What Is a Warm Transfer? Warm Transfer vs Cold Transfer Explained

Few things are more frustrating than calling a business or contact center, explaining the reason for your call, getting transferred to another agent – then having to start again from scratch 😠 

This is an all-too-common experience. But transfers don’t have to spell bad news for the caller. In fact, warm transfers often speed up resolution times, resulting in better outcomes for everyone.

What are warm transfers? 😊

A warm transfer happens when an employee realizes that they’re not the best person to handle a customer’s query. So they reach out to a colleague (often in a different department and/or a more senior role), share relevant details about the query, then transfer the call – that way, the caller doesn’t have to repeat themselves. 

Here’s a more detailed look at the warm transfer process:

👉 Step #1: Caller gets through to employee #1 and explains the purpose of their call.

👉 Step #2: Employee #1 captures the key details and explains that a colleague can help with the caller’s query.

👉 Step #3: Employee #1 places the caller on hold and speaks to employee #2, explaining the reason for the call and sharing any other key details (like previous issues the caller has got in touch about). 

👉 Step #4: Employee #1 tells the caller that they’re about to be transferred.

👉 Step #5: Employee #1 stays on the line, introduces employee #2, then dials off.

👉 Step #6: Employee #2 (briefly) shares the reason for the call, asks further questions as necessary, then sets out next actions.

Not only does it make for a better customer experience, but it also leads to swifter resolution times. Everyone wins.

The difference between a warm and cold transfer 🤔

As you likely guessed, a cold transfer – also known as a blind transfer – is the polar opposite of a warm transfer.

Rather than providing a kind of concierge service for the caller, cold transfers either involve the caller being transferred to a different employee with zero introduction, or worse, passed to a ringing line and left to wait on their own.

After which they have to explain the purpose of their call all over again.

When to use warm and cold transfers 🔁

On the face of things, warm transfers are clearly better than cold ones. They make the customer feel more special and cut out pointless repetition, meaning everything gets sorted faster and in a friendlier manner. So they’re always the best option, right?

Not necessarily. There are scenarios in which cold transfers are the smart choice, such as when a business employs a receptionist to answer calls.

When should you use warm transfers?

Warm transfers are the preferred choice for contact centers, where a caller might think their query is aimed at one department – but, in reality, it’s better handled by a different department. 

For example, say a home services business has one department handling sales and another for active accounts. A customer who’s recently scheduled an appointment might want to change it, so they call through to the sales team who handled their original query. But actually they should be speaking to the accounts team, so they get a warm transfer to the correct department 🤝 

When should you use cold transfers?

By contrast, cold transfers are generally the best fit for businesses with a receptionist, an answering service, or some other form of call handling solution. Especially if the business deals with complex, technical topics that a “layperson” would struggle to discuss, like accounting or law.

In those scenarios, the person who first answers the call likely lacks any expert knowledge of the subject matter. So the best thing they can do is find out the broad reason for the call, then pass the caller onto a specialist as quickly as possible.

The benefits of a warm transfer ✅

While warm transfers aren’t the right choice in every scenario, they generally feel friendlier, more professional, and more human. Plus a well-executed warm transfer can lead to faster call resolution times, keeping your customers happy and boosting your efficiency and productivity.

Less repetition

Repetition is bad for all parties. It wastes time, making your business less productive. And it frustrates your customers, which means they’ll be less patient when it comes to solving their queries.

In the worst-case eventuality, callers could get so annoyed that they decide they simply don’t want to do business with you any longer. In which case you’ve lost a valuable customer.

More accurate transfers

A less obvious benefit of warm transfers is that they more-or-less eradicate the risk of accidentally misdirecting calls. Think about it: the employee who originally answered the call has taken the time to speak to a colleague, then stay on the line to introduce the caller – so there’s little chance of them somehow sending the caller to a random department. And even if they do get it wrong, they’ll still be present to correct their mistake.

More personalized interactions

Personalization has rapidly become a crucial element of customer support. Per McKinsey:

👉 71% of consumers expect companies to deliver personalized interactions

👉 76% feel frustrated when interactions aren’t personalized

👉 72% expect the businesses they buy from to recognize them as individuals and know their interests

Warm transfers feel more personal than cold ones because the employee who receives the transfer gets to greet the caller by name and explain that they understand the reason for their call.

Faster issue resolution

To be clear, warm transfers won’t automatically improve resolution times. A receptionist at a law firm probably won’t speed things up by discussing a caller’s complex legal issue with a senior partner – they just need to identify the purpose of the call and transfer it to the right person, ASAP 🏃‍♀️ 

However, warm transfers cut down on repetition and ensure the employee who ultimately handles the call has a clear understanding of what’s required. Which, in turn, can lead to faster resolutions.