7 Smart Reasons to Update Your IVR

Reasons to Update Your IVR:

1. Saves money 
2. Customer satisfaction
3. Artificial intelligence is cool 
4. Flexibility and convenience
5. Saves time
6. Gain new insights into your business
7. It can grow with you

When I talk about IVR I am talking about Interactive Voice Response, you know, that electronic voice that greets your customers each time they call your institution. The one that tells them to “Press 1.”

Well, if your IVR is still confining your customers to a phone tree with a limited set of choices, it’s time to move on. Modern IVRs help customers find what they’re looking for faster and with less stress.

At GOLDPoint Systems we’ve recently created a new phone payment service to help customers make payments over the phone. Our new phone service works with Twilio’s IVR to help customers make payments faster and easier. And who doesn’t want their customers making quick and easy payments?

Why Use a Modern IVR?

So, why did we upgrade our IVR? Check out the reasons below and see for yourself.

1. Saves Money

What can I say? It’s cheaper for the IVR to help out your customers on the phone than your employees. The cost of resolution is about $12 to $1. This means that every time your IVR can help a customer solve their problem over the phone instead of one of your employees, it saves your institution around $11. And now multiply this by the hundreds of calls you get in a week, the thousands you get in a month, the hundreds of thousands of calls you get in a year…you get the picture. A good IVR can save your institution a boatload of money.

2. Customer Satisfaction

Around 37% of customers say they might stop doing business with a company after one bad IVR experience and up to 46% of people say that traditional IVRs have too many menu options to remember. A modern IVR gets rid of all those menu options and delivers a tailored and unique experience to each customer. It helps customers find what they’re looking for quickly and easily while providing a high-quality, self-service experience. With a modern IVR, your customers will get off the phone smiling. And when’s the last time that happened?

3. Artificial Intelligence is Cool

Artificial Intelligence (AI) combined with natural language processing allows modern IVRs to converse naturally with customers. Callers no longer need to press buttons or navigate through long and complicated menus, instead they can simply tell the AI what they want and the AI will understand the meaning and the intent behind the request and steer the user to the correct response or next step. It’s as close as it gets to talking to a real person. (And one day, you might not be able to tell the difference.)

4. Flexibility & Convenience

With a modern IVR, customers can call and get help from anywhere. They can make payments on their couch, while waiting in their car, or at the beach. And they can call at any time, day or night. And people like being able to do what they want to do when they want to do it. Don’t you?

5. Saves Time

With a traditional IVR, about 82% of customer interactions result in a phone conversation with an actual employee (meaning the customer pressed “0” to leave the IVR and talk to someone). A modern IVR keeps

customers on the phone, not your employees. This frees your staff up to do more important work than answering calls. It saves your workforce time so they can focus on those tasks that are truly important.

6. New Insights

Modern IVRs can capture call event data and voice recordings to gain new insights into your business. You can use these insights to update your IVR to better serve customers. Do they leave at a certain point in the process? Where do they go most often? What do most people want to do over the phone? This data can be used to refine your IVR to serve customers better and allow you to see where your business can grow.

7. Continually Improving

Your business is continually expanding and shifting and your IVR should be able to grow with you. A modern IVR is flexible and allows you to match the movements of customer preferences. There are constantly new features that allow you to continuously improve a customer’s experience. Artificial Intelligence is also continually growing and improving and will allow your business to stay ahead of the game.

A modern IVR saves time and money while providing a better experience for your customers. It’s a no-brainer. If you really want your customers to stop pressing “0” on every call, you need to up your game. So, stop telling your customers to “Press 1” and start guiding them through a fantastic, self-service experience using sophisticated Artificial Intelligence. It’s the smart thing to do.