Disecting an IVR Failure

Recently, the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) announced that they would be opening a live call center to handle and address water supply shortages plaguing it's customers around the south Indian city.  The call center is set to replace an IVR system that was so woefully inadequate, approximately 80% of registered complaints were not being addressed.  Officials at the BWSSB blamed the failures on incorrect account numbers and incomplete customer address information left as voice messages on the system.  The call center will put customers in direct contact with human operators who will verify specific account and address information with customers so that their issues can be resolved in a timely fashion.

This situation seems to be a clear failure of the IVR system design and not of IVR technology.  The main purpose for the implementation of an IVR system is to save money by employing fewer live operators.  A secondary feature is to empower customers to access company services and complete simple transactions without the help of a human call center agent at any time of the day.  The system that the BWSSB employed failed to adequately accomplish customer self-service thus forcing the utility company to spend more money on a staffed call center.  By adopting a few simple design strategies, the BWSSB IVR system could have been a sufficient method for reporting water outages.

Many IVR systems employed by utility companies will request that customers enter an account number or telephone number associated with an account in order to access associated information such as a customer name and address.  A good system will ask customers to verify that it has accessed the correct information by prompting the customer to enter a PIN or some other form of identification.  Upon completion of the verification, the system can then proceed to record the customer complaint or issue.  The BWSSB system simply recorded customers speaking their account numbers or address so that a technician could then follow-up on the complaint.  The lack of real-time verification resulted in most complaints being left unaddressed.  The troubles were avoidable if a properly designed IVR had been utilized saving the BWSSB time and money.  Now they are forced to spend more of both at the added expense of customer satisfaction.

Golden Rules of Self-Service

There is, and perhaps always will be, an ongoing debate about the effectiveness of customer self-service through IVR systems.  A simple web search will return countless anecdotal accounts of frustration and trouble with IVR self-service solutions.  However, most consumer research indicates the opposite.  In addition, customer satisfaction data collected by companies further indicate a general acceptance of the technology by a majority of consumers.  These results raise the question: what is it about IVR systems that elicit such varied user perceptions?

ClickFox recently conducted a survey asking participants about their preferred method of interactions with their banks, cable/wireless providers, utilities and insurance providers.  The results indicate that most customers prefer to use self-service to resolve simple tasks like paying bills or checking account status, but would rather human interaction for more complex tasks such as filing claims or seeking technical assistance.  Of course these results also show that there will always be a place for human customer service operators but there is room to increase self-service and customer satisfaction at the same time. To implement an effective system, developers must take consumer demographics into account and consider how their range of customers will respond to certain types of self-service interactions.  By avoiding common mistakes in development, companies can also avoid negative attention on the web and social media sites.  1to1 Media suggests that there are five golden rules that will help increase self-service interactions while concurrently improving customer satisfaction.  Using best practices, knowledge bases and end-user analysis in IVR development can result in cost-savings and customer retention.

IVR Dos and Don'ts

After years of growing pains and mixed reviews by users, IVR systems are ubiquitous in large and small companies, yet many are still poorly designed or ineffective. Despite volumes of customer feedback and frequently publicized best practices, there is still often a disconnect between design and functionality/effectiveness of some IVR systems. DestinationCRM.com has put together a concise list of Dos and Don'ts for IVR systems that should serve as a starting point for companies that are new to IVR implementation as well as those who are considering changes and upgrades. These key ideas will not only improve customer satisfaction but it should also decrease overall call volumes to live operators in call centers.

One of the keys to good IVR systems is a clear road map specifying the call center processes that are most troublesome and time consuming. Identifying those key areas are an excellent starting point for planning an IVR system. However, many companies fall into the trap of expecting the IVR to be a replacement for human operators while it should instead be used to free call centers of easy tasks so that they can focus on more complex problems requiring one-on-one customer support. It is also very important to implement IVR systems around existing processes. Attempts to update processes and implement IVRs concurrently typically overwhelms an already overtaxed system. Simply learning from what others have done both correctly and incorrectly can lead to a smooth implementation and a benefit to all parties including the end user.

IVR Popularity

Since IVR was first introduced as a customer service tool, there have been many detractors. However, a recent survey indicates that the tide has turned and customers have accepted IVR and, in some cases, even prefer it to live operators. Speech-enabled self-service IVRs have become so commonplace that many consumers report that they prefer to use such systems for simple tasks such as checking account balances, flight statuses or shipment tracking. The survey results show that more than 50% of participants reported a preference for speech-enabled IVR for most simple transactions.

The survey also suggests a positive consumer response to proactive IVR systems. Such systems are being used to place courtesy calls to customers as reminders of appointments or other important upcoming activities. Of course there is nothing new about the practice of proactive calling, but customer acceptance of the technology is improving along with the general trends in IVR acceptability. Despite all the positive marks for IVR systems, there is room for improvement. Although customers appreciate the ability to handle simple tasks themselves, they still want the option to easily bypass the IVR to speak to a live operator. Respondents also said that improving speech recognition and accuracy would greatly improve their calling experiences. Overall the results of this survey are very positive but continual improvement and meeting customer expectations will result in increased business for everyone involved in the IVR industry.

Customer Retention and IVR

Despite the many improvements of IVR systems since their inception, they still score poorly on customer surveys. This is once again evident in a UK consumer survey conducted by Greenfield Online. The survey reports that 41% of users find voice self-service to be the "most annoying" customer service tool when compared with paper communications, email, text messages and live call center agents. Furthermore, only 1% of consumers have a positive impression of the technology. A main point of contention is the lack of integration between voice self-service and operator assisted service. This most likely refers to situations where customers are asked to repeat information to a live agent that they have already reported to an IVR system earlier in their call. The end result is that customers are left feeling less like an individual and valuable asset to the business and more like one of many identical clients.

Some would suggest that these results are an indication that IVR simply does not work and should be replaced by live customer service agents. However, this assertion assumes that live service agents are better equipped to handle the burden of customer support than an automated system or combination of the two. The fact is that while a human agent may be able to recognize speech better than a voice self-service system, the cost of doing business in such a way is unsustainable. It would be unprofitable for most companies to respond to every customer service issue with a live agent. The increased manpower requirement would likely lead to outsourcing to a foreign call center which introduces another set of customer satisfaction issues. Furthermore, call center agents would simply be overwhelmed by the volume of inbound customer service calls.

UK consumer data suggests that 73% of customers end a relationship with a business due to poor customer service and this costs the business £248 (approximately $400) per year. From this information, it is clear that there is a fine balancing act between running a cost effective business and maintaining customer satisfaction. It would appear that one of the best ways to retain customers while still employing an IVR system is to address the issue of perception. A customer wants to feel that his business is just as important as anyone else's and this can be achieved by creating a personalized voice self-service experience. There are redesign and implementation costs, but the long-term dividends gained by having satisfied customers can far exceed the short-term monetary investment.

Integrated IVR

Recent research suggests that more customized and customer focused IVR systems result in improved service and experience for users. Integration of customer profile information into the IVR system can make for a much more personalized customer experience. InVox has integrated this concept into their recently announced cloud telephony offering. In addition to creating an online user interface for the IVR workflow design, the system is capable of using customer specific data to customize and enhance the IVR menus and on-hold messages.

The inbound call system is capable of identifying incoming callers and cross-referencing them with their in-house records. For example, the system can look up future appointment schedules and supply the customer with a reminder or even an offer to reschedule. It is also capable of transcribing voicemails which it can then deliver to the proper recipient in text form. The system can also solicit spoken responses from customers to handle common transactions like a traditional speech self-service IVR system. These types of increased integration of value added services are likely to be the future of telephone-based customer service systems.

Speech Self-Service Lessons

Although speech-based self-service IVRs are becoming more popular among most companies, popularity among customers is decreasing at an alarming rate. Recent survey data suggests that as many as 40% of customers avoid using speech self-service IVR systems and 42% prefer using web-based self-service utilities rather than telephone-based systems. Furthermore, only one-quarter of respondents reported that they would use a speech-based option again. As companies continue to implement speech-based systems as a cost savings measure, many considerations can and should be taken as a means of improving customer satisfaction and experience.

One third of customers complain that they often have to repeat information to a human operator after already providing the same to the IVR system earlier in the service call. More than 20% of customers complain that the systems do not understand or recognize spoken commands. Finally, 16% of customers are annoyed by systems that do not allow them to skip directly to menus that they want. Integrating the IVR and human operator databases could cut down on the need for customers to repeat information during a call. Since most customers feel that they must over-enunciate when dealing with speech recognition systems, the software could be improved to accommodate both conversational and more precise speech patterns. Finally, creating shortcuts and/or keywords for frequent callers would assuage some of the frustration associated with listening to long lists of multiple menu options. It is important to take these and other customer complaints into consideration when designing and implementing an IVR system, otherwise the money that is saved in the call center will not make up for unsatisfied or lost customers.