What Is An IVR and Why Business Needs Smart IVR System

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Bad customer service experiences tend to stay with you for long and leaves a negative impression of the brand which affects your next decision like whether to interact with that brand in future. I had a similar experience while shopping online for gifts this Christmas season. To ensure that all the gifts reach on time I placed the orders way in advance, but still faced late delivery issues, I understand it’s the peak season and a slight delay was expected. But, things got worst when I called the customer service of the e-commerce giant whom I trusted with all my festive gifts. I was stuck at the initial customer service IVR which was unable to lead me anywhere to resolve my queries! Brands need to understand that an IVR system is supposed to help customers and not spoil their service experience.

An IVR might be the first touchpoint in a brand’s customer service cycle, and if it is not managed in the right way then it will simply to push away the customers because today’s customers want instant gratification and will not take delay or errors for granted. So, now the onus lies on the businesses to take charge and ensure they facilitate a better experience for their customers.

If you are in a business-to-customer (B2C) domain, then this blog might help you understand the basic anatomy of an IVR system and how you can optimize your IVR solution to deliver a better customer experience instead of driving them away from your business.

Check out the infographic, how does IVR work?

 IVR System

What is an IVR and Types of IVR

As per the simple definition, interactive voice response (IVR) is a technology that allows a computer to interact with humans through the use of voice and DTMF tones input using a keypad. An IVR system interacts with callers, gathers information and routes calls to the appropriate recipient.

A simple IVR system for call center seamlessly routes your customers to the right agent or department using customizable call flow mechanisms. There can be different types of  IVRs used in a call center :

IVR for Self-Service

Intelligent IVR System, also called auto-attendant or automated voice, allows businesses to service high call volumes at a lower cost. It can identify & segment callers, and resolve their query without transferring to a live agent. Calls are transferred to live agents only when the caller is unable to find the information they require, helping call center agents be more productive & effective by giving them more time to deal with complex interactions.

Hosted IVR

An IVR solution installed on a hosted software platform that allows businesses to access the IVR application on the internet. This enables the organization to deliver 24/7 customer service, even after office hours. Having a hosted IVR system is the best way for enterprises to gain loyalty and improve satisfaction.

Agent-Assisted IVR

An agent-assisted IVR solution helps the contact center to optimize the cost of operations and along with delivering consistent customer service. The agent can dynamically direct pre-recorded phrases to initiate a dialog with the customer, without the customer knowing an agent is involved. This helps in eliminating customer frustrations caused by complex-structured menu options.

Route each customer call to the best-suited agent with IVR System 

Why IVR System Is Important
For Business

Interactive Voice Response software has used pre-recorded voice prompts and menus to present information and options to callers, and touch-tone telephone keypad entry to gather responses. Modern IVR solutions also enable input and responses to be gathered via spoken words with voice recognition.  Enterprises are increasingly looking for an IVR service provider that helps them in managing their Inbound and Outbound call centers to reduce the cost of common sales, service, collections, inquiry, and support calls to and from their company.

Take a note of the following business benefits of an IVR system-

First Call Resolution

Companies need to implement intelligent call routing to the best-qualified agent to ensure the customer’s query is resolved at the earliest. Do not make your customers wait on the IVR, rather design your IVR flow in a smart manner to minimize customer wait time by expediting the query resolution.

24*7 Customer Service

The primary purpose of an IVR is to ensure that customers are attended to even if the human agents are not available due to time constraints. Smart IVR systems let you play a pre-recorded message on off-days to allow self-service for the customers.

Handle High Call Volume

A smart IVR system facilitates designing effective IVR workflows to streamline the calls to enable seamless customer support and reduce customer waiting time to a great extent keeping in mind the call center resource availability.

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Handle Multilevel IVR

An intelligent IVR system is one that allows multi-level flow in the IVR. Using multiple pre-recorded messages companies can ensure the customer is routed to the right agent for a specific product or process-related queries without any need for human assistance.

Automation of Operations

An IVR is essential to automate the mundane customer queries resolution to free-up the agents to focus on solving the priority issues. This increases agent productivity and improves customer support and satisfaction.

If your customers are abandoning the calls due to inefficient or complex IVR, find out how Ameyo can help to design a smart IVR flow with ease.