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Creating an interactive voice response (IVR) can be as simple as telling your customer to press one or two and routing them to an operator at the end of the call. But to have an effective and confusion free IVR, it requires more thought and planning. However, this does not have to be a painful process; just outline what you want to do and what you want your customers to do to ensure that the IVR is an essential feature of your business communication structure. So, how do you get that? Read on to know more…

A good IVR is short and to the point

You don’t want unnecessary questions and prompts; think about the most crucial pieces of information that should be delivered to your customers and those that you need from them. So, think about the first five important questions or prompts you want to ask of or play for your customers, and begin there. And as time goes, you may want to remove or add some prompts to ensure you have the overall quality of the IVR.

Create an effective opening prompt

Not only should you be brief, it is also important that you are concise and polite. In fact, watch out for thirty second introductions or even too many multi-syllabic words in order to make sure you are grateful that the customer or employee is calling in to your IVR.

Have your system refer to itself as “I”

Customers don’t want to hear generic system; they prefer to hear a first person IVR.

Let your callers know what to expect from the system immediately

This is especially important for an IVR that has longer than four prompts. Customers want to see the end of the tunnel, so provide some glimpse of the time it will take or the number of questions needed to complete the IVR in your introduction.

Speech recognition answers

You may want to allow speech recognition answers, but it is important to make it clear what this answer needs to be. Also, don’t confuse your customers or the system; two or three syllable responses are enough.

Be concise

In order to be concise, consider using the same language to describe the same processes or nouns throughout the IVR. Break down the different actions and names and ensure that there is consistency throughout. Don’t tell your customers to enter ‘three’ at one place and to press ‘two’ in another, you will be confusing them. Also, if you call something a menu in one prompt, don’t refer to it as a message later on.

The barge factor

You have the option to allow barge-in or not. Barge-in is not important if a customer is in a noisy place because the noise may affect the voice recognition system. But if customers are in an office or at home, you can allow barge in to speed up the IVR.

Thinking of having a superior voice and data solution? Don’t hesitate to contact Simplified Telephony solutions. We provide virtually everything you need including voice application hosting, custom IVR solutions, payment processing services and consultancy.

Today, there are a number of good hosted VoIP services for all businesses including the small businesses that rely on open internet connection. This means that they do not control the total pipe or even the connection to the switch. You can choose either the business VoIP service or hosted VoIP service if you are looking to reduce operational costs and improve your productivity. If you are looking to deploy VoIP technology, then here are few things you need to consider:

Your network

You may want to start with those things that you have control over and your network is no exception. Make sure that it doesn’t have problems that can affect VoIP calls. What you need to confirm is that you are using a DHCP router, that your computers are up and running and that your switches are in good shape before the deployment of VoIP technology. Also, check what hardware you have in place and whether it is going to support the technology in order to improve voice quality.

Check your bandwidth and other things

While bandwidth is an important aspect to consider especially now that you are going to handle simultaneous calls, it is also important to ensure that your internet connection is quality. Yes, you may want to consider an upgrade of the bandwidth if audits reveal issues with your bandwidth. If there is packet loss, then your calls are going to suffer. You don’t want a situation where there is too much latency, so make sure that the internet connection is great and stable. Most of the times, the connection from your VoIP provider has to cross several networks but it is prudent to ensure that you go for the lowest amount of hops because this way, your network won’t suffer from intermittent connections. You may want to run trace route in order to see how many other routers you have to pass and the time it takes to get there. Do this on different days and on different times of the evening or day.

Price

You could be on budget but choosing the lowest price could be a caution flag and cheap could turn out to be expensive, especially when it comes to a service. It is prudent to go for a price range that is reasonable; you will be happier at the end.

Features

The most important thing when deploying a VoIP solution is to look at the features and how the information is presented. You would rather buy time than rush into things that can create problems later on. In fact, even the smoothest deployments may have problems or won’t go as planned. So, build some buffer into your schedule to ensure that you get the right thing.

Security

While it is good to deploy new technology, it may come with security issues if you don’t put it into consideration. It is important to ensure that nothing will compromise the quality of your service. Simplified Telephone Solutions offers simplified yet superior voice and data solutions. We utilize the most advanced techniques in order to keep hackers away from your network. Contact us today for your VoIP needs.

When you run a business, it’s often important to make sure that you come up with the ideal website for it. This is an important part of making sure that the company has an online presence, which will in turn make it easier for you to market the company. However, the problem is that for most people, especially first timers, it’s difficult to pick a hosting service that will work well for a small business. Most of the hosting services out there are more or less similar, which makes this even more difficult.

However, by simply making sure that you understand the benefits of certain features, you can easily get the right product for your needs. For instance, when you go shopping for hosting services, you will notice that some companies offer static IPs for the websites, sometimes at an extra cost. This is a feature that you should seriously consider investing in, since it has a number of benefits that will suit any commercial website. Some of these include:

It makes it easier to receive files

There are times when you will need to use the site to receive large files from various sources, such as from clients. In such cases, you would need to set up a file server or an FTP server in order to make this happen. This is only possible if you have a static IP address.

It makes it easier to use other services

On the website, you might need to use other services including chat or the ability to set up a virtual private network. The latter is especially important if you are thinking of allowing telecommuting or other similar services. In such cases, the use of a static IP address for the website will always come in very handy, and is something that you should spend some money on. Of course, you can get these services if you have a dynamic IP, but the problem is that it will be a lot more complicated and prone to problems later on. Paying extra for a static one will always turn out to be a good idea.

It’s likely to be more secure

When the website has its own IP address, it makes it easier for you to get a dedicated, private SSL certificate. This is crucial if you intend to use the site for handling sensitive data, such as when you need people to use it as the portal for payment when they buy items off your website. Doing this protects your customers from any harm, and also reduces the chances of your site being associated with high risk, which will scare people from using it at all.

As you can see, there are numerous benefits associated with using a static IP address when starting your business website. The next time you are looking for a hosting service for this, you should insist on having this feature in order to benefit from all the above and more. Not all hosting services provide this, so you might need to pay attention to the technical details of each before signing up for them.

In theory, interactive voice responses are a great way to provide customer care to your customers. When designed properly, such systems can easily take care of the bulk of customer requests in an automated manner, reducing the need to spend a lot of money for personnel to man your customer care desk. However, the truth on the ground is that for many companies, such systems don’t work as well as they should, and in some cases they are downright annoying to the customers. The only way to ensure that you get the most out of them is by having them designed in a manner that is practical. Some of the things you need to do in order to achieve this include:

Avoid long monologues

Most companies use the IVRs as a means of interacting with their customers in as polite a manner as possible. For instance, the first message that users encounter when calling the number might be some kind of welcome message, which is a good idea. However, you need to remember that most people who call customer service often want to be served as fast as possible. This means that when you are designing the interactive system, you should reduce the time wasted providing the user with unnecessary information. For instance, the initial greeting should be as short as possible, so as to provide them with the solution they need within a few seconds.

Don’t have too complex menus

In addition to that, you also need to avoid having too many menus in the IVR. This makes it very difficult for people to pay attention to the automated voice, and may in the end simply hang up altogether. Remember, when this happens, it will be deemed to have been poor customer service, and you may end up losing a significant number of customers in this manner. Making sure that the menu options are not too convoluted should therefore be a priority.

Design the system from a point of knowledge

When you are designing such a system, you should never do it from a point of assumption. You should first do some research about the nature of your customers, and then use this to design it. For instance, you need to find out what queries they normally have, and then design the system in such a manner that these are addressed first. This way, the customers will have no reason to want to talk to a customer care representative, which means that the IVR system will be doing the job you expect it to do in the first place.

As long as you are careful with your decision making and that you aim to satisfy your customers, you will find the investment in a hosted IVR system to be one of the best decisions you ever make. This will not only portray your company in good light, but will also ensure that you spend as little as possible in customer care. Getting this combination any other way is usually very difficult, especially for a medium sized or large business.

Using an IVR system can be very useful if you want to receive a piece of information quickly and accurately but don’t you get the feel of speaking with a “robot”? It is basically like in Star Wars and you are making casual conversation with C-3PO. Still, if you take advantage of a few tips and tricks, you can make your IVR system more human-like and more attractive. This will boost your business image and your customers will see you as a professional. Here are the best ways you can transform your R2-D2 into a courteous live agent.

1.    Choose the best voice out there. If you have a nice, clear voice then you can actually record yourself repeating the IVR system’s options. Once you have finished, listen to your own recordings and see how it sounds. Make modifications here and there, change the tone, speak louder, pronounce words better. Your efforts will definitely be rewarded and in no time your recordings will sound crystal clear! Or, you can also use the voice of a pretty French girl and your customers will fall in love with the sexy accent.

2.    Be polite. Although a machine does all the talking, it is a great idea to always show that you have manners. This will be a big advantage for your company and your customers will appreciate it. Insert simple expressions like “Thank you for your call!” or “Introduce a number, please” and the experience of the customers with your IVR system is going to be more humane.

3.    Opt for the touchtone method instead of faulty speech recognitions. IVR systems offer two options: you can either speak your choices or press the according buttons. Speech recognition is more attractive and elegant and in some cases quicker as well. However, make sure that your speech recognition system is top notch otherwise your clients will become frustrated. If this system cannot easily understand the words of your clients then don’t use it. The old touchtone method is much better in this case and it will not annoy your precious clientele.

4.    Offer language selection. Another smart idea is to record your IVR system’s options in multiple languages and offer your customers the possibility to choose their preferred one. By doing so, you show that you are a professional and you respect the nationality of your clients. Also, it will allow your customers to easily navigate through your IVR system by using their native language.

5.    Don’t put on trashy music. Certain IVR systems play a particular song to their clients while those are waiting to be transferred to a live agent. This is a terrible idea and if it ever was good then those days are long gone. If you would have a problem and you might be quite stressed about it, music will only annoy you even more! If your customers want to listen to music then they know best what they like. For an IVR system, plain silence would do fine.

Hopefully, these tips will help you design a great IVR system for your company. If you require professional assistance then our specialists are more than glad to lend you a helping hand by providing you with excellent IVR services at affordable prices.

IVR (Interactive Voice Response) systems are very varied and they are extremely helpful for a multitude of businesses and companies. Basically, they can provide customers with a variety of basic information and details without the intervention of a live operator. Yes, an IVR system is actually that “robot” which answers you when you call to find out the business hours of a company and so on.

Such systems can save a great amount of money for business owners and they can also provide answers to multiple customers in a shorter timeframe. If you are interested about this then continue reading and you will find out some of the most popular applications of IVR systems.

1.    Call to find out what movies air tonight. If you want to see a nice movie with your friends or family members this evening then all that you have to do is to contact the nearby movie theater. It is very likely that you will not be speaking with a live agent, but an IVR system will take your call. You will eventually have to press a series of buttons which will direct the IVR system to provide the information you are interested in.

2.    Call to park your car legally. In a similar fashion, in certain countries you can pay for a parking spot by phone. This is usually a pretty straight-forward operation that can be done without the intervention of a human person. You call a certain company which owns the parking lot and then you will be able to pay with your credit card. This simple task can be done in a few minutes.

3.    Call to find out information about certain products. If you are interested in buying a new vacuum cleaner from a certain company then you can find out all the required details thanks to the IVR system. This saves you a lot of time and lots of money for the respective company. Also, marketers can find out important information about the preferences of the audience by creating polls related to various products and services which can be filled out by phone.

4.    Call to review your credit card statement. This is also an efficient use of an IVR system. You can call the bank which issued your card and obtain information about your credit card purchases from the past month or year and similar other important details. Same story applies if you want to refill your prescriptions at a certain pharmacy or find out more information about various flight schedules.

These are only a few examples of IVR applications but there are lots more out there. Basically, through a clever automation of a program, clients can receive the information they look for quicker and companies spend less on customer support. Of course, if you have a different kind of problem, you can always ask to be transferred to a live agent if it is necessary. Feel free to contact our company if you need more information about IVR systems. We can also help you integrate such a system in your business and save a great deal of money in the future!