Call Recording Featured Article

If you listen to consumer-facing companies, they’ll have you believe that the customer experience today is a rosy world of no hold-times, knowledgeable, well-trained agents and easy and fast resolution. If you listen to customers, it will sound a bit more like a medieval torture experience. Though companies today are aware of the perils of bad customer support, few of them seem properly equipped and trained to do anything about it. In the age of social media, “hacks” and shortcuts to customer support are spreading like wildfire across the Internet.

The interactive voice response (IVR) unit is one of the most loathed technologies in the contact center. It’s not because it enables self-service, which is popular, but because it allows companies to avoid their customers. A recent article by the Better Business Bureau advises customers how to get around the confusing menu options:

“When given the phone tree directory, wait until the end of the list for the ‘all other questions’ option,” wrote the BBB. “That’s where the connection will be made to a live person. A ‘tech support’ option can also connect you. Use these options even if it sounds like your question could be covered by one of the earlier menu choices. A live person always beats a robot.”

How can companies counter this customer option? Don’t hide the option to speak to a live human being deep in the menu tree. While you’re encouraging customers to find their own answers in self-service, you shouldn’t be discouraging them from seeking an agent if their questions are unanswered.

Interestingly, the proliferation of bad customer support has actually led to services that can help customers avoid annoyances like bad IVRs and long hold times, according to the BBB.

“Instead of waiting on hold, an online service like LucyPhone will wait for you so you can hang up until a customer service rep picks up on the other end,” wrote the association. “LucyPhone will call you back and connect you when that happens. There are iPhone and Android (News - Alert) apps also available for smartphone users that can speed things up in a similar way.”

Customers today even have poorly-tuned speech recognition systems figured out. Saying “agent” repeatedly will get a live person in some systems, but others are configured to make it tougher for the customer to bypass. In these cases, customers know that saying nothing will get them to an agent quickly. Speaking unintelligible gibberish can prompt the phone system to connect you to a live person.

So how do you make it unnecessary for customers to use tricks to bypass your front end? Ensure that the IVR is configured to route calls, not to keep customers away. If you’re using speech recognition, make sure it’s tested on a variety of different voices, including accented English. Consider putting a callback option in place so that customers can reserve their place in the call queue without having to wait.

Contact center technology is not supposed to be armor against your customers. It’s supposed to make life easier for them. If you’re using contact center technology to “keep customers away,” then chances are good that they’ll stay away – far away – from your organization.