I have a confession to make. I sometimes hate IVR as much as the next person. It’s true, despite the fact that our company makes a living in the IVR industry. So what’s up?
Is the problem that IVR applications seem to prevent a customer or potential customer from actually speaking with a live person when they really want to? Or is it a more fundamental problem of incorrect usage of IVR technologies? Frankly it can be both, but most of the time I submit the problem is the latter…poor application usage.
If IVR were a truly “evil” technology (as some like to gleefully proclaim), no one would use it. If IVR applications could not have a positive impact a firm’s operational effectiveness and customer satisfaction, firms would not invest the money and time to implement these systems.
When considering the use of IVR technologies (whether you are enhancing an existing application, or considering your first usage), it is important to clearly understand the desired business results as well as the impact on the user’s experience. Like all things in life, if the experience is not positive or at least an effective experience, you increase the risk of losing an existing customer, or alienating a potential new customer.
There are many considerations that go into a successfully deployed IVR application, far too many to discuss in this blog entry. But as a starter, consider some of these basic concepts from a user’s point of view as you evaluate how to best deploy your IVR application.
- Is your IVR application going to be used for simple or complex information retrieval or transactions?
- Is the information being sought from the IVR system going to require cognitive human decision making skills, or primarily straight forward data retrieval or capture?
- Will you provide a trap door that allows a caller to “zero” out and speak with a person? If not, how many times have you ever heard the IVR introduction to say there are no operators standing by?
- Have you studied or polled your customers as to what information they would prefer to retrieve from an IVR system vs. what you want to provide from the IVR application?
- How easy and at what point in the application do you allow someone to exit the IVR application and speak with a live agent?
- Are you going to force the user to listen to a series of commercials before they can interact with the system, or do you actually ask the caller if they would like to hear additional information?
- How logical (and effective) is the actual call flow when presenting the options to the caller?
The fundamental message we hope you receive is “Put the Customer First” when using IVR systems. Technology is rarely the primary reason behind customer dissatisfaction, but it can surely exacerbate the problem.
Have a really frustrating experience with an IVR application or a great example of a good use of an IVR application? We would love to hear your comments.