There are a lot of things that can change the way that you approach your IVR. Knowing how to appropriately approach your IVR can make a huge difference in the way that your call center is able to run during a normal day.
That’s why today we’re going to be taking a look at 8 things that can change the way that you approach your IVR so that you can make the most out of it all the time, no matter what your call volume is for the month or week.
1. User Friendliness Is More Important Than You Think
When your callers call in, they want to be able to get to where they need to be without any trouble. Ensuring that your IVR is as user-friendly as possible The more quickly someone can get to their destination without any fuss, the happier they’ll be.
Not optimizing your IVR can cause a lot of upset callers, and upset callers make the caller more difficult on your agents. As the day goes on with difficult calls for your agents, they’ll start to get burnt out. Burnt-out agents tend to leave companies, so doing this can save your best staff.
2. Constant Testing Is A Good Idea
Getting your IVR set up isn’t something that you can just be done with and forget about. Things happen sometimes. As they say, technology is great until it isn’t. Doing constant testing on your IVR will ensure that you don’t have as many catastrophic failures during business hours.
This can involve looking through the code, looking through the settings in the software, or even just doing occasional test calls to ensure that everything is working the way that it should. It only takes a few minutes a week but it can have a big impact.
3. Having Ways To Talk To An Operator Quickly Makes Callers Happy
Not every call can be handled by an automated system. Sometimes people that are calling your company are looking for something that’s a lot more advanced than your automated system will be able to handle.
That’s why it’s important to make sure that your callers can quickly and easily get to an operator. A popular way to do this is to make hitting the “0” key a shortcut to get to an agent without having to sit through menu after menu to reach a live agent.
4. Don’t Make Every Interaction Result In Speaking With An Agent.
Just like not every interaction can be handled by your automated system, not every interaction needs to be handled by an agent. Having options available to get things done without talking to anyone is just as important as ensuring that people can reach an agent as quickly as they need.
5. Have Multiple Language Options If Possible
Not everyone in the world speaks English, so it’s good to make sure that you have language variation menus as early as possible if possible. A lot of call centers make this the first option that you hear on the phone, and that makes it easy to get everyone to the right place.
6. Including An Faqs Menu Can Save Callers And Agents Time
Some people call in just with a simple question that can be answered in a second. Where is the office? What are your business hours? The list goes on. Ensuring that callers can get this information without speaking to someone can save everyone involved a good deal of time.
7. Make Sure That Your System Can Understand What Callers Are Saying
Some IVR systems are really good about their vocal recognition aspects, but some require a bit of fine-tuning to be sure that it’s hearing everyone correctly. Making sure that this is working correctly will help everyone that’s calling in, no matter what kind of accent they might have.
8. Make Sure That Your Phone Trees Work Correctly
Phone trees are what make your business run properly, and getting them set up in such a way that will allow you to get everyone to the right place that they’re looking for will make everything better. No one wants to have to talk to HR when they meant to talk to sales, right?
Innovate Your IVR
Innovation is always a good thing when it comes to your IVR and it can make your life a lot easier. Whether you’re a high-volume call center or a low-volume call center, making everything work more smoothly for your callers is always a good idea.
Happier callers make for easier calls for your employees, and if your employees are able to have an easier time there’s a good chance that they’ll be able to do their jobs far more effectively. That’s a win-win for everyone involved and can make your business even better.