Customers are now more likely to take care of matters themselves before reaching out to a live representative (in fact 81% of all customers across all industries)[1]
A self-service Interactive Voice Response (IVR) allows the customer to use their telephone keypad to be directed to the correct department or location.
There are many business benefits to implementing an IVR:
- Automation of simple, repetitive calls create cost savings and efficiencies
- The cost of a self-service call should be significantly cheaper than a live customer service agent call
- Enhanced customer experience through 24/7 availability of services and customers are directed straight to their desired location or department
- Boost agent productivity and reduce agent turnover through better use of resources
- Reduce wait times
When self-service is done correctly, it can leave a positive impact on customers. When your IVR is poor quality, it can leave your customers with a bad taste of your organisation.
Applying an IVR within your Contact Centre
How can you implement an IVR that will enhance, not hinder the experience your customers have with your business?
Follow our 5 tips:
1. Don’t view channels in isolation
Voice is only one channel. You should evaluate all customer engagement channels across your organisation, not just your IVR, to evaluate their suitability for self-service and to determine where they fit within your overarching customer engagement strategy
2. Incorporate your IVR with your CRM system
Tracking and recording all customer interactions across your organisation – from your IVR through to your web chat – ensures there is one single source of customer data. By using data from your CRM, you can tailor voice messages based on your customers’ profile, providing a more personalised experience.
3. Keep it simple
Don’t make your IVR overly complex. Are all the pieces of information within your IVR necessary? Or are they just confusing your customers? Minimise the number of menu levels you incorporate. We can only remember an innate amount of information so don’t present your customers with too many options at once.
4. Integration of call centre technologies
By integrating other technologies into your contact centre, you can enhance the customer experience.
At ipSCAPE, we integrate WebServices Connectors (interactions between two systems) to create an intelligent IVR. You can provide customers with relevant information such as their account balance or location-based outage notifications if you are a utility company.
Other integrations to consider could include payment systems. ipSCAPE Pay combined with your IVR allows you to collect payments securely over the telephone. This is useful if you are seeking membership renewals or if you are a not for profit carrying out a fundraising campaign.
5. Promote your IVR to your customers
You’ve built your awesome self-service IVR, but do your customers know about it? You need your customers to use it to achieve the desired cost savings and to meet increasing customer demands.
Inform your customers of your IVR through available marketing channels. It won’t be long before they are using it in their everyday interactions with your organisation.
Getting your self-service right is a balancing act. Both staffed and self-service options are important, and you should always strive for excellence in both
Contact ipSCAPE to enhance your IVR options in your call centre.
[1] “Kick Ass Customer Service”, Harvard Business Review