What are IVR Services? What are its benefits? How does it work? What are its limitations?

In the mid of 90s, engineers developed a solution for all companies who have frequent contact with customers. Since then only IVR service solutions is growing rapidly in the business world. In these years, IVR service solution has become a necessity for handling customers and guiding them through any challenges they face. With time, IVR services have also grown advanced in terms of features, services, speed, efficiency, and accuracy.

IVR system decreases the workload of call center employees as it gives power to customers to self solve the queries by automated menus. In this article, we will discuss every piece of information about IVR services. We will also cover the limitations of an IVR system.

What Are IVR Services?

IVR service system stands for ‘Interactive Voice Responses’ service system. IVR system is a cloud telephony solution that allows your customers to access information and solve their problems on their own with the help of automated messages set in the system. This automated menu offers customers to choose an option as per the demands of their query.

IVR system not only adds professionalism to your presentation but also it saves your money and efforts, IVR services replace the first line of call center employees. This means that most of the calls unnecessary to attend will be handled by the IVR system.

IVR solution comes with various features today like automated voice messages, CRM integration, an internal routing system, and an advanced AI system to deal with customers more effectively.

How can an IVR system make your business easy to handle?

IVR services system comes into play when you want to reduce the time and efforts from your side and don’t want to reduce the efficiency of the call center services. IVR system is a tested and proven tool to deal with your customers without even attending the call in the first place.

In today’s business world, no one is special to customers. The market has throat-cutting competition and we are all in a corporate jungle. An IVR system gives you an edge over this situation. Your customers will be satisfied if they have to wait in long queues. They would love it if you give them the power to solve their own queries by themselves. All these enhance the brand image of your company in customers’ subconscious.
Attending calls, handling customers, and offering them the correct solution is a lengthy process. It demands time from each of your agents. Simultaneously, it becomes hectic to understand each customer and their needs. IVR service system highly reduces the time and effort of your agents. It offers a pre-decided menu to customers. This makes solving their queries very easy.
IVR system replaces the manpower. When you set up an IVR system, you replace the first line of junior representatives with an automated tool. By doing this, your company saves thousands of rupees each month.
IVR system helps your employees to maintain a work-life balance. It reduces their workload and asks them to continue when it is a must. This encourages your employees to work longer and more efficiently.
IVR service system is proven to increase customer satisfaction rate. The customer finds it very easy to handle. They love when an automated system offers them a list of services with instant solutions on their hands.

See some of the examples of IVR systems or IVR Services?

We, customers, face IVR system service on a daily basis. Whether it is a hospital or a bank or a simple school, chances are very high that you will listen to an automated voice from the other side. It has become a necessity today to keep an IVR system to handle the daily queue of customers. Using an IVR system makes the process extremely easy for both customers and the company.

Here are some of the examples of IVR systems that you can see.

At a hospital:

Hello, Thank you for calling XYZ hospital.

For English press 1; press 2 for Hindi.

Press 3 to book an appointment.

Press 4 to know the status of your report.

Press 5 to talk to our executives.

At a College:

Hello; Thank you for calling XYZ College.

Press 1 to know your Fee status.

Press 2 to know your Roll number & registration number.

Press 3 to talk to the college administration.

At a telecommunication company service:

Hello; Thank you for calling XYZ telecommunication.

Press 1 to check your balance.

Press 2 to know your current plan.

Press 3 to know our detailed service plan

Press 4 to renew your service plan

Press 5 to talk to any of our customer executives.

IVR helps you to build up a strong impression on your customers. It is fast, reliable, and gives instant solutions to their problems. As a company, an IVR service can help you to get feedback from your customers also.

Limitations of IVR System:

IVR technology is indeed a big relief for all companies. It gives you immediate solutions to all your challenges and doesn’t waste time at all. The only challenge is its design.

While designing the automated menu, we must take care of the customer’s point of view. Poorly designed IVR can create more havoc instead of providing a solution.

Asking for too much customer data can increase the chances of customer dissatisfaction. Also, it may take too much time. Your customers can easily hang up the call if it makes them wait for more than 2 minutes for their desired solution.

Using advertisements in between the menus can backfire on you only. Promotional messages add up the waiting time. Again, if put unnecessary, customers will cut the call without a second thought.

Talking to an automated system voice response system is boring sometimes. You must put an option to call the executives on the menu. Remember that sometimes people want to talk to a real human. Keeping that option open will only increase the customer satisfaction rate of your company.

Conclusion:

Interactive Voice Response Service is a great tool to increase customer experience and satisfaction. Also integrating it with your other devices offers you full control over your customer solution center. It helps you to build up the company’s brand image and customer experience.

If you were unaware of IVR till now then don’t waste your time anymore. Parth Technosys is one of the best professional IVR system service providers with all the advanced features of IVR.