Call line identification is the ability of a person receiving a call to view the telephone number of the caller.
At one point, this was a pretty impressive ability! However, cell phones have been able to do this for decades making it a standard expectation for most people.
Somehow, though, relatively few inbound call centers have this same capability. As a result, it’s rare to reach a customer service agent who already knows who you are.
CLI for the inbound contact center
There’s an obvious benefit to identifying callers as they connect with your business. A large part of a typical conversation is taken entirely with figuring out who is calling and what they want.
With CLI in place, businesses can take significant steps towards solving that.
Identifying a phone number is simple, and it tends to be one piece of data that you have for every customer.
Provided that your telephony is connected with the CRM there’s no reason that you couldn’t identify callers.
What about understanding that caller’s issue?
CRM and Helpdesk integration may be the answer here as well. A caller with an active Helpdesk ticket is very likely to be calling in relation to that topic.
Even if that’s not the case, general information in the CRM will help the agent to provide service.
CLI for the outbound contact center
CLI can also increase the rate at which customers or leads answer calls placed by the contact center.
It’s important to appear presentable, legitimate and professional. Modern VoIP phone systems make it simple by allowing users to select the number which is displayed on the recipient’s device.
The aim is usually to present a local area number to every recipient as these are considered more trustworthy.
Ensure That Your Call Line Identification is Consistent
If you are defining the outbound number which appears on users devices, it’s important to be consistent over multiple contacts.
It may confuse your customers if your caller identification displays different information each time you call. Most phone systems allow you to put default call line identification in your entire organization.
This is also useful for differentiating the departments within your organization.
