What is IVR? 6 Helpful Benefits of IVR
Learn about Interactive Voice Response systems and their benefits. Discover how to set it up and optimize IVR.
What is IVR?
In this blog post, we are trying to explain the question of “what is IVR?”. First of all, we will start with the meaning of IVR. IVR is a short version of Interactive Voice Response. This system helps you organize your call traffic. It is a simple and convenient system that enables you to transfer the caller to the relevant personnel by managing the phone traffic much more accurately using technology. It is basically a telephony menu system that empowers the dial pad for identification, segmentation and routing of callers to the most appropriate agent within your team.
If you want to read more about IVR you can check our other blog posts.
How does IVR system work?
There are two ways that you can set up your IVR system:
-
When your customers call you, first they hear a voice of your IVR system which greet your customer. After that, the IVR system asks the customer to choose (press) a number that can direct an appropriate representative.
-
When customers press to contact your agent, you can divide by topics or department that you have. For example, the customer wants to speak with your sales representative, you need to design your IVR system direct to call to the related representatives
What are the 6 benefits of IVR?
There are 6 benefits of IVR:
-
Improve first contact quality: When your customers call, it is important to quickly transfer them to the relevant representative who is more capable of solving their problems. The representative who receives the call
-
Increase customer experience: IVR system allows that the caller connects the right agent who can solve their specific problems.
-
Increase representatives performance: The representatives will be more skilled in specific problems and make the right decisions for the customer’s issues
-
Reduce phone operation cost: You will not need any receptionist or the person who receives the calls and direct them to the relevant person. One IVR system can reduce more costs.
-
More quality and professionalism: IVR system shows your customer that your company is more professional and corporate and you have more employees and departments that you actually have.
-
More happy customers: As you have a proper IVR, your customers will never be directed to the wrong department and representative and their problems remain unsolved.
Which sectors prefer IVR?
Almost every corporate companies prefer IVR system to provide a professional appearance. What kind of companies are they? Here is a list for you:
-
Retail and E-Commerce Companies
-
Financial Services and Insurance Companies
-
Healthcare and Life Sciences Companies
-
Travel and Hospitality Companies
-
Export and Import Companies
-
Software and Web Design Companies
What kind of IVR scenarios are there?
Here is some sample scenarios you can find below:
-
Scenario 1: It is an e-commerce company. A customer wants to learn where his/her order and when it arrives. So basically he/she calls you and your IVR greets the customer. The customer can type into the tracking number and listen to the information he/she needs easily automatically
-
Scenario 2: It is a bank. The customer calls and wants to learn and gets information about the interest rate for term deposits. The customer listens to IVR, dial the related menu number and connects to the related representative.
-
Scenario 3: It is a travel agency. The customer wants to book a flight ticket. The customer is greeted by IVR, listen the menu, dial the number of booking section, select the flight, pay the price. So simple and easy way to do it.
In this blog post, we answered the question of what is call center. Did you find this article helpful? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
If you want you can also read more about what IVR is.