Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems are becoming a standard for businesses that involve any form of customer interaction. They’re popular because they help businesses to save labor costs without ever compromising on customer satisfaction.
When a customer uses the IVR system to make payments or get the information they want, it reduces the need to have an employee to service that customer. Over a period of time, this amounts to huge savings for the company. Customers are also able to complete their transaction within the shortest possible period of time.
Despite the advantages that IVR offers, many businesses do not have the right system in place. They tend to believe that any IVR system will fit into their requirements. However, this one-size-fits-all approach never works for IVR because it has to be customized to meet the needs and demographics of the customers. This is evident in a study conducted by E-Complish (News - Alert) over a period of 15 years.
The company was founded in 1998 and since then, it has been focusing on constant testing of the IVR system. Over this 15-year period, E-Complish has come up with some interesting results.
It shows that many callers hang up because of some problem with the IVR. For example, 22 percent of customers dropped out of a call because they were asked to enter either their street address or P.O. box number, presenting a problem for those on the rural route. After identifying this problem, the corresponding IVR systems were fixed and this resulted in a 20 percent revenue increase for the business.
When more such errors are identified, the usage is sure to increase. This is a big advantage for businesses because they get to save a lot of money and improve the process of customer interaction at the same time.
Edited by Rory J. Thompson