In any industry, customer satisfaction and retention are essential for success. This means that at any given point, you need to be exploring ways to make their journey and experience a good one.
When it comes to customer service, specifically, one of the best ways to achieve this is by deploying an IVR or Interactive Voice Response system.
An IVR script, or auto-attendant greeting, might be the first thing callers hear when they get through to you. It’s the audio version of a front door, and it can make a positive or negative first impression on your callers!
While there are many IVR scripts you can find online, not all of them are created equal.
While these scripts can streamline the customer journey and lead to greater convenience and efficiency, setting them up incorrectly can turn your customers away and cost you future sales.
A good IVR script, on the other hand, can make a great first impression and reduce customer frustration when they’re trying to solve problems.
In this post, we explore what the perfect IVR script looks like :)
What are the features of a good IVR script?
An IVR system helps you create an immersive, virtual space within your business that your customers can engage in to find what they’re looking for.
Given the limitations of human memory, linearity, and feedback, an unimaginative IVR script can make a customer feel stuck or get lost, driving them to escape rather than engage.
Here are a few pointers to keep in mind when you’re coming up with a script for your system. You can also use this as a guide to identify if your existing IVR script needs upgrading.
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Avoid lengthy menus: Having menus that are too long can complicate customer interactions and be challenging to remember. It can frustrate your customers and prompt them to end the call instead of selecting the right menu option.
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Reduce misleading voice prompts: While using low-quality text-to-speech software may be more cost-effective, it will ultimately cost your business more money in lost customers when your messages go unheard.
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Don’t provide too much information: I’ve come across so many businesses that add way too much information into an IVR script. Superfluous information that adds no value to your customers can lead to an overly complicated customer experience.
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Eliminate yes or no repetitions in menus: Most automatic speech recognition systems ask callers to confirm their answer by responding with a yes or a no. While this is convenient when used in moderation, overusing it can lead to some pretty annoyed customers!
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Don’t run advertisements while they’re on hold: Callers may have to be on hold before they are connected with an agent; if you’re using this time to run advertisements, this can alienate your customers and force them to jump off the call.
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Make sure there’s a clear exit route: The lack of an easy exit route can be very frustrating for people who’ve chosen the wrong option and want to go back to the previous menu. Make sure you have easy exit options to guide customers to where they want to go.
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Don’t use jargon: Using industry jargon in your IVR script can confuse callers who are not familiar with your business and can result in callers being misguided.
What can you do to ensure your IVR script is in line with best practices?
When setting up your script, here are a few things you need to pay attention to:
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Keep introductions under three seconds.
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Keep menu items at a maximum of five choices at each step.
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Avoid overwhelming your customers with too many options.
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Use high-quality voice prompts.
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Keep your information to a minimum and exclude unnecessary details.
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Minimise the use of yes or no confirmations.
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Choose pleasant on-hold music and avoid irrelevant advertisements.
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Use simple language to improve the ease of navigation.
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Share menu option before the relevant number that customers need to select.
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Monitor, change, and rework the script according to customer feedback.
Boost customer satisfaction with the perfect IVR script
By paying attention to some of these best practices when creating your IVR script, you’re likely to have more success guiding customers to the right outcomes. This will help you boost the quality of your interactions with customers and position your business as a useful resource.
To match your IVR script with powerful VoIP solutions, get in touch with our team at JT’s Cloud; experience effective and uninterrupted business communication today.
