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The IVR (Interactive Voice Response) system is a very powerful tool that can help your customers get more information, faster. However, understanding the IVR journey and how to create an engaging experience for your customers is critical. Here are eight best practices for creating an engaging IVR experience:
Understand the IVR Journey
- Understand the IVR Journey
- Understand your customers’ journey and what they need, why they need it, and how you can help them reach their goals. Your goal is to get them from point A to point B as quickly as possible. So you can get back to making money. You want to make sure that every step in this process is easy for them. From finding a product or service that meets their needs to purchase it online or over the phone line (if applicable). All the way to receiving feedback on how well your product worked out for them.
- Determine What Questions Potential Customers Have About Your Company Or Service(s).
Provide Context and Request Information
- Provide context for the customer. When you’re calling a company. It’s important to provide a reason for your call. You could say something along the lines of “Hi! I’m calling because I’d like to learn more about [company].”
- Ask for information in an engaging way. If you ask your customers questions that are open-ended and not too specific (e.g., “How old are you?”). They’ll be able to tell what kind of assistance they need from the IVR system by how they respond. And this helps build trust with them as well as reduce any anxiety around being put on hold or connected with someone who isn’t familiar with their needs/desires.
- Be clear about when it’s okay for customers not knowing what questions might help them better understand why they’re being called back on hold. Otherwise, there’s no point in making calls unless there’s some kind of urgency associated with needing assistance immediately.
Keep the Menu Structure Simple
The menu structure should be simple and easy to navigate, understand, read, hear and speak. It should also be simple enough that someone can easily remember the options they’ve selected on their next call.
Use Your Available Real Estate Wisely
One of the most important things to remember when creating an IVR experience is that you need to use your available real estate wisely. This means using all the real estate in your system as efficiently as possible. So that every bit of information provided can be used for maximum effectiveness.
For example, if you have a question about a product or service being promoted by an advertiser and you’re unsure what they stand for. It makes sense to allow them an opportunity to explain themselves before moving on with another call-taker. If they don’t want to share their message with someone else (they may not think it’s relevant), then let them know right away. They’ll appreciate this courtesy and will likely thank you later on after all. It’s not like no one ever asks questions about products or services before making a purchase decision anyway (or so we hope).
Personalize the Experience for Customers
Personalization is a great way to create an engaging experience for customers. You can personalize the IVR by using their name, location, and other information about them in your greeting and offer. For example:
- Use the customer’s name when you answer their call.
- Give them information about where they are calling from (if it’s not obvious).
- Let them know what account they’re calling on (if it’s not obvious).
You could also ask questions like: “What is the last phone number that I called?” Or “Who was on the line with me when I called?”
Give Customers the Choice to Self-Serve Anywhere in the Menu Structure
In a customer-friendly way, set up your menu structure so that customers can skip the IVR system and self-serve anywhere in the menu. This will encourage them to stay on your site and make a purchase. Which is an important part of every call center’s overall strategy.
You might also consider allowing customers to skip directly to specific items on their orders. For example, if you offer products like “cookies” or “flowers,” allow them to order directly from those options. Rather than having them go through an entire funnel before reaching their desired product type (e.g., “order cookies”). This way there’s no need for them to hear all of your company’s products. They only need one button pressed at this point.
You could also allow customers who have already made an inquiry about one item – say. Flowers – To jump right into purchasing without hearing any more information about why these particular flowers are right for them. Instead, let them just move forward with making their order without having heard anything else first.
Provide a Way to Skip the IVR System Altogether
The best way to make sure that your customers never have to talk to an IVR system is by providing a way for them to skip it. If you don’t, you will lose customers.
Here are some options:
- Call center – You can use a call center as your customer service hub if you want all communication with your company handled by people who speak English and understand how technology works. This option is also great because it allows for one-on-one interaction with customers and gives them access to automated systems like IVRs (and other perks like free shipping). It’s important that these employees have training on how these tools work. But even more importantly they should know how not only the technology works. But also what questions might come up when interacting with people via these types of devices. Website – If there’s no need for direct human contact in terms of answering questions or resolving issues regarding products or services being provided through this website. Then this could be an excellent choice as well. Because again it would eliminate any need for interacting directly with humans during those calls. This means less frustration on both sides since each party involved knows what’s going on right away without having wasted time waiting around while someone else takes care of things first. Phone number
Measure, Test, and Optimize Often
Measure, Test, and Optimize Often.
It’s important to measure the results of your IVR experience so that you can see how effective it is. For example, if you want to improve call abandonment rates by 10% over a period of time. This means that every day for six months (180 days). We will measure how many calls are abandoned compared with earlier measurements across those same 180 days. In this way, we can see what improvements need to be made in order to reach our desired result.
You should also measure things such as:
- How much time do people spend on hold when they call into an IVR system?
- What questions come up most frequently during an IVR call?
- Which customer service agents are doing their job well/poorly/not at all
These eight tips will help you create an effective, engaging IVR experience for your customers.
- Understand the customer journey. Before you can create an effective, engaging IVR experience for your customers, you need to understand how they are going through their journeys. What are they trying to do? Where is their process currently happening? How long does it take them? What kind of information do they need at each step of the way?
- Provide context and request information. The IVR needs to provide context around what’s happening in order for a user’s responsibility not just to be a canned response. But also to show that care has been taken with their input by making sure someone actually spoke with them before answering the call (or returning calls). In addition, if possible give users access to resources. Such as documentation or videos related specifically to solving specific problems. So there is no confusion about which options should be chosen first when navigating through menus.
Conclusion
We hope you’ve enjoyed reading about these eight tips for creating a more engaging IVR experience. We think it is important to remember that an IVR system is a valuable tool and should be treated as such. By following these best practices, you can ensure that your customers feel like valued customers and not just numbers on the phone.
