IVR Optimization Is CX Optimization, Delivers Considerable ROI
According to our Global Consumer Survey, 73% of contact center traffic consists of interactive voice response (IVR) interactions. That would seem to make good sense for businesses, as IVR-handled interactions can be handled at about 8% the cost of interactions requiring a live agent. Put differently, serving 500 calls each day via IVR, rather than via live agent, amounts to nearly $1,000,000 less in operating expenses annually. Trouble is, as I’ve mentioned before, most customers hate dealing with IVR.
And yet, according to J.D. Power and Associates, only 7% of organizations invest in IVR improvements. The message this sends to customers is clear, when you think about it: “We know you don’t enjoy this, but that’s of little concern to us, because it saves us a great deal of money.” The risks associated with ignoring customer sentiment permeates pretty much everything I’ve ever written about customer experience, so let’s discuss how businesses can optimize their IVR system to both delight customers and drive revenues.
IVR optimization technology empowers you to analyze the customer journey, identify pain points, increase efficiency for both call centers and the multichannel customer experience, improve containment rates, minimize repeat calls, and give customers the outcomes they desire. It can be broken down into four key functionalities:
- Dashboards
- Journey visualization
- Scenario analysis
-
Analyst workspace
Dashboards provide a clear overview of key metrics, and help identify persistent issues within IVR, as well as the effects of changes to the system.
Multiple indicators speak to the effectiveness and efficiency of your IVR menu
Observe KPI changes over the desired period of time
Journey visualization makes clear the totality of your customers’ experiences within the IVR system, demonstrating which paths to completion are most common, which proportion of customers are deflecting (and at which stage of the process), and comparative volume and deflection at different time periods. Filter the data to focus on specific customers, applications, transactions, and other attributes.
In this journey visualization, thicker lines reflect higher call volumes
Scenario analysis lets you build IVR process scenarios around key nodes of the IVR process, focusing on any number of attributes, to determine why some customers reach their desired goal and others drop off.
When you identify where customers are most likely to
drop off, you can focus on fixing the issue
Analyst workspace provides the opportunity to apply business intelligence tools, generate customized reporting, analyze data from different angles to uncover valuable insights, and identify the root causes of pain points (or strong customer satisfaction).
Create reports, graphs, and dashboards to fit your unique CX strategy
What kind of ROI can IVR optimization provide? Well, one major telecommunications provider saw a 10% improvement in IVR containment, a 30%-plus drop in incoming calls per customer, and a 25% reduction in customer care operating expenses. Another identified an opportunity to reduce repeat calls by 19% via a single IVR flow, and projects a four-year ROI of more than $50,000,000 based on a 2.5% improvement in IVR containment.
$50,000,000? That’s a compelling reason to give customers the best possible IVR experience.
Optimize. Get paid. Reach out to NICE today, and we’ll help your business put some real money in its pocket.
Watch our on-demand webinar, “Digital Killed the IVR Star,” and learn why focusing on IVR improvements is a worthwhile endeavor for any successful customer experience initiative.
