Interactive Voice Response (IVR) is a telephone menu system that helps in identifying, segmenting, and directing callers to the most appropriate agent on your team through DTMF input (Dial Pad). It is simple, significantly reduces costs, and increases efficiency in every business.
IVR is extremely useful for any call center. We've all had experience with IVR - it's an automatic voice message that gives the caller a "menu" of options through which their call can be routed accordingly. For example, an automatic voice message might say, "Press one for sales, two for human resources," and so on. There are several benefits to owning an IVR for your business, which we shall discuss below.
1. Increased First Contact Resolution
One of the most frustrating things a customer can experience when calling a customer service helpline is moving amongst several different customer service representatives and repeating their problems every time before reaching the right person. An IVR system can help solve this problem by directing calls to the correct department/representative in the first attempt. If the customer can have their problem solved by the first person they connect with, their experience will be much better than if they had been handed over several times before they found a solution to their problem.
2. Increased Efficiency
Efficiency increases when customers are referred to the right agent on the first attempt. Customer service representatives spend less time referring customers to other agents and more time providing solutions to them. This will keep your employees meaningfully engaged, your talk times shorter, and your customers more satisfied. Increased efficiency of IVRs is a valuable system to deploy in your call center.
3. Reduce Operating Costs
IVRs allow you to reduce call center operating costs as they can replace the administrator's need for initial call forwarding. Operating costs are also reduced because customer service representatives are able to offer customers faster resolution by reducing the number of times customers are transferred to different representatives. As the saying goes, time is money.
4. Increased Customer Satisfaction
Customer satisfaction is important for companies that want repeat customers and a good reputation. Which company doesn't want that? If customers are referred to multiple agents and do not get the answers they need, it can be frustrating. It is just as frustrating to wait in line. IVR prioritizes calls based on their nature, which allows customer service representatives to resolve issues more quickly, which reduces queuing. If customers are constantly satisfied, the company's reputation will increase and this will lead to more sales.
5. Quick Support
Call prioritization helps call centers when the volume of calls becomes large. The most urgent calls are diverted first. Agents also don't have to waste time forwarding and returning calls, making busy talk times much more manageable. When waiting callers are organized, it becomes faster and easier. Supporting customer service representatives with the introduction of the IVR system will also help keep call center morale as high as possible. IVR is useful for both customer and employee support.
Conclusion
Due to its many advantages, it is not surprising that IVR has become the core system of almost every contact center. This not only improves the customer experience but at the same time improves the success of the agent while reducing operating costs. To maximize the benefits of an interactive voice response system, choose a solution that allows you to capture and use customer information to provide a seamless experience. Innovations in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and NLU continue to improve self-service - providing personalized conversation that meets customers' growing expectations.
The market currently boasts of not only having DTMF input (Dial Pad) but also voice inputs. This is possible through ASR (Automatic Speech Recognition) & TTS (Text To Speech) engines. Another great feature to have is a GUI based IVR designer. This allows you to create and manage your IVR systems without having to go back & forth with your software provider for every little change.
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