Parlance and I have continually pushed the issue of connecting the caller, but it isn’t just the ultimate result of connectivity that we are focused on: it is also the call flow that each caller experiences that we are interested in.
We understand that an organization’s auto attendant and call flow systems are a major touch point for current and potential customers, communicating as much about brand and business as any marketing and advertising campaign. Therefore, I’m going to look at how to not only CONNECT the caller, but also to GUIDE the caller because if callers do not receive a smooth and enjoyable experience, they may not call back and, regretfully, take their business elsewhere.
Successful call flow design begins with involving the right people: voice engineers and telecom staff; decision makers and stakeholders; sales and marketing representatives; call center and customer service managers; and key customer facing personnel. These people devoted and actively engaged in call flow planning will help in the discovery of vital information:
- Who are your customers and why are they calling?
- What do you want your customers to experience when calling?
- What are the business requirements? What is the relationship between the business requirements and customer needs?
- How do you want customers to interact with you? How do customers want to interact with you?
- What likes or dislikes do you find with the past or current system?
- How are phone personnel in your business measured on productivity? Are call metrics important?
Remember, the caller is only human, so keep your auto attendant simple. And the key to a positive call flow experience is to have your auto attendant become a smooth operator:
- Ensure the opening greeting is concise.
- Ensure auto attendants logically guide callers to where they want to go. Review auto attendants for confusing or illogical information.
- Avoid company specific jargon and terminology where possible.
- Consider presenting a top level option for accessing human help.
- For larger systems, consider interrupt options that return callers to the top level of the menu.
- Minimize the number of transfers a caller will experience.
- Strive to always have an “end point” for each menu option so callers always end with a live person, recorded information or voicemail.
And as TMC’s (News - Alert) Nathesh has advised before, a business should not rush in to deploy an automated attendant system or IVR for its customer contact system without proper evaluation in order to avoid customer dissatisfaction. An auto attendant provider should be carefully studied for its fully managed services rather than its solution.
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 Tammy Wolf