Traditional and conventional telephony systems have been responsible for the growth of businesses from tiny startups to global conglomerates. However, with the emergence of new technologies such as VoIP, Hosted PBXs, the limitations of the traditional telephony systems are coming to the fore.
It’s these limitations that are responsible for the emergence and growth of cloud-hosted IVR (Interactive Voice Response) systems, which are making it possible for businesses to offer personalized customer experiences in a cost-effective way.
First, what is IVR?
As mentioned, IVR stands for Interactive Voice Response. An IVR is an automated voice system that facilitates interaction between callers and a computerized voice system. Back in the days, IVR systems were limited to just telephone calls and numeric keypad responses; can you still remember the iconic, metallic voice ‘Press 5’? We still have them.
However, modern IVR systems come integrated with speech recognition systems, which allow callers to interact with the system using voice commands.
Let’s Talk Numbers
A recent survey done by markets by markets predicted that by 2023, the IVR market would be worth $5.5 Billion.
According to Gartner,85% of customers relationships with a company will occur without the customer interacting with a human being by 2020. The cost savings, with proper IVR implementation, are undoubtedly enormous.
Can Hosted IVR Services Benefit Businesses?
Yes, it can. The current trend of businesses offering customer service is deploying Hosted IVR service solutions which are able to offer self-service solutions.
For example: Established businesses such as airlines and banks have successfully deployed self-service systems that allow their customers to check their bank balances and check in their flights without any human interactions; processes which wouldn’t be possible without IVR systems.
Still not convinced? Here are a couple of benefits that a hosted IVR service can provide your business. Let’s dig in.
Personalized Interactions
IVR systems can be programmed to offer personalized greetings to individual clients. The system can address the caller with their official name as previously indicated in its system.
This scope of personalized interactions leads to stronger and long-term relationships with your customers.
Better Routing Capabilities
Customers become easily irritated if they are tossed around from agent to agent as they are redirected to the relevant human agent. IVR systems have advanced routing strategies which can connect customers to the relevant human agent within a couple of seconds.
The IVR system utilizes routing algorithms based on a customer’s interaction history with your business.
Cost-Effective
IVR systems are cost-effective solutions as they provide a streamlined, systematic procedure of handling customer interactions. Their ability to handle interactions with multiple customers simultaneously is truly a game-changer.
This translates to considerable savings in time and financial resources as businesses no longer require the hiring of many contact center employees, and it allows you to focus on other aspects of the business.
Uninterrupted Access
IVR systems can never call in sick or gets bad days. This means that your business can provide its customers with uninterrupted access to high-quality services all year round. The system allows you to set up a pre-recorded message informing customers of your absence and possible availability.
Reduces the Abandonment Rate
Sometimes, when completing even simple transactions, customers are generally most likely to get frustrated if their call gets abandoned or disconnected. An effective IVR system can solve this problem by quickly assisting your customers.
Automation of Routine Tasks
It’s been noted that a significant portion of the customer service calls don’t require human intervention. Do you really need a customer care rep to lookup data sets such as outstanding bills or office hours for various branches? Of course not, as such tasks can easily be taken care of by an IVR system. This frees up your human agents time to deal with more complex tasks.
Optimize Identity Verification Process
Due to personal data privacy and insecurity issues, businesses take customers through a myriad of questions and process in an attempt to verify and authenticate them. IVR systems can automate the identity verification process, which would include your customers providing their unique number identifiers and other verification data into the system.
Obtain Customer Feedback
Majority of businesses who have deployed IVR systems within their organization only use it for incoming calls. However, did you know you can also use the system to streamline outbound calling and even gather customer feedback?
An IVR system can be used to collect customer feedback through the use of polls and surveys on the quality, status of your business products or services. The polling can be done while the customer is waiting online for a human agent or when the system has just served them.
Affordable For Small Businesses
Hosted IVR systems don’t require a massive investment as service providers provide different pricing plans which your businesses can choose from, depending on the growth of your business. Pricing plans are easily done since the system is hosted.
Businesses don’t require much upfront investment for hosted IVR systems as the software application is hosted on the cloud as opposed to being sold. Businesses will generally only incur the cost of purchasing the appropriate IVR system hardware.
Improves Lead Conversion
Modern IVR systems are now becoming an essential component within sales funnel marketing strategies. They are now recognized as components that can effectively support, replace telemarketing practices. An IVR system can pre-qualify potential customers and quickly route them to appropriate live agents to finalize the transaction.
Optimization of Your Customer Experience Journey
Modern IVR systems can provide APIs to your company’s software developers to integrate the IVR system into your company’s CRM or ERP platform. This can enable your customers to interact with your business agents through your company’s interface with tools such as speech recognition, Self-service technologies, among other innovative features.
IVR systems can also be integrated with intelligent routing, multilingual and omnichannel support, enhancing your customer’s experience journey with your company.
Wrapping up
A hosted IVR system is no longer a luxury for a few businesses but a prerequisite for businesses that want to survive in the current digital age. Emerging technologies such as cloud-managed platforms are enabling small businesses with limited financial resources to quickly deploy IVR systems due to the accessibility of hosted IVR systems as opposed to expensive, standalone IVR systems.
Guest article written by: Swati is a tech-savvy social media strategist who is always eager to optimize the performance of web and mobile products, through user-centered design and creative content. Find more content at 6C Dialer Blog