Bringing IVR to the Mobile Environment
Many of the activities accomplished through IVR can be very time-consuming for users. Listening to a transaction history for a checking or credit card account, for example, could eat up several minutes. “It takes longer to play that via voice than to just see it on the phone,” Farquhar says. In these days of quick interactions and worries about cell phone battery life, transaction history is just one of the scenarios where users are more likely to zero out and speak with an agent just to speed up the process. “With a mobile device, users can look at data faster and they don’t need to necessarily opt out,” Farquhar says. Developers who understand the power of choice will take full advantage of these opportunities to provide a better experience without triggering a zero-out. “If I call and say, ‘Play the last five transactions,’ the system can ask if I want to continue or if I want to send the information to my phone,” Farquhar says. “It can then send a link to my phone and, if I’m driving, 10 minutes later I can follow the link and get the information I want.”
Users not only receive the full convenience of IVR, they also can choose to tailor the experience to their needs. Customer satisfaction goes up while business costs go down.
Another factor businesses should consider with mobile IVR is that, as du Toit puts it, “We’re all becoming digital natives.” People are increasingly willing to use self-service platforms when they’re available, and many now actually prefer them over more traditional systems. Developers who can give customers the interface that works best for them for each interaction will see better results. “It’s all about giving choice to the customer,” du Toit says. “Voice IVR may make sense when they’re driving, but at other times visual may be preferred because they’re in a noisy environment.”
By understanding that the same user might want a different experience depending on the circumstances, organizations can allow him to opt in to a digital session if he prefers. It provides him with choice without forcing him down a path that doesn’t fit his needs.
When customers are given useful options, du Toit says, they’ll take them. “People phoning on the voice channel, when offered visual, they often go there. It’s quite a high number.”
But the benefits from a well-developed mobile IVR—primarily an omnichannel presence and more personalized user experience—will also create new obstacles that development teams must overcome. “One challenge is siloed communication channels,” Farquhar says. If any of the channels fails to dovetail cleanly into the broader system, from the mobile interface to the IVR to the contact center, Farquhar says, “then I’m not giving the same experience across all of those channels, and I’m reducing customer choices.”
Though some users will be well-served through a single platform, no matter how clean the website design or how intuitive the IVR, there will always be those who need to speak to someone in real time. “If I develop a mobile application and the agent doesn’t know what was happening on that mobile application, it’s still a bad experience,” Farquhar explains.
Even more worrisome is a business that gets a reputation for an unappealing IVR experience. If users have a perception that they’ll need to restart their conversations several times during their contact—particularly problematic when they’re hurrying from one appointment to another or will soon be entering a building with poor cell reception—they’re more likely to simply initiate a call and skip the IVR entirely.
But with the right strategy, businesses can avoid crippling their IVR platforms in the mobile era and instead make them true customer service tools. It will just take a little more effort.
Julie Knudson is a freelance business writer who specializes in technology. She also covers healthcare, cybersecurity, risk management, and hospitality. Reach her online at www.julieknudson.com.