As I’ve been saying all along, and Parlance, a fully managed auto attendant service, will back me up on this – you want to CONNECT the caller, not CONFUSE the caller. Male or female auto attendant? Professional or in-house voice messaging? Proper pronunciation? Some of these auto attendant aspects have a bigger affect on caller confusion than others; some are just mere preference. But when it comes to clarity these aren’t the only features or functions you have to consider.
Reported in early February, the quality of your auto attendant script, which is designed to provide your callers with value-added information in substitute of a live operator is of great importance with many kinds of people who call your company. Some have never called you before; others may call your system frequently and just want to reach their party quickly without having to listen to the entire menu.
These are all scenarios that you need to keep in mind as you create your auto attendant script and voicemail greeting. Keep in mind awkward auto attendants leave callers confused and most likely disconnected from the party they are looking for and from your auto attendant solution. Below are some of the confusing scripts or phrases that may be keeping your callers questioning your auto attendant:
“Visit us on the web at w-w-w, blah-blah-blah-blah” before the caller gets to make any choice. Unfortunately the company doesn’t realize that I’m now dealing with their auto attendant on the phone because your website already didn’t give me what I needed. I got your phone number from the website, and I’m calling to follow up with a person or department. An auto attendant should connect me, not offer an option of hanging up and finding another source of information. Also, if I haven’t tried the website, a warning to have a pen and paper accessible would be appreciated before blurting out the Web address.
“For more information, call 555-000-1111 during regular business hours. Thank you.” This is another, “hello, I need a pen and paper first” moments. I have no warning that a phone number is going to be thrown in my general direction, leaving no opportunity to write it. Now, I need dial in again, if I can muster up the energy.
“We are currently assisting other customers. Your call will be answered in the order in which it was received.” I’d much rather hear, “Please hold on, and someone will speak with you as soon as possible.” Because all I can think about now is: How many people are in front of me? It’s like trying to win the lotto and my odds of being helped are 1 out of a 1,000.
As I’ve suggested before, prior to composing your announcements, take some time to decide how you want it to sound, and how you plan to navigate callers through your system. Imagine calling the system yourself and pretend you know nothing about your auto attendant system or your company.
Jaclyn Allard is a TMCnet Web Editor. She most recently worked on the production team at Juran Institute, a quality consulting firm producing its own training and marketing materials. Previously, she interned at Curbstone Press, a nonprofit publishing press in Willimantic, CT, and fulfilled the role of Editor-in-Chief for the literature and arts journal published by the University of Connecticut. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by Jaclyn Allard