Is It Time to Abandon Your IVR (Interactive Voice Response) System ?
He references
the Interactions presentation at SpeechTEK we covered previously but also
questions if IVR's are achieving the purposes for which
they were designed: to speed up service, reduce company
costs, and improve customer satisfaction and longevity.
We think, from a customer viewpoint that is easy to answer as our research and survey are starting to indicate a great deal of frustration. Ken looks towards more intelligent IVRs and smartphones/tablets to address today's major IVR frustrations, eliminating unnecessary interactions and enable visual IVR functionality allowing customers to navigate more easily through menu choices.
We agree that IVR's need modernising and designing with today's customer in mind - not only considering the technology at their fingertips but also addressing their ability to voice dissatisfaction to so many so quickly, the damage to a company's reputation can be very swift and wide.
Above all, expectations of customer service are very high thanks to those who do it well. Ken concludes that IVR's can still benefit companies - this we agree with but think that companies need a serious rethink on how they show they care about their customers in the design of their IVR's - otherwise many customers vote with their feet. Read the full article.