Clients call your business when they're looking for answers. The faster y'all can provide them, the better the client experience tin be. Nevertheless, endless call transfers can hinder the amount of people you lot can help in a timely manner. If your alive agents face high call volumes every day, using an interactive voice response (IVR) system can help you save time and connect clients to the right squad members from the start.

Keep reading to larn well-nigh IVR and the perks it can provide, likewise as how you tin successfully ready IVR engineering science for your business concern.

What is IVR?

Interactive voice response (IVR) is a phone automation technology that lets incoming callers heed to a pre-recorded greeting and select from a gear up of phone menu options to route their own calls. When you lot fix upwardly IVR, your clients collaborate with an automated phone menu — for example, a menu that says "punch one for client service or dial 2 for sales" — before they chat with a live amanuensis. Based on your client's option, IVR software volition so route calls to the correct section, ship them to voicemail, or play an associated audio recording. 🔊

Unlike standard car-attendants, which are mainly used to transfer incoming calls between call heart agents, IVR is capable of answering client questions without whatever live support needed. Plus, clients can interact with IVR systems via keypad or speech communication recognition, so call routing can exist a completely hands-free experience for them.

How businesses use IVR

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Businesses use IVR menus for a wide diverseness of situations. Y'all've probably experienced a few IVR systems when calling companies in the past. To aid you brainstorm opportunities to improve your call direction with IVR, here are examples of IVR utilize cases that tin can help your business field more than calls:

  • Answer common questions: Gear up upwards menu options that play pre-recorded answers for your FAQs — for instance, "press one for our concern hours."
  • Connect clients to the right squad: Phone menus assistance clients achieve different teams (like sales, support, or public relations) without saving or looking upwards multiple phone numbers.
  • Streamline back up for existing clients: Frontward calls from paying customers to a dedicated line, then they get priority support.
  • Filter out spam calls: Send salespeople directly to voicemail (and just call back if y'all want to) while letting customer calls come up through.
  • Offer language options: Offer separate bill of fare options for different languages, like English and Spanish.
  • Promote current deals: Create a menu option that plays a oftentimes updated recording that lists out current sales or specials.

Some IVR solutions can even pull personalized data, similar business relationship balances and product prices, based on the information callers enter. This usually requires you to connect your IVR platform to some sort of database, similar a CRM.

How does IVR work?

IVR technology is actually simpler than you might think. Since IVR is at present integrated with many user-friendly VoIP phone services, y'all don't need to have any technical knowledge to understand the basics of the applied science.

When clients call a phone number that'south equipped with an IVR system, they'll instantly hear an automated voice or a human voice recording listing out menu options that they can choose from. This menu is fully customizable, and so you can update your menu options to align with your team's needs.

Then, to process the card options callers cull, IVR systems often use 2 technologies:

  • Dual-tone multi-frequency signaling (DTMF): When a caller types a number on their keypad, DTMF triggers its corresponding action, which y'all set from the backend of your phone system. For instance, pressing the number "2" could forwards calls straight to a manager.
  • Voice recognition: When a caller states their desired option (for example, saying "2" instead of tapping the digit on their keypad), spoken communication recognition tech will translate their verbal response into a respective control.

Either manner, clients volition become routed to the advisable phone number, vocalization recording, or alternate location.

5 benefits of IVR

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IVR engineering is a win-win for your team members and your clients. For your business concern, IVR acts as an inbound phone call filter that helps your team members relieve time and increase their productivity. For your clients, IVR prevents poor customer experiences — no more unprepared live agents or excessive call routing. 🙅‍♀️

Allow'southward walk you lot through five fundamental benefits of setting up an IVR system.

1. Reduce costs

Manually handling high call volumes tin lead to enough of wasted time and money. If you don't automate your call routing, y'all'll really but accept two choices: hire receptionists to field your calls or reduce efficiency by putting your alive agents in charge of telephone call transfers. With an IVR system as your digital receptionist, y'all won't have to worry about either upshot. IVR will automate much of the phone call management process for y'all.

Plus, since IVR functionality is integrated with many modern VoIP phone systems, in that location'due south no need to purchase separate phone call center software or hire an IT team to fix an IVR carte.

With OpenPhone, for case, basic and highly intuitive IVR features are included with the Standard plan. Even if you lot're a small business organization or startup, yous can have advantage of IVR engineering. Our Premium plan gives y'all even more options to salvage fourth dimension on your inbound call workflows including circular robin call distribution, contact syncing with HubSpot, and up to 100 users on a shared number.

ii. Increase customer satisfaction

Businesses that use IVR to improve the customer experience tin can significantly boost caller satisfaction. McKinsey reports that one enterprise visitor saw a 10-25% increment in satisfaction thank you to their customer-centric IVR.

It's easy to see why IVR can transform the caller experience. For one, callers are no longer subject to long hold times or telephone call transfers, which often occur when live agents aren't prepared to respond sure questions. IVR ensures callers are directly routed to an practiced for their needs, so the first homo they chat with can provide a resolution fast.

IVR can besides let you to use different scripts or greetings customized based on who'southward calling — leads or customers, clients with unlike membership plans, or people who speak dissimilar languages. This can help you better connect with callers, so they feel similar valued clients. 😊

iii. Maximize your team's time

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If your trained agents are spending more time fielding bones questions than offering support for more complex needs, you aren't maximizing their fourth dimension.

Imagine a talented sales rep answering questions about pricing tiers from casual shoppers instead of doing consultations for leads who actually desire to buy from you. Your sales rep won't meet their full potential, and your response times for warm leads will go up.

IVR technology allows y'all to implement a self-service support choice for callers with uncomplicated, repetitive questions. All you need to practice is prepare the audio response once to answer every caller with those questions — no real-fourth dimension support needed. This way, your live agents are readily available for callers who actually need to speak with humans to resolve complex issues.

four. Reduce human being error

No matter how well-trained and professional your team members are, there's always room for man error when yous take the transmission route. When manually transferring calls, mistyping a single number or tapping on the wrong contact can send callers to a completely irrelevant section. If one of your live agents makes this mistake, your caller will have to bargain with a call transfer for a second time. 😩

IVR eliminates this issue past sending callers to set destinations, based on the bill of fare option they select. Your clients know the issue they're facing best, and then they can use your IVR bill of fare to guide themselves to the correct destination.

5. Offer back up 24/seven

When you implement an IVR system, you tin can offer back up fifty-fifty when your business organization hours are over. While y'all may non accept live agents bachelor to resolve circuitous issues, the ability to direct clients to pre-recorded messages allows you to answer mutual questions (like what your business hours are) in the meantime. Y'all can besides set upwardly a command that directs after-hours callers to an emergency number.

Instead of getting sent straight to voicemail, which leaves callers with trivial caption, your callers volition at least have some options. Or, y'all tin ready an abroad voicemail greeting specifically for callers who dial your number outside of business organisation hours. In this sense, setting up an IVR menu tin can assistance clients feel more supported.

How to fix up an IVR organisation

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You can set up up an IVR menu in a matter of minutes. VoIP systems have simplified the IVR setup process, so you don't take to call an Information technology squad just to automate call routing for a unmarried phone number.

The steps that you need to take to set up IVR tin can vary between concern phone systems, merely we'll guide you lot through OpenPhone'southward step-by-step procedure, so you tin can run across exactly how easy setup can be.

  1. Navigate to the "Phone Numbers" section of your admin dashboard.
  2. Select the phone number yous'd like to add an IVR telephone menu to.
Setting up an IVR
  1. Scroll down to the "Telephone Menu" section and tap "Disabled" to add your menu.
  2. Tap "Fix a greeting bulletin" to upload an sound file, record a message, or type out a bulletin for an automated vox to read. This message volition be the first thing callers hear after dialing your telephone number.
  3. Nether "Carte Options," you tin gear up the destinations for each keypad or voice command. For each menu option, you can choose to:
  • Forward calls to another OpenPhone number,
  • Forward calls to a U.s. or Canadian number outside of your organization
  • Let calls go through to the number callers originally dialed

If you lot have a Premium programme on OpenPhone, you can likewise send callers to voicemail or a specific person (fifty-fifty if they share a phone number), or play an audio recording based on the caller'due south command.

  1. Nether "If no pick is selected," OpenPhone users can make up one's mind what happens if clients don't type or say any command at all. Standard users can select from the three basic destinations in Step 5. Premium users can select one of the half dozen destinations listed in Step v or have their IVR organisation echo all the carte options to the caller.
  2. Tap "Save" when you're finished customizing your IVR menu.

Best practices for setting up IVR

IVR doesn't have a nifty reputation with every consumer. Though IVR is improving every year, most people have had bad experiences with this engineering science. One major reason: Too many businesses use motorcar-attendants purely to salvage time, rather than to assist clients.

To avoid some of the most common mistakes associated with IVR and go on your customers happy, you demand to take on a client-centric mindset when creating your bill of fare. Consider implementing these best practices when setting upwardly your IVR organization.

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For consumers, the most frustrating part of using IVR systems is having to listen to all the irrelevant options on a phone card. There'southward no such thing as a skip push button on phone calls, and then long IVR menus can exist hard to carry. ⏭️

To ameliorate the customer experience, limit your menu to v options max. Think about the calls you normally get on a day-to-day footing and the questions clients normally ask. This tin can help you decide what menu options are accented musts and which ones you lot can do without. Try not to waste your card options on highly specific commands (like "dial 3 to learn how to clean your water filter") unless you're constantly fielding calls nearly 1 subject field.

It'south also a good idea to have an option for miscellaneous needs. Not having the ability to fully draw an issue is another frustration that clients have with IVR, and so it's helpful to offering a way for callers to reach y'all if no other options are a great fit for their needs.

2. Use customer data to improve your IVR system

Even if you lot perfected your first IVR menu, client needs can modify over time. Keeping an eye on your call data, adding phone call notes to your contacts list, and chatting direct with your live agents can help you learn virtually why clients are calling and who they're trying to achieve. If you notice any major needs y'all're not directly addressing, consider adjusting your bill of fare options to create a better customer experience.

3. Tape your ain welcome message when possible

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When clients telephone call your phone number for support, the last thing they want to hear is a robot speaking to them. Starting off your IVR audio with a robotic message tin can sound a lot like existence sent to voicemail — which can lead callers to hang up before they get the answers they need.

Using a human being voice for a greeting can make your IVR menu feel much warmer and friendlier. If you're able to add a personal touch on by recording a custom greeting, consider doing so.

four. Exam your IVR arrangement after setting information technology up

After you finish customizing your IVR card on your VoIP phone system, don't immediately set it and forget it. IVR does reduce human mistake in the long run. Withal, that's but the case if you enter the right routing options or select the correct audio files during the setup procedure. Double check your IVR arrangement settings and call your telephone number several times to test out each command.

Testing your IVR system also gives y'all a hazard to catch any errors or poor phrasing in your recording or text-to-speech entry. If your squad uses an on-premise PBX system, moving to a deject-based VoIP provider makes updating your phone settings unproblematic. As a event, you tin can make changes fast and ensure you put your best foot forward for anyone who calls.

Implement IVR to amend your phone call menstruation

Implement IVR with OpenPhone

Providing elevation-notch support to your callers is key to keeping customer satisfaction high. With an interactive voice response system, you empower clients to guide themselves to the correct agents or become instant answers to their questions. Keeping in heed our IVR arrangement best practices, like having a short carte du jour greeting and testing your system, you lot can ameliorate the experience for your callers. All the while, yous can reduce your own business expenses and maximize your team members' time. 🙌

Thanks to VoIP telephone systems similar OpenPhone, setting upwards an IVR system is no longer difficult. There's no technical noesis required, and basic IVR features are available with every single plan at no extra cost — along with other helpful concern telephone features similar call recording, business app integrations, and voicemail transcriptions. Sign up for your free trial of OpenPhone to set up your beginning IVR menu today.