passes a call to another agent without sharing any information, the second agent then needs to invest time finding out the relevant information.
Multiply this effect over a hundred customer service calls a day across your virtual call center and the impact on productivity is obvious. This is time that could be better spent dealing directly with customer issues and preemptively resolving possible problems with products or services.
How to choose between warm transfers and cold transfers
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We’ve highlighted the benefits of warm transfers. But it would be wrong to suggest that there’s no place for cold transfers in the modern business world.
In some cases, warm transfers can actually take up too much of your agents’ time, while in other cases warm transfers simply may not be needed. This means that you should have a clear understanding of when to choose the right kind of transfer, which means you need a highly skilled and well-trained customer service team.
Let’s say that your business has a system where customers can call you to confirm they want to continue with a subscription. In this case, you might want to use an IVR (interactive voice response) system that will allow these customers to be automatically transferred to your sales team. This would be a cold transfer that actually saves your agents a significant amount of time.
Similarly, there will likely be other times when cold transfers are the best option. For instance, if you experience a technical problem across your network that leads to a high call volume, it’s fair to assume that most customers will be calling about that issue. In these circumstances, quickly transferring customers to an IT specialist is the ideal solution.
Ultimately, though, warm transfers are usually the best way of dealing with customer calls, most of which involve complex issues and demand a personalized experience.
Warm transfers are also very useful when it comes to closing sales, as showing that you care during calls can be a great way to create a paying customer. (Video calls can also help you close sales by allowing you to demonstrate a product with a live demo.)
Warm transfers and cold transfers – different benefits, different impacts
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There’s no doubt that when they’re done badly, cold transfers can damage your customer experience and diminish caller satisfaction levels. Being endlessly referred to different agents, who each in turn know nothing about why you’re calling, is one of the most frustrating experiences a customer can have.
That’s why we think warm transfers can transform your organization. By making sure that your customers feel welcome and supported throughout a call, a warm transfer can help you boost your customer satisfaction and personalization levels, and your productivity.
Of course, and as mentioned, there are times when cold transfers are the right move. However, if you want to improve your customer experience, you should prioritize warm transfers. Start today to see the benefits!
Warm transfers FAQs
What are some of the things I can do to make sure I provide the best warm transfer experience?
Provide your agents with a very specific set of guidelines on how to carry out a warm transfer, and make sure all agents stick to it. Without consistency, you can’t provide your customers with a guaranteed level of service. For example, your agents should always refer to a customer by name. If this is only an intermittent feature, you run the risk of upsetting a customer. By having a rigorously implemented warm transfer structure, you know your customers will get the service they need, every time.
Is a warm transfer restricted to phone calls?
No. You can carry out a warm transfer on any communication channel involving customer/agent interaction. So, you can carry out a warm transfer via live chat, email, SMS, and social media, as well as over the phone.
Can you provide an example of a warm transfer?
Here’s an example of a successful warm transfer:
Your agent, speaking to your customer: I am so sorry to hear about your issue (specify issue in each case). My colleague is the right person to help you. If it’s alright with you, I will transfer the call to them. Before I do that, I’m going to briefly place the call on hold while I speak to my colleague. Kindly stay on the line.
The first agent, speaking to the second agent: Hi (use name), I have a customer on the line who needs help with (state issue). Their name is (use full name). I will transfer the call to you directly.
The first agent, speaking to your customer: Hi (use name), thank you for holding. I have (state agent name) on the line. I will now transfer your call.
Originally published Aug 13, 2024
