Lose your customers or ditch your IVR?

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A new customer survey has highlighted huge dissatisfaction with voice self-service.

Has the time finally arrived to stop upsetting customers and ditch the touch tone menus?

According to a new customer study 41 per cent of consumers cite voice self-service as the most annoying communications channel compared to only 1 per cent who find it satisfying.

 

In addition, 39 per cent of consumers said it is critical to improve voice self-service to make it integrate more intelligently with human-assisted service.

In customer service experiences where the consumer was ‘trapped’ in an automated system, consumers spent, on average, more than ten minutes trying to reach a live agent. Even paper-based mail, which can be a considerably slower communications channel, is preferable to poorly implemented voice self-service systems.

 

In comparison, consumers seemed generally happy with phone calls to live agents as well as email contact.

Consumers say the biggest issues influencing their perception of voice self-service have to do with automated systems not recognising their unique value to the company, the lack of context during the interaction, and the need to more effectively recognise customer needs and intent.

It strikes me that there are some clear conclusions highlighted by this report.

 

  • To improve your customer satisfaction ditch the IVR system
  • If you want self-service, do it on the website
  • It’s time to beef up your email channels

 

Consumers were asked about the frequency of their interactions with businesses via the web, through contact centres and with their mobile devices.

  • 73 per cent of UK consumers ended a relationship due to a poor customer experience
  • The average value of each lost relationship is £248 per year
  • 39 per cent of UK consumers said it is critical for companies to provide more intelligent self-service so they are not trapped in unproductive automated systems
  • 83 per cent of consumers welcome more proactive engagement if it improves their experiences.

The 28-question survey of consumers in the UK was conducted by Greenfield Online. The survey was sponsored by Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, in collaboration with industry analysts at Datamonitor/Ovum. The survey group represented virtually every age and income bracket of consumers in the UK. Datamonitor/Ovum reviewed the consumer survey data in conjunction with its proprietary contact centre models to produce the results.

This is not the first time that we have suggested that IVR has reached the end if its lifetime.
www.callcentrehelper.com/your-opinion-time-to-throw-out-the-ivr-1882.htm
www.callcentrehelper.com/time-to-get-rid-of-your-ivr-2854.htm

Jonty Pearce

Author: Jo Robinson

Published On: 30th Sep 2009 - Last modified: 11th Sep 2019
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6 Comments

  • I get very frustrated with these articles – it seems like I see them 2-3 times a week now – IVRs aren’t working, it’s time to stop using IVRs.

    No, it’s time to actually use your IVR, and make it useful, rather than simply putting every possible option and technology people can think of.

    A well designed IVR is a benefit to the company – it has a minor impact to the customer (most people are going to prefer no IVR, but will accept a short, useful one), and can save the company time and money. A bad IVR is horrible. But that doesn’t mean that IVRs should be thrown out entirely. We don’t fire agents that get a bad review – we coach them, try to improve them, *then* fire them if it doesn’t work. Do the same thing with the IVR!

    Derek Kupper 1 Oct at 14:16

  • I totally agree with Derek – it’s not time to ditch your IVR but it IS time to take a cold hard look at it from your customer’s perspective. How intuitive is it to use? Can I complete the transaction I am trying to easily? Can I get to the person I want quickly and easily? Is the information I provide passed to the agent when I get put through? Can I escape if I get lost?

    There are several occassions that callers prefer to use an IVR rather queue up to speak to an agent – account balance enquiries, credit card payments, etc. These are tried and tested solutions that have been around for years – they are simple and they work.

    When designed properly, IVR can be incredibly effective for both the company and their customers. Keep it simple and people will use it – short concise menus (no more than 3-4 options and no more than 2 levels), customer centric prompts (what are they most likely to want to do and how would they ask for it), and transfer to agent on request, will all increase IVR acceptance and use.

    Don’t ditch it – simplify it!

    Dave Lee 5 Oct at 18:13

  • Agreed.

    Get the business processes right, and don’t tie customers up in endless loops and dead ends.

    As Dave says, use them wisely for repeated simple call requests and use the freed-up staff resource to handle more complex queries.

    And don’t design them where a caller cannot bypass the system easily and doesn’t know where to turn – this is quite unforgiveable and detrimental in the long-term.

    Ask for customer feedback (and act on it) once they’ve been installed to capture and remove any issues.

    Glen Foxon 9 Sep at 14:53

  • I would like to know if there is any studies that anyone can point me to that shows customer experience with ‘complex’ IVRs and simple, easy to use IVRs

    Annie 18 Jan at 01:06

  • Hello,

    I also agree with keeping and improving IVR systems.
    Now I am in the middle of searching a way for improving my IVR, because I will not get rid of it.

    Currently, we are in testing phase, but probably we will chose an SDK to create our own IVR system. I tend to chose Ozeki VoIP SIP SDK based on our tests, because they offer several sample programs on how to setup DTMF IVR: voip-sip-sdk.com/p_270-winforms-dtmf-ivr-voip.html

    I hope I can help others in similar situation… I really beleive that a well-design IVR system (and any other service) can improve customer experience…

    BR

    William Sagar 2 May at 13:39

  • I see this study is from 2009. Do the results stilh hold true? Does anybody know if there are similar studies for other countries and how the countries compare to each other?

    Michelle 28 Sep at 18:46