Apply These 8 Secret Techniques To Improve IVR

If you have a call center, you probably want to know how to best optimize your IVR call centre software. Even if your system seems to be perfect, there are still things that can be done better. But what are those things exactly? Today we’re going to be looking at the top 8 things that you can do.

Some of these might be common knowledge, and some of them might be things that you never thought of before. Regardless of which camp you end up in, we should be able to provide you with some advice that you can implement today if you wanted to!

1. Make Sure That Your Language Menu Is As Early As Possible

Not everyone speaks English. Here in the United States, we don’t even have an official language, even if English is the most commonly spoken language. Your callers that don’t speak English will appreciate the efforts.

2. Provide A Way To Talk Directly To An Agent, If Possible

Some people know why they’re calling and just want to talk to someone asap. They don’t want to wait through lengthy menus to get to someone. By making it possible for the caller to just hit 0, you can save your caller’s a lot of time and also have them be in a better mood for your CSRs.

3. Set Up A Way To Do Simple Tasks Without Having To Talk To Someone

While some people want to be sure that they talk to someone as soon as they can, some tasks don’t need that kind of involvement. For example, if someone just wants to pay a bill, that can be handled by an automated system.

Making sure that this option is available can make a huge difference for your callers and can make your company feel like they’re trying to provide a good customer experience.

4. Make An FAQs Menu

Just like some people don’t want to talk to someone for simple tasks, some people just want to get a quick answer to a question. Those people can get that information from an FAQs menu. You can easily answer questions like:

● Business hours.
● Locations.
● Return policies.
● Services provided.

What you would want to put in this menu really depends on the nature of your company, but an FAQs menu is never a bad idea to include in your IVR system. It can make your callers feel like you don’t want to waste their time, and that’s always a good thing.

5. Check And Be Sure That All Of The Paths Work Correctly

Imagine, if you will, that you’re calling a company. You want to speak to sales and no one else, so you hit the button for sales and end up in customer service. That’s not ideal, but it can happen if things aren’t set up correctly.

That’s why it’s so important to make sure that you get these things in order and check them to be sure that you got it right. You don’t want to lose a sale because of something as silly as your system being set up incorrectly.

6. Make Things As Easy As Possible For Callers To Get To Where They Want To Be

Your callers are people that have schedules that they need to keep in mind. They likely have jobs, families, etc. You want to keep them on the phone for as short of a period of time as possible, and the best way to do that is to make sure that they can get to where they want as quickly as possible.

7. Frequently Check Your IVR Software For Bugs

Oh, technology. It’s incredible, except for when it’s not. Make sure that your software is working properly so you don’t have any major issues when your callers call. It’s good for your business just like it’s good for your CSRs because callers are more likely to be happy if their call goes smoothly.

8. Use Pleasant Hold Music

From a psychological standpoint, people are in a nicer mood when they have pleasant music to listen to. If you use unpleasant hold music, you can make your customers upset with your company. That’s not a good thing for anyone involved and can make customer interactions generally go worse.

Master IVR

Mastering IVR can take years, but with an idea of what you’re doing and some practice you can be sure that you’re getting everything in order the way that you need it to be. It can take some trial and error, but getting it down to a science is worth it.

It doesn’t matter how old your company is, getting your IVR set up as well as possible can make the difference that you need to really nail that customer impression that you’re trying to make, and that can improve your sales in the long run.