

That isn't an efficient use of labor resources. Queue times will never be zero because that would require many agents to be sitting idle, just waiting for a call. Some of these customers may not reach out again, which could mean lost revenue for the business. High average queue times are to be avoided because they negatively impact customer satisfaction – after all, who likes waiting in line? High queue times also drive abandon rates up as customers get tired of waiting and disconnect. It can ensure that real-time interactions such as phone calls or web chats are handled with higher priority than non-real-time channels such as an email.Ĭontact centers very actively watch their queues, focusing on how many customers are in the queues and how long they have been there.

A universal queue is an important aspect of contact center routing, as it allows handling incoming contact volumes across channels in a balanced way. Phone queues are the most well-known queues, but with the introduction of digital methods of service other interaction channels, such as emails, chats or text messages, can now also be put into a queue until an agent is available to handle them. If you have ever called customer service and had to listen to jazzy music while you waited to speak with an agent, you've been in a queue. In contact centers, a queue is where customers virtually wait to interact with an agent.
