Hosted Call Center

• Home
• Products
• Services
• Partners
• Resources
• 866.965.7227

A Well-Designed IVR Can Save You Money and Benefit Your Customers

By Tracey E. Schelmetic, TMCnet Contributor

If there's one customer service method that seems to generate the most chatter, it's interactive voice response (IVR). Everyone loves to hate IVRs. Any conversation on the topic will usually stir up everyone's worst horror story about being stuck in IVR hell, looping around endlessly and unable to get answers or reach an agent.

But it actually turns out that people don't really hate IVRs. They hate poorly-designed IVRs.

Interactive voice response is a tool, and just like any tool, it can be used for both good and ill. A well-scripted IVR system can provide significant benefits to customers by offering services around the clock, 24/7, including holidays, saving a business time and resources, wrote inContact's Carole Altman in a recent blog post.

While you may not have the cash, or the particular need, to keep your call center highly staffed on a Sunday afternoon, your IVR doesn't charge overtime. If it's designed properly – so that it leads callers to the answers they require – it won't scare off customers.

Through your IVR, you can also offer new services that you might not be able to cost justify if using real people, says Altman. In addition, your IVR can help you handle high call volumes; and enable customers to handle their own simple operations over the phone: actions such as bill paying, shipping tracking, verifying account information or making reservations.

While many customers still like speaking with a human agent for more complicated interactions, many people actually like being able to skip the person and do it themselves. And most companies like eliminating redundant agent overstaffing, and saving money. Properly designed, an IVR can accomplish both these goals.

Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO East 2012, happening now, in Miami, FL. ITEXPO (News - Alert) offers an educational program to help corporate decision makers select the right IP-based voice, video, fax and unified communications solutions to improve their operations. It's also where service providers learn how to profitably roll out the services their subscribers are clamoring for – and where resellers can learn about new growth opportunities. For more information on registering for ITEXPO registration, click here.

Stay in touch with everything happening at ITEXPO. Follow us on Twitter.

Follow Us On: