IVR Systems and the Time-tested Customer Questionnaire
November 30, 2011
By Juliana Kenny, TMCnet Managing Editor
Ah, the old interactive voice response quizzes. We love them, and we don’t love them. We love them because they’re succinct and they get our customers where they need to go in our call centers. We don’t love them because customers generally do not love them. But what if an IVR system made its old “press 1 for ___” option into a game?
A recent blog post explored how ameliorated customers would be if IVR systems involved rewarding questionnaires. The writer described a quiz contest where a voice portal included questions which, when answered correctly by the caller, accrue him or her points. The points are then redeemed in some capacity to enable the customer to gain a reward from the company. These types of IVR systems have seemingly come back into vogue and can certainly be applied across all industries.
Those up-to-date IVR systems can deploy such methods of garnering customer feedback through questionnaires. If a customer can gather points while answering questions about a company’s customer service and handling, it’s a win-win. The customer goes through the voice portal to reach his or her end goal for calling while the business garners important data regarding its customer strategy.
Since these questionnaires can be automated, the process can be simplified for the business in question wanting to incorporate such a voice portal. Companies such as Interact can develop applications for any voice-powered surveys, questionnaires, or quizzes in a scalable solution so changes can be made to individual questions.
IVR systems are not traditionally known to be the most flexible of software solutions, but as the market for them becomes increasingly competitive, the providers of IVR systems are broadening their markets. By implementing customer questionnaires perhaps business owners will be doing the same.
On a related note, Interact is broadening its ability to provide IVR systems to other nations, including ones rising through the ranks of the third world to integrate location-based services with IVR systems for government applications.
Juliana Kenny graduated from the University of Connecticut with a double degree in English and French. After managing a small company for two years, she joined TMC (News - Alert) as a Web Editor for TMCnet. Juliana currently focuses on the call center and CRM industries, but she also writes about cloud telephony and network gear including softswitches.
Edited by Stefanie Mosca