In IVRs nobody can hear you scream!

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Have you ever experienced IVR rage?   You aren't alone.



In 2011, a study undertaking by Liel Leibovitz, New York University Assistant Professor of Communications found that:


'An overwhelming majority (83%) of consumers feel IVR systems provide either no benefit at all or only a cost savings benefit to the company.  Only 16% of consumers feel that IVR systems benefit them.' 

NYU Study Link


There are now services that  publish hidden customer service phone numbers, and provide navigation shortcuts to circumvent or short-circuit IVR systems. 


GetHuman.com

PleasePress1 UK Based company that also publishes a Phone Rage Index.


In space, nobody can hear you scream!!


This was the tag line for the movie 'Aliens'. Unfortunately, it's applies to callers interacting with IVR systems and waiting on hold. 


When IVRs fail to perform as intended, they result in customer frustration and dissatisfaction. By definition, if '83% of consumers feel that IVR systems provide no benefit.' there is a real problem with IVR performance.


There are a few ways things can go wrong within the IVR interactions. The failures fall into a few categories:


  1. 1.Navigation Failures: Overly Complex menu choices and nesting, resulting in caller misdirection and task completion failures.

  2. 2.Translation Failures. The IVR doesn't understand voice or dtmf input, or the caller doesn't understand prompts.

  3. 3.Routing failures: Calls are delivered to the  non- functioning or busy circuits, or the wrong ACD queues.


SilentPartner® - Failure Detection and Remediation


Using our SilentPartner® Portal, we have been tracking calls from cradle to grave since 1990. We  pick-up calls in the Long Distance network and stay with them until the caller terminates the connection...even after multiple transfers. Wherever the caller travels, we track.

If these walls could talk...

We capture and record both DTMF (touchtone) and voice input, getting a complete picture of Interactive Voice Response input, as well as all the caller-agent communications. We hear what callers say to navigate through menus and what they say when IVRs fail.

Our IVR Diagnostics document the relationships between IVR selections and Caller requests communicated when agents answer.

We document the types and frequencies of IVR Navigation, Translation, and Routing failures. We can also measure the mismatch between IVR selections and actual caller concerns. e.g. support calls going to sales queues.

The Gift of Intelligence


Call Intelligence Inc specializes in transactional analytics and intelligence. We have over 23 years of experience working on projects for the public and private sectors. We study voice interactions to determine which transactional structures, techniques, and tactics work best.