In your ideal tech world, everything is free. But, I hate to break it to you, that is a fantasy.
So, as you search for call flow software to make it easier to create call flows for your call center, you have to know how much to budget for purchasing your call flow software.
It can be overwhelming reviewing these different software types — so I’m hoping I can help.
Working for ScreenSteps — a knowledge base software company that helps call centers write and share their call flows — I’ve come across a variety of call flow software options. And there are a lot of options that have a wide range of costs.
My goal in this blog post is to point out the factors that go into the cost of call flow software so that you can decide what type of call flow tool you need for your call center.
By the end of this article, you should know what your call flow software options are as well as what goes into the cost of the software.
First, we should probably go over what call flow software is. What do we mean when we say call flow software?
Call flow software is a system that allows you to author your call flows. Using call flow software, you can build decision trees that help your agents complete procedures and move through different scenarios during a call.
Call flow software is not scripting software. However, you can include aspects of scripts within your call flows depending on what type of call flow you create.
Some call flow software is nestled within other applications. The call flow software is paired with a CRM, document library, or knowledge base to allow you to organize and share your software with end-users.
The answer to this question, unfortunately, is it depends. Call flow software companies have a variety of different situations and metrics — that I’ll go over below — that factor into the cost of their software.
What you need to know, is what you should be looking for to account for the price tag.
But, first, a slightly more satisfactory answer. Call flow software can cost anywhere from free to tens of thousands of dollars.
If you break it down to cost per user, call flow software can cost you as low as $5/user per month and as much as $16/user per month.
Remember: With software, you get what you pay for. That means, if you are using free software, you will have limited tools, limited storage, etc. With higher subscriptions, you will have access to the more advanced features the company offers.
How do call flow software companies decide what to charge your call center? Here are five factors that help determine the price of the call flow software.
How do you want to use your call flow software? Do you just want an easier and faster way to create your call flows? Or, do you want a system that allows you to share and organize your call flows as well?
It’s important to understand what you actually need from your software to reach your goals. Call flow software provides two primary options to help you achieve your goals.
If your company is primarily looking for call flow software so that you can document your call flows, you can get a call flow software that is solely dedicated to authoring content. Aka your call flows are documented for documenting sake.
This software helps you pass the written portion of compliance audits or prove that you have procedures documented. However, it doesn’t focus on helping agents do their jobs.
If your company is looking for call flow software that will help improve agent performance — meaning you intend agents to use these call flows regularly on their calls — you probably want a more advanced call flow software.
This software could include features that allow you to author, organize, store, and share your call flows. It makes the call flows accessible for your agents to use on a call.
Will the second option be more expensive? Yes. But, depending on your call center’s goals, it can be worth it.
When people think of call flow software, they usually have one of two ideas in mind: (1) an authoring tool or (2) an automated tool.
While you write call flows for both of these tools, they are very different in their purpose.
A call flow software tool used for authoring has the sole purpose of helping your write and organize your policies, processes, and procedures into a logical and efficient guide.
This usage case is all about creating call flows for agents to use as opposed to technology that handles the calls without agent support.
Call flow software that focuses on authoring can be free or cost as much as $16/per user per month.
One form of call flow software is call flow automation software. This is an application — like interactive voice response (IVR) — that allows your companies to automate customer service.
This involves setting up systems that allow computers to handle calls. A call flow automation software system can handle intake calls, route those calls, and log the call data.
This is not the form of call flow software we are covering in this blog post. But, generally speaking, call flow automation software has a wide range in cost. It can cost anywhere from $15/ user per month to $150/ user per month.
Each type of call flow is a form of a decision tree. Your call center agents are presented with questions. Then, depending on the callers’ answers, the agent uses the answer to follow the next step of a procedure. That can branch off in multiple directions depending on the different scenarios and outcomes.
There are three ways to design and write these call flow decision trees.
The most basic format is standard written articles. It’s your simple typing format that you used for writing papers in school or sending an email. It relies on using bolding, indentations, italics, numbers, etc. to organize your call flows into steps.
Often, these types of call flows are used if you want to include scripts within your call flow.
Common applications you may have used in the past for this include Microsoft Word or Google Docs.
Below, is an example of a call flow created in Microsoft Word.
🔍 Related: Call Center Scripts: What Are They, Why Write Them, and Best Practices
A flowchart is a visual representation of a call flow. Using shapes and lines, you show different intersection points in a call flow where a decision is required. Each answer leads to another question (or decision point) in the call flow until the call is completed.
Below, is an example of a simple call flow written as a flowchart.
🔍 Related: How to Make a Flowchart For Your Call Center Agents (5 Best Practices)
Interactive workflow articles provide step-by-step instructions by asking questions and having your agents click an answer according to your callers’ responses.
It functions as a website and requires a cloud-based system.
In essence, it is like an online quiz. It asks a question, your agent responds, and it moves to the next screen according to the button they clicked. It is responsive to the different scenarios and outcomes you write in your call flows.
Below, is an example of a workflow article in ScreenSteps.
Within the different call flow software categories, every company has different features and tools they offer.
Consider which call flow software features and tools are critical for your call center to achieve your goals.
Here are some of the more common features for standard written articles, flowcharts, and workflow articles.
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Standard articles |
Flowcharts |
Workflow Articles |
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If you need help deciding which features and tools are important to your company, read this article: How to Choose Call Flow Software For Your Call Center (6 Factors).
It will help you ask the right questions during your search so you can choose the best call flow software for your business.
Every call flow software company uses different measurements to decide the price of their software. These metrics can drive the cost of your contract.
Here are four common ways call flow software companies charge for their software.
How many agents will be using your call flow software? Often these software companies will charge for each seat or login to the account.
That means, at a subscription for $10/user per month, a team of 25 would cost $250/per month.
Sometimes a software company will have you purchase their system as a one-time purchase. Typically, these systems are native.
More commonly, companies charge on a monthly or annual basis. These systems are typically cloud-based.
How many call flows documents, flowcharts, etc. do you need to create? Some call flow software companies charge according to the amount of cloud storage space you need by calculating the number of documents you create.
Most companies have different subscription levels. They start with a basic offering — which is sometimes free — and move to enterprise-level plans.
These plans get more expensive the higher you go, but that includes more features and tools.
With enterprise plans, you often get a cost break because you have a large group of users. This brings your per-user cost down.
Call flow software covers a large spectrum of applications, which makes the cost of call flow software cover a wide range.
If you know what you want to achieve with your call flow software, it will be easier for you to find the right software fit for your call center.
ScreenSteps is a knowledge base software company that makes it fast and easy to document, store, and share call flows with your call center reps. You can create standard articles and workflow articles in minutes. Then your agents can access them in the cloud in as few as two clicks.
Ready to investigate your options for call flow software? Check out some of the best tools for creating flowcharts for your call center.