four ivr pitfalls and how to avoid them

Spoken free webinar:Four IVR Pitfalls and How to

Avoid Them

@spokencomm #IVRpitfalls

Spoken Communications

Four IVR Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them

• Spot the four pitfalls in IVR systems• Learn tips to avoid the four worst

pitfalls• See why good IVRs work and what

makes them successful• Learn how to gauge and measure IVR

success




Spoken Communications is a leading provider of proprietary speech recognition technologies for call centers and hosted virtual call center systems. Currently supporting over 2,000,000 minutes per month in hybrid human-assisted speech recognition, call recording, and virtual phone switch and distribution systems, Spoken is a proven leader in the call center customer service, sales and support industry.


Bill PriceBill Price, Driva Solutions

Bill Price started Driva Solutions in September 2001 to help companies achieve the delicate balance between cost containment and greater customer loyalty, co-founded the 10-country LimeBridge Global Alliance in early 2002, and formed and chairs the 37-company Global Operations Council. Bill was Amazon.com’s first VP of Global Customer Service, VP of MCI Enhanced Call Router and Call Center Services divisions, COO/CFO with ACP, and Senior Engagement Manager with McKinsey in San Francisco and Stockholm.

Bill is a “Call Center Pioneer” (1997) and “CRM Guru” (2004), and the lead author of The Best Service is No Service (Wiley/Jossey-Bass, March 2008). Bill received his BA from Dartmouth and his MBA from Stanford, and lives in Bellevue WA.


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• Webinar recording will be available to participants afterwards

• Enjoy, absorb, participate!


4 Most Common IVR Pitfalls

Spoken Webinar, 16 November 2010

Bill Price, President & Founder Driva Solutions; Co-Founder LimeBridge Global Alliance; Chair Global Operations

Council (GOC)

2

4 Most Common IVR Pitfalls

16 Nov 2010

1. Recognizing 4 most common IVR pitfalls

2. Avoiding the pitfalls

3. Defining successful IVR programs

4. Measuring IVR success + c-sat within the IVR

3

My Journey (a lot of IVR along the way)

Sacramento

16 Nov 2010

4

Seven Principles of Best Service

16 Nov 2010

5

1. 4 Pitfalls #1

16 Nov 2010

#1 = Voicemail jail

• no way to exit• confusing options• no speech

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1. 4 Pitfalls #2

16 Nov 2010

#2 = Untested design, too flashy

• un-tuned• un-thinking• underwhelming

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1. 4 Pitfalls #3

16 Nov 2010

#3 = Channel myopia

• CTI missing links• crazy requests• silos

1. 4 Pitfalls #4

816 Nov 2010

#4 = Internal gazing

• our hours, not yours• not in customers’ shoes (boots)• stuck, no exit (see again #1)

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2. Avoiding the PitfallsListening to your customers

16 Nov 2010

Top Five Symptoms of Self Service Opportunity

What Customers Say Symptom Indicator

1. “I tried to use the self service but I couldn’t work it out”

A high proportion of customers abandon the self service mid stream

2. “I don’t understand why I have to pay to do it over the Internet”

Fee structure misaligned with costs to the organisation

3.“Do you know how I can do this on the internet?”

The percentage of contacts to manned channels requesting help with self service

4. “I have always done it this way” Manned channels unaware of self service options or not responsible for promoting self service

5. “I’ve heard great things about the service at X”

Relative availability and take up rates of self service compared to competitors

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2. Avoiding the Pitfalls

16 Nov 2010

IVR Pitfall How to Avoid

1. Voicemail jail Customer-managed self-service

2. Untested design, too flashy Design for the customer

3. Channel myopia Apply science of usability

4. Internal gazing Manage change for the customer

Coordinate all channels

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16 Nov 2010

Do’s Don’ts Example Don’tsUse customer language Use internal language “Press three for high bill enquiries”

Design using the customer’s frame of reference

Let Marketing or legal and compliance loose on self service

Play forty second messages explaining compliance principles before you know what customers want

Respect the customers time Waste the customers timePlay marketing messages to customers that they are forced to listen to

Making it easy for them to ID themselves

Force them through a process that complies to your technical and security architecture but which no customer will ever remember

Asking for more security information in manned than self service channels

Use bread crumbs Provide a range of inconsistent navigation mechanisms

Too many web sites to mention

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16 Nov 2010

Usability Blooper The Usability Principle

IVR menus with more than three options. Web site lists of more than five choices

Customers can only remember seven (plus or minus two) things. R

IVR menus and messages that take more than thirty seconds

Most people have about thirty seconds of short term memory.

Making it hard to navigate web sites by leaving out “breadcrumbs” as a navigation mechanism

The web site should show the customer where they have navigated to

Key areas of the web site that users have to scroll to

If it is important, make it visible

Navigation mechanisms are inconsistent across the web site

Navigation should be consistent

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3. Defining Successful IVR ProgramsPart of a complete closed loop process

16 Nov 2010

3. Defining Successful IVR ProgramsChallenge Customer Demand = the core of “Best Service”

1516 Nov 2010

3. Defining Successful IVR ProgramsOnly automate the lower right corner

1616 Nov 2010

4. Measuring IVR Success + C-Sat Within the IVR

1716 Nov 2010

1. Test your own IVR, a lot (and ask your non-tech friends to use it)2. Compare your IVR with the best across any industry, not your competitors (“last contact benchmarking”)

3. Capture drop-out percentages at each branch4. Measure % customers who opt out to talk to an agent (note: aim for >70% “containment” or “success rate”

5. Ask customers for their satisfaction (a) in the IVR; (b) in the contact center (see again #4); (c) post-center interaction survey6. Conduct A:B comparison testing on design, logic, flow, and voice; then re-do #1-5

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In Summary (1)

16 Nov 2010

Do Don’t

Align measures with what matters to the customerFocus measures on internal process adherence and compliance

Measure how much and how well Obsess about how fast

Measure from the customer perspective and the whole customer experience

Measure only selective parts of the experience

Align measures with what people can control Measure people on things they can’t control

Get it first hand from the customerUse only proxies of what customers think or a limited set of experiences

Consider how you will action the data and what it means

Obsess over score keeping

Find ways to capture the detail you need Manage by averages

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In Summary (2)

16 Nov 2010

Do Don’t

Involve and educate your manned channels on how self service works

Let your customers know more than your staff about self service

Put the customer in controlTry to put a straight jacket the customer to get the behaviors you want

Invest in customer change management Expect build it and they will come to work

Design with the customer in mind Design what the organisation wants

Use incentives Penalize staffed channel use

Apply the science of usabilityLet your techies marketing and legal teams loose on customer self service

Start with the end and re-use in mind Take this short cuts that lead to channel isolation

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In Summary (4)

16 Nov 2010

Six Things to Get Right in IVR

Keep menu’s short and simple

Only play messages when they are needed

Always provide an option to exit to an operator

Make it clear how a customer can repeat options or get help

Allow the customer time to act:- build in pauses

Provide touch tone (DTMF) options

Keep the same “voice” across IVR, and in your ACD

In Summary (5)

2116 Nov 2010

“Customer self-service is everything. What I said in the past wasn’t totally right; quality, service, and fast response are important but the customer must be in the driver’s seat.”

-- Tom Peters

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In Summary (6)

16 Nov 2010

Thanks!

Bill Price, President Driva Solutions, Co-Founder LimeBridge,

Chair Global Operations Council

Email address = [email protected]

Mobile = 206-321-0841

mailto:[email protected]

Bill PriceBill Price, Driva Solutions

www.drivasolutions.com


Bill is a “Call Center Pioneer” (1997) and “CRM Guru” (2004), and the lead author of The Best Service is No Service (Wiley/Jossey-Bass, March 2008). Bill received his BA from Dartmouth and his MBA from Stanford, and lives in Bellevue WA.



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Spoken free webinar:Four IVR Pitfalls and How to

Avoid Them

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