The obsolescence of old IVRs

Faced with increasingly demanding consumers, companies have for decades been using every possible means to respond favorably to their expectations. In particular, this means multiplying alternative communication channels (email, chatbot, social networks...). While these channels, as numerous as they are, often prove effective, the telephone remains the preferred channel for customers. Back in the 90s, when the first automated servers appeared, this technology was perceived as very complex and rather costly. A few years later, with the advent of low-speed modems and the Minitel in France, the voice server gained in popularity.

Here we are in the year 2000, the era of major technological upheavals. IVRs (Interactive Voice Response) are already well established, and companies are facing ever-increasing competition to satisfy their customers in the most ingenious ways possible! The only problem is that callers are becoming increasingly disenchanted with traditional IVRs...

IVR and DTMF: a passionate alliance for the benefit of the consumer?

The use of IVR and voice automation in call centers makes it possible to answer users' queries without keeping them waiting indefinitely, or incurring the cost of a real agent. The aim is to identify the reason why customers are calling (and respond quickly!).

IVR systems enable customers to communicate directly with a host system via voice menus using DTMF (Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency) tones. Callers are presented with several options, and select the ones they want by pressing encrypted telephone keys. This action triggers a DTMF tone and deduces an appropriate action such as :

• Routing the call to the appropriate agent and/or service;

• An automated response to the correspondent via recorded voice messages ;

• Trigger actions in real time in contact center information systems, identifying the caller's request.

All this leads us to think of a truly sustainable solution, beneficial to both entities and customers, and, above all, flawless! But the reality is often quite different...

DTMF, a programmed death?

We've all experienced it at some point: contacting a customer service department in the apprehensive hope of a smooth, seamless interaction. Often, this expectation is not fulfilled, and we end up on a never-ending IVR, forcing us to (re)listen to options that don't concern us. DTMF IVRs are largely responsible for this dissatisfaction, for a number of reasons:

• They are too rigid: if the caller doesn't find any option corresponding to their call, they have no choice but to recontact an agent via another dedicated channel: social networks, email, chat...

• They are too long: call duration is increased and the customer experience is significantly degraded;

• They are too opaque: callers do not always know how to select the right option from among the choices offered, and are not familiar with the different levels of the IVR;

• They're too prescriptive: until the caller has answered all the questions on the IVR, he or she can't even talk to someone who could solve the problem directly.

A picture is worth a thousand words, so here's a video that illustrates the obsolescence and frustration generated by DTMF IVRs:

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What's more, a survey* carried out by Arise in 2019 showed that while around two-thirds of respondents were prepared to accept a waiting time of less than two minutes, 13% said, on the other hand, that no waiting time was acceptable.

The results are clear: there's a clear and direct correlation between increased consumer irritability and higher call abandonment rates within an IVR. Indeed, callers tend to hang up as soon as the situation becomes complex or too long, or try to bypass the predefined path to get to an agent more quickly!

Finally, according to VHT**, an IVR call abandonment rate of over 5% is considered "poor" and in dire need of improvement. However, in the vast majority of cases, IVRs using DTMF technology produce abandonment rates above the fateful 5% figure.

The era of the DTMF voice server is inexorably disappearing. Customers' expectations in terms of responsiveness and personalization in their interactions with companies represent a fundamental trend. This naturally leads us to wonder whether the technological vestige that is the IVR needs a dusting off, replacing DTMF menus that are totally losing ground in favor of natural language voice services?

Choose a natural language voice assistant solution for enhanced customer relations

Voice-activated artificial intelligence for the retail sector is becoming more and more part of our daily routine. And yes, the fundamental challenge of voice assistants is indeed present in customer relations: to qualify and respond quickly and simply to the caller's request. Today, thanks to the deployment of natural language and the personalization of exchanges, voice assistants are a natural part of the process of handling a customer or prospect call.

The close collaboration between artificial and human intelligence through the implementation of a conversational assistant is a key lever for creating a positive customer experience, and at ViaDialog we have undertaken numerous developments in this direction...

More in the next episode

*Arise Customer Service Frustration Series: Phone Hold Times, 2019.
**E-book VTHcx, Definitive Guide to Contact Center Metrics for Agents.

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