Rules to get IVR systems right

Ever meet anyone who sang praises for an interactive voice recognition system? Other than IVR vendors selling the systems or CFOs bragging to CEOs about the money saved by deploying one, me neither. In fact, people get so frustrated they use the Internet to get around IVR roadblocks.

Whether stuck in a touch-tone, phone-tree bottomless pit or in a voice recognition system that understands you as well as Costello grasped what Abbott was saying in their famous Who's On First skit, IVRs turn off users. If you didn't force your customers to use it, believe me, they would not.

Although there are some shortcomings of IVR systems, admits Dave Rennyson, president of Angel.com Inc. in McLean, Va., he argues it's not necessarily the technology, but the implementation that's at issue. In fact, he contends that when done right IVR technology can be the preferred choice among users just as automatic teller machines are among many bank customers today.

In an e-mail to me, he writes, "When people equate automation with being empowered and saving time, they will choose automation."

Mike Ahnemann, Angel.com's principal voice user interface designer, says many of the perceived problems with IVR systems happen before they ever get rolled out. To get them right you need to "put the caller first," he says.

That means before launching your IVR project you need to know why people are calling. According to Ahnemann, it's shocking how many companies install their IVR system without having any data on why people call them. Is it to get store hours? Directions? He says if he knows why your phone is ringing he can design a system to effectively automate the process so callers are satisfied.

Another problem Ahnemann encounters is the lure to automate everything. That kind of thinking leads to endless and confusing options for callers. "Only automate what can elegantly be done," he advises.

He also suggests that the IVR script needs to be crystal clear. And, unlike virtually every blog on the Internet, each word needs to be chosen for precise reasons. 

"Every word has a purpose," he says. If it doesn't, chuck it.

Since IVR technology is here to stay, let's hope enterprises think more carefully about its deployment so when callers encounter it they will be able to beyond first base.