Best IVR Systems
Buyer's Guide
Customer service is a critical competitive differentiator. Modern consumers are willing to invest more in companies offering better customer service and switch to competitors when they’re not satisfied. A recent study by Salesforce even found that 48% of customers had switched brands in the past year due to customer service.
Keeping up with rising customer expectations requires investing in better customer service tools. Interactive voice response (IVR) systems are a chief example, a type of call center tool that’s revolutionizing the customer service game.
By providing your customers with a friendly, intelligent auto attendant, IVR systems not only streamline service workflows and reduce operating costs, but also help resolve issues faster, increasing customer satisfaction.
This guide goes over all the critical aspects of IVR systems — how they work, why they’re essential and how you can get the most out of yours. Let’s dive in!
Executive Summary
- Interactive voice response systems automate the process of diverting phone calls to different personnel and departments.
- They are used to answer questions by customers, process payments and record all the info or data input by callers.
- The cost of an IVR system can vary considerably. A primary system hosted on a tiny phone or IT system might cost a few hundred dollars, while a more complex system with features like data gathering, effective hosting, call security and analysis features is usually more expensive.
- The ideal interactive voice response software finds the right balance between adhering to a business’s budget while facilitating easy and effective customer service.
What Is an IVR System?
An IVR system is an essential call center tool that routes calls to the most appropriate department or agent based on caller intent. It does this by interacting with callers, using prompts, voice responses and keypad entries to collect relevant information and route each call to the appropriate channel.
Automated call routing allows agents to offer better support with less hassle. An IVR system can also act as a virtual receptionist or a switchboard for your business, collecting and verifying caller information and providing sales representatives with crucial details.
The integration of IVR systems with modern technology, such as AI and intelligent voice recognition, has made customer service more efficient for agents and clients alike. These solutions can be the key to creating what McKinsey calls the superhuman agent, maximizing productivity and customer satisfaction.
Primary Benefits
Let’s look at some of the ways IVR systems can benefit your organization!
1. Personalize Customer Service
- Auto Attendant Systems
- Auto Dialer
- Automatic Call Distribution
- Business Phone Service Providers
- Business Phone
- Call Center Scripting
- Call Center
- Call Monitoring
- Call Recording
- Call Tracking
- Cloud PBX
- Cloud Phone Systems
- Computer Telephony Integration
- Conference Call Services
- Conference Calling
- PBX Phone
- Predictive Dialer
- Screen Sharing
- SIP Clients
- SIP Trunk Providers
- Small Business Phone
- UCAAS Providers
- Video Conferencing
- Virtual Phone Systems
- VoIP Phone Service Providers
- VoIP Phone Systems
- VoIP Softphones
- VoIP
IVR systems categorize the caller's reason for calling before connecting them to the correct department or agent, increasing the company's first contact resolution rates. By ensuring customers are immediately sent to the right place, it also enables agents to provide more personalized, white-glove customer service, improving customer satisfaction.
Considering that, according to Salesforce phone calls were the most popular channel for customer service queries in 2022, providing solid phone support is key to customer happiness. More accurate call routing and better call logging save your agents time and boost the efficiency of your call center, helping you improve key call center KPIs across the board.
2. Automate Customer Support
IVR tools offer automated processes and self-help options for simple queries such as order information or shipment tracking. These functions allow callers to solve their issues while improving resolution time and customer satisfaction. Self-service through IVR can help reduce ticket volumes for agents and improve efficiency.
These tools also offer call recording features that automatically document interactions to help agents learn as they resolve customer issues.
3. Prioritize Calls
IVR helps agents get more information on exactly why a customer is contacting them, enabling them to prioritize calls based on complexity and urgency and direct them to the right individual or department on the first try.
According to the Salesforce report mentioned above, 73% of customers wished companies understood their unique needs, and 62% wished that companies would anticipate their needs. IVR systems enable you to meet these expectations more effectively.
4. Increase Agent Efficiency
IVR systems allow for skill-based routing, allowing your business to direct calls to the most appropriate agent for the inquiry based on their skill level and specialty. This results in higher first-time resolution and customer satisfaction rates. Call queues group customers as they call in, routing them to different departments and agents in an organized and efficient manner.
Outbound IVR systems also utilize automatic call systems that can scan for voicemail and route calls to free agents when a live person answers.
Key Features & Functionality
| Natural Language Processing Capabilities | Natural Language capabilities enable your IVR system to listen to customers as they speak, providing a more natural experience. This feature also lets your IVR system ask for complex information that a keypress couldn’t otherwise represent. |
|---|---|
| Inbound or Outbound Support | IVR systems can integrate ACD systems and dialers to optimize customer calls and wait times for omnichannel contact centers. These systems work with outbound and inbound calls to provide personalized messages to callers and streamline system interactions. |
| Self-Service IVR Options | Self-service and automation are interlinked. Your brand’s IVR must support self-service options to facilitate automated customer support. Help callers interact with your system and solve queries without connecting with an agent, allowing them to focus on more complex issues. |
| Integrations with CRM | CRM solutions and Call Centers software go hand in hand, including IVR systems. When paired with a CRM tool, it automatically imports critical customer information into the CRM, allowing agents to handle calls instead of wasting time inputting data. |
| Call Queues and Ring Groups | Call queues help businesses stay organized by grouping customers into different queues for different agents and departments. Ring groups allow agents to have multiple phones ring at one time when a single phone number or extension is dialed, enabling organizations to distribute calls among different departments/agents. |
| Built-in Automatic Speech Recognition | Automatic speech recognition enables agents to identify keywords spoken by customers during live calls. It also translates spoken words into text, creating a full conversation transcript, and provides it to the agent who will answer the call. This system also enables your IVR to go beyond keypress functions, allowing callers to converse with the system. |
| Intuitive Script Designer | Help desk software and contact center systems often use scripting to standardize and enhance agent-customer interactions. Some script designers can be confusing, clunky and complex. IVR software with intuitive script designing puts user experience at the forefront. Drag-and-drop interfaces and intuitive configuration can help you set up scripts within minutes. |
| Queue Callback | Callers can elect to hang up and receive a return call when the next agent is available. Queue callbacks help organizations improve caller satisfaction by saving their time and efforts. |
Software Comparison Strategy
With so many options on the market, choosing the right solution may seem overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be that way. By narrowing down your organizational requirements and prioritizing the right features, you can make an informed decision on the best IVR system for your business.
Before narrowing down options, you must define, prioritize and rank the features you require from a program. Every business is different and can have different business needs. Our requirements template can help you get a better sense of your own unique business needs.
Next, gather information to understand the software landscape better and compare all the different options available. Analyze what competitors are using, ask clients about what they need and think about what you need to function and get ahead in the market. Once you have the answer, look for a trusted software platform that provides those extra capabilities.
Cost & Pricing Considerations
One of the most significant factors affecting IVR software pricing is how it’s deployed. Vendors offering cloud-based or SaaS software generally charge an ongoing subscription fee. If you’re deploying your software on-premise, you’ll likely have to pay a one-time or recurring license fee, depending on the provider.
Beyond that, you must also consider costs incurred in operating and maintaining an IVR system and the total cost of ownership.
Some common additional expenses include:
- Add-on capabilities
- Customization and data migration
- Training
- Version upgrades
- Implementation support
- Maintenance
The Most Popular IVR Software
To help you on your software search, here are our picks for the top IVR solutions on the market today.
Aspect
Aspect is a comprehensive contact management solution that ensures compliance, improves operational efficiency and helps organizations deliver excellent customer service. It supports all outbound and inbound interactions worldwide across email, SMS and voice through digital self-service, inbound and outbound voice support and an omnichannel agent.
Outbound campaign management with Aspect. Alvaria
Nextiva
Nextiva helps organizations integrate their customer service and internal business systems with AI, VoIP phones and analytics. Agents can access this software from anywhere and communicate using email, video chat and message modules, all on a single platform. It provides a simplified, user-friendly experience to streamline operations and improve productivity.
Contact management with Nextiva. Nextiva
Five9
Five9 is a call center management and IVR solution that can help enhance agent productivity, boost revenue and improve customer experience. The cloud-based platform offers speech-enabled IVR, global voice and interactive virtual assistant capabilities.
Five9 can be integrated with most popular CRMs, including Salesforce, ServiceNow and Zendesk, to create a robust and comprehensive customer service platform.
Contact management with Five9. Five9
Questions To Ask
Before deciding on a product, you must consider asking yourself these questions and evaluate IVR solutions in the context of your organization’s needs:
- What features are best for my business?
- What are the company’s current and future priorities?
- Who will use the system and how will it benefit their process?
- What are the must-have and nice-to-have features?
- What problems are agents seeking to solve with the platform?
- How well will it replace or enhance the functionalities of the existing system?
- Does the organization have IT resources to help with deployment?
You can have a clear idea if the vendor will cater to your needs by discussing the product’s features, benefits and deployment options in detail. You can also ask these questions to clarify how this software can benefit your business.
- How many years of experience do you have with this software?
- What are the unique features of the product?
- What are the deployment options available?
- Are add-ons included in the package?
- How much do I have to pay for upgrades and add-ons?
- Are there any extra costs associated with the subscription?
- Will there be any onboarding training?
- How will it boost customer experience?
Next Steps
Every business has unique needs, and what works for one may not be ideal for the other. The right IVR system can completely revolutionize how your business handles communication. Just be sure to thoroughly research your options before adopting any one platform, and make sure the tool you choose provides everything you need from it.
If you’re unsure where to start and which platforms to look at, our comparison report can give you valuable insights to help you pick the best option for your organization. We wish you the best in your software selection journey!
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