Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Call Center IVR Surveys: Develop an IVR Interface that Works

Call center IVR surveys are a great way of getting feedback and promoting your business. My previous IVR blog post handled some of the applications and benefits of voice recognition system surveys. Like any voice recognition system project, a call center IVR survey needs a good interface to be effective. Here are some tips for developing a great IVR system survey:

Call center IVR surveys should never be the focus of the call. Callers should have the option of responding to a survey at the end of the call, but ultimately the voice recognition system should focus on meeting caller needs. With good service, a caller will be more likely to respond to a call center IVR survey.

Keep your voice recognition system survey brief. If possible, avoid going over five questions. You want to keep the drop rate down—nobody wants to spend all day interacting with your voice recognition system.

Have a consistent response pattern for your call center IVR survey. It’s easy for callers get confused, so make things as straightforward as possible. Use yes/no questions, or implement a simple rating system, but don’t mix things up with your voice recognition survey. You don’t want to end up with inaccurate responses if your call center IVR survey is so complex that callers make a mistake.

Allow callers to make open comments at the end of your call center IVR survey. Some callers will have feedback that doesn’t fit in with your voice recognition system survey. Give them the opportunity to submit feedback at the end of the IVR call.

Don’t leave the same call center IVR survey up for months on end. Unless you’re rating agent performance, there’s rarely a case for leaving the same voice recognition system survey up. Repeat callers to your IVR system will quickly get irritated if they are constantly asked for feedback on the same issue.

Offer an incentive for completing the call center IVR survey. Not many callers want to give up their time answering questions for a voice recognition system. Make it worth their while—offer discounted shipping, or a chance to win a prize—any incentive will increase your IVR survey response rate.

Have a simple command for the call center IVR to repeat survey questions. Callers may not always understand and will need to hear the question again. Avoid mistaken responses by configuring your call center IVR survey to have an easy repetition command.

With a good IVR survey interface, you’ll have more responses to work with and you’ll cast your company in a much better light. Read my last IVR blog to learn about some common applications of call center IVR surveys.

Monday, April 6, 2009

Call Center IVR Surveys: What are the Benefits for your Business?

Voice recognition systems aren’t necessarily just used for customer service and sales. Call center IVR can also be used to implement surveys. There are many short and long-term benefits to implementing a voice recognition system survey. It’s just a matter of properly developing the interface and questions. So what are some of the uses and benefits of surveys for call center IVR systems?

Applications of Surveys for Voice Recognition Systems:

1) Business Intelligence: Voice recognition system surveys offer a great opportunity to find out how customers feel about your company. Call center IVR systems can get valuable feedback from callers to improve business processes. Not only will you give clients the chance to voice their opinion, but with a good call center IVR survey, you’ll know what changes to make to keep them coming back.

2) Rating Agent Performance: Consider using your voice recognition system to rate agent performance. The feedback is great for training and quality assurance, and callers can use the call center IVR system to express their frustration or satisfaction with an agent. The effect of implementing a performance survey often quickly improves agent sales performance and increases customer satisfaction.

3) IVR Customer Profiling: Voice recognition systems can boost sales results by creating pre-sale client profiles. Sales can then target potential clients according to particular caller characteristics. This can be very helpful in identifying both up-sell and cross-sell opportunities. For example, if a caller has recently purchased a flat-screen TV, the caller may also be interested in a promotion on DVDs. Use your voice recognition system survey to get a picture of different demographics and learn which callers prefer which products. Call center IVR surveys are a good way to create such profiles.

4) Rating Voice Recognition System Performance: A new call center IVR system can take some adjustment. Especially in the first phase of deployment, it is important to get feedback. Callers will appreciate the opportunity to weigh in on any usability issues with your new call center IVR system, and a voice recognition system survey gives them the chance to do so. While they’ll appreciate the chance to sound off, you’ll get immediate performance feedback from your call center IVR system.

Call center IVR systems, when done right, can increase your business ROI over both the short and long-term. Learn how to increase your business returns—develop custom surveys for your voice recognition system.

Watch for an upcoming post with tips on customizing your call center IVR survey.