by Glen Taylor
Let’s Face It, We Love Automation!
Think about it: how many of us choose to go to the bank to withdraw money when we can access an ATM? Would you wait in line for an airline ticketing agent when you can check in at a kiosk or, better yet, from the Web before you even leave your home? When you consider that we use our thumbs to type on tiny little keyboards rather than talk on the phone, there’s no denying that we love to push buttons to communicate. So, why is it that Interactive Voice Response (IVR) applications have gotten such a bad reputation?
Companies use Interactive Voice Response (IVR) technology because it saves a great deal of money. Minute for minute, IVR costs only one tenth to one hundredth as much as employing an agent. And therein lies the problem: most annoying user interfaces have been designed primarily to improve contact center efficiency, while neglecting the user experience.
Design Your IVR with Your Callers in Mind
The fact is, your customers are calling your business for a reason. If you serve them quickly, efficiently, and with respect, your IVR application will increase customer satisfaction significantly, resulting in improved brand loyalty and repeat business. The overriding principle to keep in mind is the IVR equivalent of the Golden Rule: “Treat your callers as you would want to be treated if you were calling your own business.” In other words, design every aspect of the application with consideration of the caller’s perspective.
First, understand who your callers are. Are they a mixed demographic or a homogeneous community–the very young, very old? Do they speak one or more languages? Are they casual callers, or do they call frequently? These characteristics play a huge role in the design of an intuitive IVR application that your customers will appreciate using. When an IVR application speaks to callers in a clear, concise way with words that are easily understood, callers respond favorably.
Next, don’t waste the caller’s time. The length of the IVR interaction has a cost to you and to your caller. One of the worst offenders is a message telling the caller to use your company website, often when the website directs customers to call! In today’s tech-savvy world, no one needs to hear a long winded exhortation to “use our website.” In fact, it’s more likely they are calling about something they couldn’t accomplish on-line; sending them back to the Internet is a plain insult.
Make it a Smooth Ride
These are just a few examples of the numerous best practices used in effective end-user dialog design. Other examples include:
- Access all the available information about the caller to quickly and efficiently route them to the best resource to resolve their issue. >>Learn More
- When your contact center experiences call spikes, give your callers a choice of how they wait by indicating expected wait times and offering a callback option. >>Learn More
- Don’t wait for your customers to call you for important information that you know they want. Proactively notify them by implementing outbound capabilities. >>Learn More
- Keep your system current by periodically reviewing your voice applications to ensure that they are still relevant, achieving your business goals and, most importantly, still satisfying your customers. >>Learn More
These best practices and numerous others are employed every day by INI on behalf of its customers and their callers, building economically valuable and customer satisfying applications. Consider fine-tuning your Avaya portal by adding IVR applications, upgrading outdated applications, and optimizing existing applications to deliver value to your business. Contact INI to learn more about solutions that can improve your customer’s experience and increase satisfaction!