When your call centre is experiencing high volumes of calls and customer service requests, interactive voice response technology can provide much-needed relief for your team along with your valued customers.
In this post, we’ll explore the meaning of interactive voice response technology and how it can improve your customer experience…
What is IVR?
We all know that customers want as much help and advice as possible on a self-service basis. Things like voice-over-internet protocol (VoIP) make this possible on an interactive basis, but it isn’t the only tech available to facilitate improved customer service.
Interactive voice response (IVR) is an automated phone system technology that allows incoming callers to easily access information without needing to speak to a human operator.
This reduces the demand for live agents to redirect calls to the appropriate departments. However, it doesn’t eliminate the usefulness of your call centre team since they will have more free time for complicated customer service issues.
IVR allows you to utilise the menu options available through touch-tone keypad selection or speech recognition, allowing businesses to focus the tech on answering common customer queries without the need for interaction from customer service reps.
How do IVR Systems Work?
IVR works by providing the caller with recorded voice prompts that will ask them to state their reason for calling. They will then be asked to either press a button or give a specific verbal response corresponding to their reason for calling.
The response can then be used by the system to route the customer to the correct information or an agent if they require one.
For example, if your customer needed support about a recent purchase, they would hear a series of choices such as “Press one for sales support, press two to speak to an agent”. They would then press one on the keypad which would direct them to the correct route for their customer query.
Benefits of Interactive Voice Response for Your Customers
IVR technology makes it easier for your team to solve specific problems and, as a result, meet the unique needs of customers.
So, what other benefits are there for your loyal customers?
With reliable and easy-to-use IVR, customers are less likely to be routed to the wrong department or to somebody unable to solve their issues quickly and efficiently. This means they will be less likely to have a frustrating experience where they don’t get the answers they need straight away.
Customers are directed immediately to the agent or department that is most capable of meeting their needs. Not only will this reduce AHT, but it will also reduce the likelihood that customers will need to transfer to different departments.
Automation simply streamlines customer service. Customers can effectively solve their problems and gain the information they’re looking for without needing to speak to an agent. This means your agents have more time to handle complicated queries resulting in better productivity and results.
How to Use IVR to Your Advantage
Now you know how it can help your customers to get a better experience, you’ll need to know how to effectively implement it within your call centre. To help your business get the most out of IVR, here are some top tips to remember…
Looking for customer service that really speaks to your contacts? Gnatta makes interactions matter, delivering quality exchanges and quicker responses that meet your customers’ expectations.