A growing number of businesses are expanding their customer service model to offer digital channels. Using interactive voice response (IVR) systems, companies can automate frequently performed telephone transcriptions. With the growing prevalence of technology in the realm of customer service, IVR is a key resource for any business looking to offer an optimized customer experience.
How do IVR systems work?
Interactive voice response systems create more free time for agents by making automatic telephone transcriptions. IVRs use a computer application to interact with customers through the use of pre-recorded voice prompts. Interaction is made possible through dual-tone-multi-frequency (DMTF) tones on the phone keypad. Call center IVR systems are most commonly used for data collection, announcements, and self-service.
IVRs not only allow businesses to integrate digital options into their customer service model, but they also offer a variety of additional services. IVRs can automatically route a customer’s call based on their DMTF responses to pre-recorded voice prompts. Businesses looking to update their customer service model should focus on cloud-based software. Cloud-based software can provide enhanced productivity among agent teams and campaigns by eliminating the need to manually route each phone call.
IVRs also offer great tools for assessing agent performance and maintaining quality service, including routing, reporting, coaching, and surveys. IVR systems include a built-in knowledge base to ensure consistency in training and replies. The knowledge base also supports full-text search and use frequency, as well as content importing and exporting.
Quality management and customer experience are critical to the success of every business. IVR’s built-in knowledge base offers business insights, like the incremental revenue analysis, integrative voice responses, issue tracking, and the average longest delay in the queue.
What can IVR do for your business?
The growing prevalence of technology in the realm of customer service requires businesses to adapt their customer service model to meet today’s best practices. In 2017, web chat was the fastest rowing digital channel, while chatbots were used by less than two percent of all businesses.
According to a recent survey, nearly half of all large businesses will offer chatbot options by 2019, demonstrating the immense growth of digital channels. Although most customers believe that humans provide more effective customer service, customers also value the option to interact through digital channels. The number of customers who would prefer to interact through AI varies by industry, but providing the option to your customers can help expand your customer base and raise satisfaction among current customers.
IVR is ideal for taking your customer service model to the next level. IVR provides customers with user-friendly digital channels to obtain information and solve simple issues. In addition to IVR, each business should offer tutorial videos, virtual agents, troubleshooting pages, and flowcharts to customers. This important step in technological integration gives customers the ability to troubleshoot any problems they face independently.
IVR systems also increase effectiveness and productivity within your customer service department by eliminating the need for agents to devote time to routing calls and solving simple issues. Instead, agents can focus their attention toward helping individual customers, rather than rushing interactions to handle the next customer in the queue. Ultimately, utilizing the services of IVR will lead to improved customer service.
As more and more businesses move toward digital channels, interactive voice response systems are a great way to adapt your customer service model to meet today’s best practices. An interactive voice response system will promote business growth by allowing agents to focus on customer experience and offer the high-quality customer service they’re known for.
