If your company has a call center, you most likely use Interactive Voice Response (IVR) for some aspect of your contact center program. This model has been around for years in contact centers, but don’t let that fool you – when kept up-to-date and used well, IVR remains a dynamic and important part of contact centers through its many iterations.
So what exactly is IVR, and how does it work? An IVR is an automated digital system that uses voice commands and keypad responses to communicate with callers. Most doctor’s offices, insurance companies, airlines, and telecommunication companies use at least a basic version of IVR.
Interactive Voice Response is one component of contact center automation, but another component is the use of Intelligent Virtual Agents (IVAs). Instead of prerecorded prompts to accomplish basic tasks like accessing account information or rerouting calls, IVAs are able to simulate conversation that allows customers to better meet their end goals.
However, to get the most out of your IVA system, an up-to-date IVR system with sufficient reporting should be used to track and measure key performance indicators (KPIs) so that IVR and IVA can continually improve in their abilities to automate tasks, reduce costs, and improve customer satisfaction.
The presence of IVR in the contact center space for so long means prioritizing its optimization and growth can sometimes get put on the back burner. But the truth is an optimized and efficient IVR system is invaluable for your company.
This blog will explore 5 IVR best practices for your contact center to optimize and implement - it’s time to ensure your IVR system will serve you well for years to come.
We hate to break it to you, but your users tend to dread picking up the phone to make a call to a company. Most users anticipate long wait times, confusing automated instructions, and the unknown of whether their question will truly get answered. Your call center has the opportunity to change the way customers perceive IVR by creating a responsive and efficient IVR system. In addition to the process, the experience of interacting with an IVR is crucial. Create an IVR menu that uses a personable tone in a “real person” sounding voice.
The biggest pain point for organizations using IVR systems is a lack of updates and how quickly they become legacy systems. This Kenway case study illustrates how legacy IVR systems can cause major setbacks for organizations — and how changes can be implemented to revamp old IVR systems and bring your contact center back to life.
The more education is prioritized for your IVR contact center team, the better they will understand the initial IVR process and the more prepared they will be when callers enter their line. When your human team is on the same page as your IVR, phone calls are easier for everyone.
Prioritize your customer’s needs by conducting post-call surveys for call center users. Gathering data is important, but so is hearing real-time, candid feedback from customers in their own words. Regularly evaluating your IVR system is a practice that will increase your attentiveness to the program and keep the need for upkeep top of mind.
IVR reporting metrics are incredibly useful for keeping a regular pulse on how your customers perceive their call center and IVR experiences. Kenway is proud to provide IVR performance metrics and reporting – we’ve listed a few of our favorite IVR reporting metrics here:
A low average call length can indicate that the IVR system is efficient in handling customer requests and reducing wait times, while a high average call length may indicate that the IVR system is too complex or confusing for customers.
Containment rate measures the percentage of calls that successfully complete their intended task using the IVR system without the need for human intervention. According to Emplifi, 35% of customers want a complete self-service option to resolve their issue.
This metric is important as it measures how effective the IVR system is in understanding and interpreting customer responses and routing calls to the right agents, reducing frustration, agent average handle time, and wait times.
This measures the percentage of calls that hang up or are disconnected from the IVR before reaching an agent or completing a self-service task.
A high customer satisfaction rating indicates that the IVR system is effective and efficient in meeting customer needs and providing a positive experience.
IVR data collection and management are critical to your ability to report on the above metrics. Insights into the strengths and weaknesses of the IVR offer opportunities to improve customer experience and cost savings.
Specifically, companies should evaluate each prompt in their IVR and track its responsiveness to include, at each stage, the customer’s average working time and how many callers abandon, opt-out, or transfer to an agent.
Companies should also monitor the IVR’s ability to route calls in the minimum number of steps; because the sooner a caller hears the correct prompt, the sooner the customer will resolve their inquiry. Expediting the customer’s engagement with the IVR also will improve the IVR’s first call resolution which typically increases customer satisfaction.
Collecting data from your IVR is just the tip of the iceberg — gleaning useful information based on your data is key to truly improving your call center systems.
Our contact center solutions consultants help turn data into information with a unique methodology and set of metrics to evaluate the health and success of your IVR. Through information insight capabilities, using IVR KPIs, and providing optimizations for existing IVR systems, Kenway is dedicated to helping your organization use your IVR for all its worth. Partner with Kenway for increased savings, reduced call times, and happier customers.
Using the IVR best practices included in this article combined with our information insight capability, your company can turn your IVR data into useful, actionable information to improve the customer experience and reduce costs.
For the past 15 years, Kenway Consulting has helped design, implement, test, and report on IVRs for our customers – reach out today to connect!
An IVR is an element of contact center automation that relies on prerecorded menu options to direct callers to the correct agent or solution using voice commands and keypad responses.
Interactive Voice Response (IVR) is a prerecorded menu with limited options, while an Intelligent Virtual Agent (IVA) is a virtual agent that can have in-depth conversations and provide more robust solutions for a caller.
Some IVR best practices include:
IVR authentication is used to verify a user’s identity through a PIN or voice recognition. This is a useful tool that also requires keen attention to security and compliance concerns.
