|
What
is Interactive Voice Response (IVR)?
IVR
is the most cost effective and widely accepted customer service
delivery mechanism. IVR technology is used to automate the
handling of telephone calls for thousands of businesses. You've
probably used basic IVR technology regularly; when you place
a call to a business and you're asked by an automated voice
to press a number on your touchtone phone, you're using one
common type of IVR application: an Auto-Attendant or possibly
a Voice-Mail system.
However, Interactive Voice Response can go much further and
allow people to interact in complex ways with a computer through
their telephones, using either push-button interaction or
voice recognition, and the use of these systems in organisations
of all sizes is growing rapidly. The
reason for this growth is the benefits realised when IVR is
used in conjunction with other computer and communication
technologies to reduce costs, improve customer service and
increase sales.
Here are just a few examples of the application of IVR in business:
The Art and Science of Telephone Interaction
To design an effective IVR system you need to understand
the intended application but, more importantly, in order to
deliver a superior solution you need to know how people use
these services.
The quality of the voice recordings, the speed of delivery,
the types of questions you pose and the ease of navigation
all add to the experience of the system's users. Whether callers
use the system once a year or once a day, these factors project
an image of your organisation and determine the acceptance
and utilisation of the IVR service that you provide.
Our research shows that you can't afford to lose the personal
touch when scripting for these systems even if you might think
that it's insincere to deliver an apology, a "please"
or a "thank you". So much so that users often will
give your IVR service an identity or persona. In fact, in
some businesses it is desirable to adopt this approach from
the outset as part of the strategy to promote and extend the
service to clients.
Through our own experience and observations, and the assistance
of trained linguists, our staff have developed the techniques
and processes to ensure that our systems professionally project
the values of your organisation and engender trust in the
services that you offer.
|
