Call Center: IVR Frustrations

I just read a great article on the web, which talks about how an IVR (Integrated Voice Response) menu can cause frustration. The article is at: http://tinyurl.com/yayvpfp

The article’s author makes some great points about how badly designed IVR trees can frustrate your customers.

I’d like to add my own experience:  I recently called my home phone provider to make a minor change. Their IVR system asked me to use voice prompts to enter my language preference (English), phone number, and the reason for my call. I did as they asked.

After that, I was then placed on hold for several minutes, listening to this company’s announcements and specials. Finally, I was routed to a live operator, only to have them ask me once again for my phone number and the reason I was calling!

As a telecom professional, I know the technical reasons why this happened (for example routing to different call centers, or agent skill sets.) But, the situation was still frustrating.

Call Center IVRs: Has It Really Come Down to This?

By Mike Aoki

As many of you know, I just moved to a new house. So, I’ve spent lots of time on the phone, making arrangements with my local cable, phone, gas and electric companies.

One of my pet peeves is calling a company and navigating a sometimes nightmarish maze of interactive voice response (IVR) systems. You know, the kind where you have to “Press 1 for this” and “Press 2 for that.” Or even worse, systems that ask you to verbally describe the problem, and then tell you their voice recognition software can’t understand what you are saying.

Of course you can try pressing zero to speak to a live person. But, sometimes even that doesn’t work.

In my frustration, I stumbled across a site called Get Human (www.gethuman.com.) It’s an online database of thousands of utility and service companies, along with instructions on how to connect with a live CSR at that particular company.

I don’t know much about them. But the mere existence of a company like Get Human suggests that I’m not the only one frustrated by having to navigate several layers of an IVR system, just to get a live person to help me.

That reminds me of a quote in marketing guru Seth Godin’s blog where he says, “The only reason to answer the phone when a customer calls is to make the customer happy.”

That really hits the nail on the head. Lengthy IVR systems drive customers nuts. I know it’s important to direct the call to the right department within a company. But, complicated IVR systems and menu choices just frustrate callers.

Instead, companies should design their IVR tree with no more than four possible prompts per level (i.e. “Press 1, 2, 3 or 4”), and no more than two levels before reaching a CSR. That would increase customer satisfaction and lower call abandon rates.

© 2009 Reflective Keynotes Inc., Mississauga, Canada