Does your call center business use IVR to communicate with customers? A well-designed system offers incredible versatility, which can help your business in a variety of ways. Check out these five innovative ways for call centers to use interactive voice response technology.
How Can IVR Be Used in a Call Center?
Most inbound call centers use IVR systems to provide callers with pre-recorded greeting messages and sets of menu options. Menu options will often be for self-service, sales, and customer support. Callers provide input to a call center IVR system by pressing a key.
After gathering caller inputs, the IVR can help your call center route inbound callers to the right agent or department.
So, what are some ways to get the most out of your IVR system?
1. Skills-Based Routing
It is important to choose the right routing strategy for your contact center.
Effective call routing can boost first call resolution rates as customers are able to speak to the right agents right away. IVR can also help call centers automatically route inbound callers to the right department in less than twenty seconds.
The most effective IVR routing strategies are often based on:
- Agents’ skills such as language preferences or experience.
- The origination of the inbound call.
- The time the call is coming through.
- Equal distribution of calls among a group of agents, and more.
These are real strategies that call centers have used over the years. We have helped businesses implement such strategies to improve efficiency.
2. Create Personalized Messages
A customized greeting and menu options provide a great branding opportunity. Studies show that callers are more comfortable when they hear a welcoming greeting message. IVR can be used to personalize your entire caller experience.
The best technique is to welcome callers with a customized greeting message and pre-recorded menu options. These should have relevant information about your business to help callers easily navigate menu options.
3. Provide Self-Service and After-Hours Support
IVR can be used to offer after-hours customer support by adding information about your company, its product and services, and upcoming promotions.
You can forward incoming calls after-hours or during the weekend to remote offices, agents, or voicemail. You can even have the IVR assist callers in completing certain tasks such as making a payment or scheduling an appointment.
4. Call Center Agent Automation
Automation will certainly boost call center productivity. Luckily, artificial intelligence offers a simple way to automate complex business tasks. This will help your business gain greater performance abilities and utilize the talents of your team more effectively.
A contact center IVR operates right along these lines. The main point of having IVR is so your business can speed up processes. Some of the automation advantages it offers include:
- Verification and service activation
- Payment and renewal processes
- Providing product information
- Troubleshooting services
- Providing answers to frequently asked questions, and so on.
If the IVR can help customers with these tasks, then they are less likely going to need to speak with an agent. This leaves trained representatives with more time to handle more high-value customers.
5. Manage Calls During High-Traffic Periods
By adopting the right strategy that helps organize your calls, your team can effectively handle calls during high-traffic periods. By automating services, most calls can be handled by the IVR system alone, giving your agents and reps more breathing space during such periods.
Learn More About IVR
United World Telecom offers a highly customizable IVR system with tips to help your business leverage its voice communications. To learn more about interactive voice response, please contact us today!