How Can IVR Improve Customer Service in the IT Industry

In the fast-paced and driven landscape of the IT industry, providing exceptional customer service has become paramount to stay competitive and stand out from the crowd. As customers continue to demand responsive and personalized interactions, companies must explore innovative solutions to meet their needs and expectations. When it comes to streamlined communication, IVR systems have the ability to handle high call volumes by making it simple to connect with the right agents or departments. 

In this article, we will delve into the various ways IVR systems can improve customer service in the IT industry. We’ll look at: 

• Benefits of IVR for customer service
• What do you get in an IVR system? (components and features)
• 6 tips for using IVR to improve IT customer support

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What is IVR?

Interactive Voice Response or IVR is a cloud telephony feature that uses automation to distribute calls made to a phone system. Basically, it is an automated system that interacts with callers,  provides menu options, gathers information, and routes them to the appropriate destination. 

Customized IVR phone menus are easy for callers to use and only require a keypad input or simple voice command to progress. With features like call forwarding, 24/7 support, callback, and a voicemail system, IVR systems can support customers and improve caller experience. 

This is how IVR typically works:

• Interested customer calls your business
• The IVR system answers the call, reads out a custom prompt, and provides the caller with a set of options such as Press 1 for sales, Press 2 for account support, Press 3 to lodge a complaint
• Customer then selects the desired option
• IVR registers this and automatically routes the caller to the right destination.

And so, these systems are designed to give customers an easy way to connect with their desired department through the click of a few buttons. This way, it allows your agents to focus on the quality of their calls and provide services that otherwise cannot be replicated by technology. 

Importance of Customer Service in the IT Industry

When it comes to the IT industry, excellent customer service is imperative. Whether you are a start-up or an established enterprise, it is your job as a business to provide assistance to your customers who may contact you for help. As customers purchase and use your products and services, they will need responsive – and in some cases, urgent – support.

Hosted IVR improves your company’s ability to provide helpful information and also increases efficiency. Such automated telephony helps save time by automating tasks that otherwise would have to be done by an individual, and as a result, allows that employee to handle other service-related responsibilities. 

It is important for IT companies to design their IVR systems by keeping their customers in mind. Research shows that when a company designed an IVR system using a customer-centric approach, it was able to increase its caller satisfaction rate by 10-25% across all call types. 

Benefits of IVR for Customer Service

Let’s look at how exactly an IVR system can help your teams provide better caller experience and customer service.

1. Streamline call handling: With a simple and clear IVR menu, you make it easy for customers to navigate to their desired department, creating a better flow of incoming calls with little or no wait time. 

2. Reduce customer wait times: By efficiently and accurately routing calls, IVR can reduce the amount of time a customer spends on hold, generating higher satisfaction rates. 

3. Automate self-service options for common IT-related inquiries: Set up your IVR to provide solutions or answer questions related to common tech issues. This way, your experts can focus on other things, instead of answering the same questions repeatedly. 

4. Route calls efficiently and based on customer needs: IVR allows for full customization to fit both the needs of your company and your customers. Include custom announcements to inform callers of new features, a comprehensive set of instructions, and more. 

5. Personalize interactions: Use IVR systems to create tailored experiences for specific kinds of customers or use cases. You can allow them to set their language or location preference, choose their desired department, or opt for a specific level of support based on their needs. You can also use advanced routing to send them to specific agents based on their history, account, and caller ID.

6. Create 24/7 availability: Use IVR routing to interact with customers beyond business hours and provide 24/7 care. 

7. Measure your system’s effectiveness: Use key metrics to track the effectiveness of your IVR phone system. Hear feedback and use this data to detect what works, and more importantly, what doesn’t. If issues occur, find them and fix them immediately. 

What Do You Get in an IVR System?

Now, this depends on the phone service provider you use. But generally speaking, these are the key components you need to pay attention to when setting up a call flow within your IVR: 

1. Detailed and customized announcements 

Set up a welcome announcement that asks customers to hold while they are being connected. You can list helpful information like operating hours, location, new features, holiday closings, etc. 

2. Customizable voice prompts and IVR menus

Add custom prompts and menu options to guide your callers to the right destination. Some best practices include using detailed prompts, covering common topics, offering multilingual options, and so on. This way, you can help callers by providing a fully customized IVR experience. 

3. Intelligent routing based on customer data and preferences 

Route calls effectively based on customer data, preferences, and advanced routing rules. Time-based routing lets you forward calls internationally to different numbers or lines during specific times of the day. Similarly, location-based routing routes calls to specific teams and agents based on the caller’s ID. These rules ensure that calls are always answered while catering specifically to global businesses with teams in different time zones.

4. Integration with CRM and ticketing systems for streamlined support

You can also add different users, teams, locations, phone lines, email addresses, fax addresses, CRM integrations, ticketing systems, etc. This way, you can provide different ways for customers to resolve their issues.

6 Tips for Improving Customer Service with IVR

Now that you are aware of the many benefits of IVR, let’s talk about some best practices for incorporating IVR seamlessly into IT support operations. 

1. Conduct Needs Assessment 

A “needs assessment” refers to assessing and evaluating what your company’s needs are, then creating an IVR based on those insights. Use this assessment to fill the gaps between your company’s current and desired state. This can be done in many ways: 

• Collecting customer feedback,
• Measuring customer satisfaction and retention rates, 
• Viewing sales data, etc. 

To conduct a useful needs assessment in the right area, be sure to listen to what your teams are saying. Then, measure and allocate resources accordingly to take action and collect both external and internal information. 

2. Map Out Common Call Flows

Prepare with common call flows to effectively manage a high volume of incoming calls. You can select which steps to offer customers when they call and where to direct them. Use a menu with a list of options, a special announcement, or a prompt to dial an extension to a certain person. 

Test and update call flows to enhance a caller’s experience and guide them to their desired destination with no hassle. 

3. Create Easy-to-Follow IVR Menus

Create a simple phone menu to guide callers to the correct destination. You want it to be detailed but not overwhelming. Before setting up the IVR, consider this: what do callers need from your business when they call you? How do you want to provide these services to them? 

If prospects and customers call for multiple services, expand your IVR menu to assist these different requests. 

4. Prepare for Potential Customer Frustrations

At times, customers may become frustrated with IVR systems. It is important to prepare for common problems relating to customer experience and IVR systems. One of the main problems is the one size fits all mentality or the perception that there is only one way to set up your system. So take time to create the perfect fit for your customers.

Confusing navigation and terminology can lead to frustration and abandonment from potential customers. When calls are not directed to the proper destination, customers will terminate their call and leave unsatisfied. So focus on these basics first.

Lastly, poor integration with other channels can also set the system up for failure. 

5. Balance Automation and Human Interaction 

Completely automated systems may not be as helpful as a blended experience. Have an option in your IVR to connect to a representative so that if need be, an agent is just a click away. 

With strategies like time- or location-based routing, you can join both IVR and live agents to provide a seamless transition from technological assistance to human interaction. 

6. Adapt to Accommodate Multilingual and Global Customer Bases

Especially when connecting across the globe, it is important to have translatable services in multiple languages. Set up your IVR to provide assistance in several languages so you can comfortably service customers of all backgrounds. 

To support this, hire agents who have working proficiency in multiple languages and can cater to global customers by eliminating language barriers. 

7. Find the Right Phone Service Provider

Lastly, none of the above matters if you don’t have a reliable phone service provider. Look for cloud telephony providers that offer customizable IVR menus, advanced routing options, and can help your business offer uninterrupted service.

Automate to Improve Communications

The successful implementation of IVR requires a reliable phone service provider, careful planning, continuous optimization, and an understanding of the core functionality. But by leveraging customer data and offering customizable options, you can use IVR and cloud telephony to:

• Tailor interactions and call experiences
• Boost customer satisfaction
• Reduce the number of missed or abandoned calls
• Increase operational efficiency
• Provide after-hours or 24/7 global support, and 
• Improve overall customer experience.

Start by upgrading your business phone system and creating efficient call flows. As the IT industry evolves, incorporating IVR into customer service strategies will give you an edge over your competitors in a rapidly changing market.