IVR Experience Failing Customers

Michael Gray speculates on why 65% of people said their last IVR experience lacked an option that accurately described their issue.

We’ve all been there. You call a service number to resolve a problem and the automated menu gives you every option but the one you want.

In September 2014, Call Centre Helper ran a poll to find out how often IVR systems provide the right options. The question asked was: “The last time you used an automated phone service (IVR), did it give you a menu option that accurately described your issue?”

Out of 200 responses, 65% of people said that the IVR system they last used did not give them an option that accurately described their issue.

While it’s difficult to draw robust conclusions from just one poll, one could speculate that failings are caused by factors such as:

IVRs set up with ‘organisational structures’ rather than ‘customer needs’ in mind
Fixed-option IVR menu structures being too limited a tool to describe the broad range of issues that customers are looking to resolve
IVR options set up on day one and never changed
Menu trees being designed by people who listen to the agent side of calls rather than the customer side
Companies just not being very good at setting up IVR menus!