High call abandonment rates not only damage the customer experience, but they also lead to lost opportunities, reduced loyalty, and poor contact centre performance.
Whether you’re dealing with long wait times, confusing call-flows, or staffing gaps, reducing abandonment should be a key part of your CX strategy.
To find out more, we asked Jonathan “Kenu” Escobedo, Customer Success Manager at MiaRec, to outline a few practical ways contact centres can address high abandon rates.
Video: Improve Abandon Rate: Smart Routing Connect Callers to the Right Agent Faster
Watch the video below to hear Jonathan explain how contact centres can improve abandon rates by using smart routing:
With thanks to Jonathan “Kenu” Escobedo, Customer Success Manager at MiaRec, for contributing to this video.
This video was originally published in our article ‘15 Proven Tactics to Reduce Abandon Rate’
5 Ways to Improve Call Abandonment Rates
If delivering a smooth and positive experience is a priority, lowering your abandonment rate is essential, as Jonathan explains:
“There are few things that frustrate customers more than being stuck on hold without reaching an agent. High abandonment rates damage customer satisfaction and hurt your contact centre’s performance.
If delivering excellent customer experience is your goal, improving abandon rates should be a top priority.”
These five practical tips will help you keep more customers on the line and improve overall call outcomes.
1. Simplify Call Routing and IVR Menus
Long or confusing IVR menus are a common reason callers hang up, so you should reduce frustration by streamlining your IVR with clear, simple menu options, and ensuring customers can easily reach a live agent when needed.
“First: Optimize call routing and IVR navigation. Complicated, or lengthy, IVR menus are a common reason callers hang up. Simplify your IVR with clear concise options and make it easy to reach a live agent.
Smart routing, such as skills-based routing, connects callers to the right agents faster. This reduces transfers and minimizes frustration. A streamlined IVR reduces friction and keeps more callers on the line, which helps to improve abandon rates.”
Incorporate smart routing methods, like skills-based routing, to connect callers with the right agent the first time, reducing unnecessary transfers and delays.
2. Schedule Smarter With Workforce Management Tools
Abandonment rates often spike during peak times when too few agents are available.
With the help of workforce management (WFM) tools, you can use both historical and real-time data to forecast call volumes more accurately.
“Second: Staff strategically based on call volume trends with WFM. Call abandonment often spikes when there aren’t enough agents to handle incoming calls.
Workforce management tools help forecast demand using historical and real-time data, allowing you to schedule agents more effectively.
Having the right number of agents available at the right times reduces wait times and improves abandon rates.”
This allows for smarter scheduling that ensures you have the right number of agents in place at the right times, minimizing wait times and keeping more customers on the line.
3. Offer Estimated Wait Times and Callback Options
When callers don’t know how long they’ll be on hold, they’re more likely to hang up.
Providing estimated wait times sets expectations and increases trust, and even better, offering a virtual hold or callback feature allows customers to save their spot in the queue without staying on the phone.
“Third: Incorporate estimated wait times and offer virtual hold with callback options. No one likes being placed on hold, especially when there’s no idea of how long it’ll take.
Providing estimated wait times helps set expectations and builds trust. Better yet, offer a virtual hold option to allow customers to save their place in line and receive a callback when it’s their turn.
For added convenience and experience, let customers select a callback window that fits their schedule. By offering clear wait times and flexibility, you can reduce the chances of customer hang-ups and improve their overall customer experience.”
Giving them the option to choose a convenient callback window further enhances the experience and reduces drop-off.
4. Provide Strong Self-Service Alternatives
Not every customer needs to speak to an agent, so you could direct simple queries to well-designed self-service options like chatbots, FAQs, and knowledge bases.
“Fourth: Offer self-service solutions. Another excellent way to improve abandon rates is by giving customers the power to help themselves. Direct callers to self-service tools like FAQs, knowledge bases, or chatbots for simple issues.
Keep these resources easy to find, up-to-date, and simple to use. When customers can solve issues on their own, it frees up agent availability and improves abandon rates.”
These tools must be easy to access, accurate, and regularly updated, but when customers can resolve issues on their own, agents are freed up to handle more complex calls, which improves both efficiency and abandonment rates.
5. Use Data to Identify and Solve Problem Areas
Track and analyse abandonment patterns to pinpoint the cause – look at when spikes occur, how long callers typically wait before hanging up, and where they exit the IVR journey.
“Fifth: Monitor and analyse call data. Monitor trends such as when abandon rates spike, how long people wait before hanging up, or where they drop off in the IVR.
Use that information to adjust staffing, refine routing, or simplify call-flows. The better you understand your caller behaviour trends, the better you’ll be able to improve abandon rates for your contact centre.”
These insights can help you adjust staffing, fine-tune routing strategies, and simplify call-flows.
The more informed your decisions are, the more effective your abandonment reduction efforts will be.
If you are looking for more great insights from the experts, check out these next:
- 5 Ways AI Is Transforming the Agent Experience
- How to Break Bad Habits in Workforce Planning
- The Hidden Cost of Poor Scheduling
- Reducing Abandoned Calls by Understanding Why
Author: Robyn Coppell
Published On: 9th Oct 2025 - Last modified: 10th Oct 2025
Read more about - Video, Abandoned Calls, Call Handling, Call Routing, Jonathan Kenu Escobedo, MiaRec, Videos
