Use IVR to improve customer experience

18 Aug 2021

For every case that a customer needs to contact you for assistance, there’s probably another that they can handle on their own if you give them the tools. Press 1 if you know where we’re going with this.

Interactive voice response (IVR) systems let incoming callers access information via prerecorded messages or dynamically generated audio without having to speak to an agent. Callers can respond to spoken menus via Touch-Tone keypresses or speech recognition to maneuver through a spoken menu and reach the information they want. IVR is useful in many scenarios: finding an agent, making payments and purchases, offering travel information and weather conditions. Customers can conveniently open service tickets, book appointments, and track order shipments.

Individual departments can also improve customer experience by using IVR. If you receive large volumes of IT requests, for example, you can offer guided instructions for resetting passwords or rebooting customer applications.

Whenever a caller has an inquiry that can’t be resolved with one of these automated options, you can redirect them to a live agent. Many organizations use IVR to route calls to agents during business hours and provide automated voice messages after business hours.

Here are some detailed use cases for both inbound and outbound communication via IVR:

Call center setup
You can implement a multilevel IVR system in call centers that routes incoming calls based on user input.
Televoting and surveys
You can use IVR with outbound calls to collect information from customers, such as satisfaction or Net Promoter Scores.
Appointment reminders
You can set up automated appointment notifications to remind customers about their scheduled appointments in advance and facilitate rescheduling as needed.
Lead assignment and lead routing
For inbound sales calls, you can set up IVR with a set of qualifying questions to understand customers’ interest and redirect calls to representatives based on lead scores.
Service dispatch
Dispatch scheduling systems send services to people’s homes. They can use IVR to confirm people’s availability at the destination.

In short, IVR systems can reduce your costs and improve your customers’ experience. Plivo makes it easy to incorporate IVR into your own applications. We’ve written a guide to help you get started. Check it out, and sign up for free to try it yourself.