The Benefits of IVR Systems for Call Centers

Follow these 10 tips to design and implement asuccessful call center IVR system:

Simplify the IVR Menu. Complex IVR menus with too many layers and choices often lead to frustration, prompting callers to push "0" to speak with an agent-or shout "representative!"

Prioritize Calls for Your Most Important Customers. IVR systems allow you to prioritize incoming calls based on caller value (i.e., VIP status). You can design your call center IVR system to route VIP customers to a priority queue, minimizing their wait time, or to a more highly skilled team that can quickly and accurately assist them.

Use a Natural-Sounding Voice. Callers don't want to talk to a robot. Use an IVR system that sounds like a real, friendly person, to humanize the experience of speaking to a computer.

Provide Menus in Various Languages. If you have offices and customers in different countries, your callers will speak different languages. Allow customers to choose from menus in multiple languages.

Keep Menu Options Shorter Than 30 Seconds. Design your menu efficiently so callers can quickly get the help they need. Keep your IVR menu options clear, concise, and to the point. The average time when customers abandon their call is2 minutes and 36 seconds. If it takes too long to navigate your IVR system, callers will get tired of waiting and hang up.

Update Your Menu Regularly. Change your IVR greeting and menu options as your products, services, and policies/procedures change. Don't be one of those businesses that still refers to outdated Covid-19 protocols.

Provide an Easy Way to Speak to a Live Agent. Even when you offer the best self-service tools, some callers still prefer to talk to a real person, especially for complex issues. Don't bury the option to speak with an agent too deep in your menu.

Measure the Effectiveness of Your IVR system.Track these call center metrics to determine whether your IVR system is improving the customer experience:

• Average handling time (AHT, including IVR navigation, IVR hold time and agent interaction). If the AHT is too long, you probably need to redesign your IVR system.
• Call abandon rate. Lengthy wait times and confusing IVR menus frustrate callers, leading to abandoned calls.
• Call containment rate (the percentage of calls completely handled by the IVR). A poor call containment rate indicates that the IVR system is poorly configured, has confusing prompts or is mishandling caller requests.
• Zero out rate. Callers who are delayed or frustrated by the IVR system will press 0 to bypass the IVR and speak with an agent.

Develop a Seamless Consumer Experience With Your Omnichannel System. You can't improve your customer experience without improving the experience across all channels. Take stock of what channels customers use to interact with you, then map out customer journeys across these channels so that customers can come in at any point without losing context .

Implement intent-based call routing. When customers call, a journey orchestration (JO) system determines their intent by analyzing their voice responses to IVR prompts using natural language processing. Based on their intent, the JO system directs their call to the right agent group, reducing call transfers. The system provides a call transcript describing the problem to the agent during handoff, so customers don't have to repeat themselves.

Use a decisioning engine to improve the IVR experience. A customer journey orchestration system analyzes interactions and customer behaviors from other technologies (e.g., customer relationship management, billing) to determine the next best action in the call center. The JO system uses natural language processing to analyze customer responses to IVR prompts, identifying intent and needs. The decisioning system determines the most appropriate response or action based on customer information (intent, account information and behavioral patterns) and business rules or logic. The best response may be delivering personalized prompts through the IVR or routing customers to a specific agent group based on customer needs (e.g., tier 2 support).

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