Allison Smith

The Voice of Asterisk

“To find our office if approaching from the 401 freeway, turn left at the...”

“To find our office if approaching from the 401 freeway, turn left at the...”

“We know your time is valuable...”

“We know your time is valuable...”

“....for technical support, and you

already have an open trouble ticket,

press 8

....for technical support without a

trouble ticket, press 9

....for technical support with an open

trouble ticket, but your issue has not

been addressed, press 10

....for those who are not sure if they

need to open a trouble ticket, press

11.....”

“....for technical support, and you

already have an open trouble ticket,

press 8

....for technical support without a

trouble ticket, press 9

....for technical support with an open

trouble ticket, but your issue has not

been addressed, press 10

....for those who are not sure if they

need to open a trouble ticket, press

11.....”

“....for technical support, and you

already have an open trouble ticket,

press 8

....for technical support without a

trouble ticket, press 9

....for technical support with an open

trouble ticket, but your issue has not

been addressed, press 10

....for those who are not sure if they

need to open a trouble ticket, press

11.....”

“....for technical support, and you

already have an open trouble ticket,

press 8

....for technical support without a

trouble ticket, press 9

....for technical support with an open

trouble ticket, but your issue has not

been addressed, press 10

....for those who are not sure if they

need to open a trouble ticket, press

11.....”

A. Wastes Your Time

A. Wastes Your Time

B. Its SOLE PURPOSE is to Keep

You Away from Actual

Humans

A. Wastes Your Time

B. Its SOLE PURPOSE is to Keep

You Away from Actual

Humans

C. It’s for the COMPANY’S

Use – Not Yours

37% of respondents said

they might

decide to stop doing

business with your

company

altogether after a single

bad IVR experience.

-Long Menus

-Complicated Menus

-Convoluted Instructions

-“Commercial” in opening greeting

-Redundant or repetitive requests

-Too many hoops!

• Turnkey to the point of “Siberia”

• We’re impersonal – because YOU want it that way

• Elitist – We only let people with REAL problems speak

• to an agent

• We don’t deal with late adopters, the technologically

challenged, or the elderly.

-This CAN’T be for making *our* life easier!

-This is designed solely for the *company’s*

business processes -- not for handling my

issue easily or effectively

- If I want someone to deal with my issue,

*I’ve* got to do the work

Only 1% of respondents indicated they will never try an IVR before deciding to transfer to a customer service agent

40% will transfer to an agent if there's not a first-level

menu choice that matches why they are calling. *

*Primary Source: Consumer survey fielded in the US between April 11 and 24, 2014 asking 1,000 adults regarding their history in contacting customer service and interactions with IVR systems.

The reason they’re calling about is not in the menu

Use analytics to determine your most popular/often used choices, and front-stack those

They often have to repeat the same info to an agent once they transfer

Make sure agents are aware of exactly where the customer is in the process – and make sure they don’t ask for repetitive or redundant things.

Overwhelmed by too many options

Keep the menu as short as possible, using the most popular/often used choices first

Keep the menu as short as possible, using the most popular/often used choices first

BONUS POINTS:LIMIT SUB-

DIRECTORIES TO 3 CHOICES!

“....for technical support, and you already

have an open trouble ticket, press 8

....for technical support without a trouble

ticket, press 9

....for technical support with an open trouble

ticket, but your issue has not been

addressed, press 10

....for those who are not sure if they need to

open a trouble ticket, press 11.....”

1. Economize on choices

2.Simplify

3.Eliminate steps

4.Get callers to a solution – or agent – as quickly as possible, with minimal hand-offs!

1. Use IVR to establish identity, personality

2. Use IVR to reinforce their decision3. Use IVR to build their trust4. Think of IVR as a way of mirroring

your business practices across the board

Not only should IVR NOT

Not only should IVR NOT

• CONFUSE

Not only should IVR NOT

• CONFUSE

• AGGRIVATE

Not only should IVR NOT

• CONFUSE

• AGGRAVATE

• or

Not only should IVR NOT

• CONFUSE

• AGGRAVATE

or

• DEHUMANIZE

• FACILITATE

• FACILITATE

• EDUCATE

• FACILITATE

• EDUCATE

• IMPROVE THE CALLER EXPERIENCE

• FACILITATE

• EDUCATE

• IMPROVE THE CALLER EXPERIENCE

• IMPROVE YOUR BOTTOM LINE

ALLISON@THEIVRVOICE.COM

WWW.THEIVRVOICE.COM