Contact Center Solutions Featured Article

How Powerful is Your IVR?

December 02, 2013

Customer expectations are sometimes hard to anticipate. Companies for the most part know they need to answer calls quickly, resolve issues when they are highlighted and continue to support a product after it’s sold. In each situation, however, it’s still up to the customer to push out the information and the company to respond accordingly. Would it be possible to use Interactive Voice Response (IVR) to improve the outcome?


Companies have used IVR for years to streamline call routing, ensuring the customer could reach the intended destination easily. It also allowed the call center to reduce the number of common request calls so agents could focus on higher-value calls. It’s even used to remind people of appointments and other information, providing options during the call to share information. The result is a more efficient office when customers arrive on time and staff doesn’t have to be on the phone to remind them.

While such uses are certainly beneficial for the organization putting them in place they really only scratch the surface when it comes to the possibilities with IVR. This automated process provides considerable opportunity to capture pure data and turn it into business intelligence. In doing so, a company can develop better products and services that allow them to deliver according to customer expectations.

At the same time, intelligent IVR systems allow customers to do so much more than simply reach an intended destination. They can complete transactions, add to an existing order, navigate complex phone trees to complete a critical appointment setting process and so much more. The efficiency that this creates is important for the company, but so too is the opportunity to study the customers’ activities while on the phone to determine best practices for the IVR.

This automated platform provides considerable opportunities to study customer behavior and build out better systems that cater specifically to their needs. In doing so these companies become better marketers, creating products and services that their customers actually want. It also allows for the streamlining of the self-service portal by studying customer habits and outcomes.

Even with these benefits, the power in the IVR is just now being realized. Innovative companies are also using it to improve lead generation, drive orders, generate revenue and increase customer loyalty. If you’re ready to learn how they do it, you might want to register for a free webinar from ifbyphone and ContactCenterSolutions.

8 New Ways to Use IVR to Improve Your Marketing, Sales and Support is scheduled for Wednesday, December 4, 2013 at 2:00 PM EST / 11:00 AM PST. If you’re ready to learn how to make your IVR work to your advantage in a whole new way, this is one event you won’t want to miss. Register to reserve your spot today. 




Edited by Cassandra Tucker



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