Interactive Voice Response systems are a prime topic of discussion for customer complaints and dissatisfaction. For every well-thought out and easy to use IVR deployed in the marketplace, there are likely dozens of systems that are frustrating and difficult to use, and seem incapable of providing the information and completing the tasks that the caller needs. There are many causes of this frustration, but a key factor for lack of usability is the “one size fits all” approach to designing a voice user interface. Your customers are diverse, each with a different set of products and services provided by your company. By subjecting them all to an identical IVR user experience, you have no choice but to tailor the options for some while making task completion more difficult for others. A user experience adapted to each caller’s needs based on what you know about them ensures that they can get the information they need quickly and efficiently. Enter Data Driven Design™.
The essence of Data Driven Design™ is that data from across the organization and information known about the caller provides the basis to define the business logic and call flow of an IVR system. In effect, your IVR is no longer a static set of menus and options, but rather a dynamic and flexible tool that allows your customers immediate and easy access to personalized self-service options.
Here are just a few examples of the advantages of Data Driven Design™:
Experience based on products and services – Whether your organization provides services, products, or both, the data you already have available about your customers can be used to customize their IVR experience. For example, a banking customer with only a car loan would no longer be forced to traverse menus, options, and announcements regarding checking and savings accounts, money market or CD accounts, or home loan options. Only the information and options that are applicable to his or her product or service would be presented. By reducing the “clutter” of inapplicable choices and presenting the most relevant options first, the user can quickly and efficiently find the information they need.
Experience based on call history and preferences – The data collected from detailed logging and tracking of each customer call can be used to tailor the user experience for future calls. If a customer continually traverses the IVR menus to reach the option to make a payment, that option can be automatically moved up front to be his or her first choice.
Experience based on specific customer conditions – Does your customer have an upcoming scheduled service appointment? Chances are he or she is calling about this, and the IVR can direct the caller to this information and applicable options such as canceling or modifying the service appointment quickly.
Experience based on external customer interactions – Your customer may have recently attempted to logon to your website to obtain account information, and his or her password was rejected. The IVR system would know this based on their web account access history and immediately offer your customer the option to reset his or her password or speak to customer service.
As you can see, data is the key to this approach. Data Driven Design™ is made possible through a combination of the VEXIS Envoy™ solution and our voice user interface design expertise. Envoy™ integrates, consolidates, and transforms data from many disparate sources into meaningful information that is used as the foundation for the voice user interface design.
Data Driven Design™ empowers your customers to access specific options quickly and efficiently, resulting in shorter call duration, fewer transfers to a live agent, and greatly increases the customer confidence and satisfaction of the automated voice system. The customer experience is improved while telephony and contact center costs are reduced. Contact your VEXIS Systems Account Executive today to find out more about this and other proven methods for getting the most value out of your contact center investment!
Jacob Martin, Vice President of Operations and Solutions Services