16.02.2022 |
Speech dialogue systems can help to better manage call volumes in the contact center and optimize workflows. This leads to greater efficiency in the company and at the same time to an improved customer experience on the client side.
But what exactly is a voice response or IVR system? In our guide, we explain the functions, areas of application and advantages of IVR in the contact center.
INHALT
1. Introduction
2. What is IVR?
3. Where is IVR used?
4. Which types of IVR exist?
4.1. Selection menus (speech input / DTMF)
4.2. Collect digits (speech input / DTMF)
4.3. Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR)
4.4. Text-to-Speech (TTS)
5. Which advantages does IVR offer?
1. Customer experience more important than ever
Customers are demanding and expect companies to meet their expectations. If they fail to do so, there is a risk of serious consequences: According to a study by PwC, who surveyed around 15,000 consumers in twelve countries, 60% said they would turn away from a company based on just one or two bad experiences. This worst-case scenario shows how important it is to create positive customer experiences. From the customer’s point of view, competence, reliability and helpfulness are the main factors contributing to a successful customer experience (CX). These requirements should definitely be met in customer dialogue.
However, before direct customer contact can take place, a completely different hurdle must be overcome: the initial contact. In telephone customer service, this usually takes place via an IVR system.
2. What is IVR?
“For questions regarding products, press 1, for questions regarding service, press 2” – This is how it often sounds when a customer contacts a company’s service hotline. Before the caller is connected to an employee, he is asked to select his request by selecting digits. This system is called Interactive Voice Response – IVR for short. IVR is an interactive voice menu or voice response system in which a caller is prompted to make a preselection. This makes it possible to automatically identify the concerns of incoming calls and to carry out a pre-qualification. The pre-qualification of the calls is used to put the caller through directly to the right department or the right contact person.
How does IVR work?
To illustrate the functionality of a voice dialogue system, we will take the classic example of selecting via keystroke or via the smartphone’s dialpad – also known as the DTMF menu. The caller is asked to select the reason for the call via the dialpad or to state it via voice. The individual digits stand for the respective topic:
If the caller now wants to be connected to the customer support, he dials “1” in the menu and is forwarded to the corresponding target number. More about the DTMF menu and other IVR solutions can be found under point 4.
3. Where is IVR used?
IVR is primarily used to handle high call volumes: Customers reach the automatic dialogue system without waiting and are prequalified based on their input. Subsequently, callers can be routed directly to the right contact person.
Furthermore, IVR is ideally suited for round-the-clock information retrieval, for example when requesting opening hours, general product presentations or current information.
Which requirements should an IVR system meet?
Since the IVR system is often the first point of contact with the company, it should be convincing. According to a study by J.D. Power, 30% of customer interactions take place via IVR menus. The simplicity of the menu is the most important factor for consumers. The menu should be understandable and intuitive to use. If these criteria are met, IVR systems can offer a number of benefits – both on the customer and on the company side. While employees benefit from the targeted assignment of inquiries and therefore more efficient workflows, waiting times for callers are shortened – e.g., by eliminating any forwarding – and lead to an increase in customer satisfaction.
However, the development or even the redesign of IVR systems can be very labor-intensive and time-consuming, and at times creates a major challenge for companies. Many in-house communications systems are based on outdated systems. As a result, changes and updates are only possible with great effort and take up a lot of time. These fixed system structures are no longer up to date in the fast pace of today’s technology and they cannot be reconciled with growing customer demands. Modern IVR systems should be flexible, multi-functional and easy to control.
4. Which types of IVR exist?
There are different options or variants for the configuration of professional voice dialogues and IVR voice menus. These range from classic keypad selection to the integration of waiting loops and AI-based voice control. All of this can be realized with the TENIOS Cloud-IVR.
IVR via API – The cloud solution
The state-of-the-art solution for IVR systems of the future is: API. An API is a standardized user interface through which different applications can be connected. Using the TENIOS Voice API, for example, individual announcements, voice portals, DTMF menus or waiting loops can be configured in just a few steps. The cloud-based infrastructure makes it possible to flexibly adapt or expand the IVR menus at any time.
In the following, we would like to present the diverse use cases of Interactive Voice Response in more detail..
4.1. Selection menus (speech input / DTMF menu)
Classic IVR systems work via DTMF menus. DTMF stands for Dual Tone Multi Frequency, and allows an option to be selected by pressing a button or using the dialpad. For each menu option, a digit is stored that can be used to trigger a follow-up action. The digits cannot just be typed in: Thanks to the speech recognition integrated in TENIOS, it is also possible to name the desired digit via speech. This ensures that the menu selection can also be made if the caller is not able to use his hand. This is where the integrated ASR technology, based on Google Speech, comes into play. ASR stands for Automatic Speech Recognition and is currently available in 80 languages.
Selection menus in the TENIOS cloud portal
The DTMF menu is configured within the “Phone number routing”. After “DTMF Menu” has been selected as the routing block, the destinations for the individual digits can be defined. The navigation can lead to an announcement, a destination number, a SIP account, a SIP trunk or another routing plan:
4.2. Collect digits (speech input / DTMF menu)
To prequalify incoming calls, it can be useful to query identifying information such as customer or transaction numbers. These can be used to forward the call to the appropriate employee. Another advantage of the DTMF query is the ability to connect to existing CRM systems via API, so that the agent already has relevant customer data when the call is answered. The flow diagram shows a scenario for the automated query of the customer number with a link to the company’s database.
The caller is taken directly to the welcoming announcement and is asked to enter his customer number. This can be done by DTMF or by voice. After successful transmission and matching of the customer number via Voice API, the caller can be immediately forwarded to the responsible employee.
Collect digits in the TENIOS cloud portal
In order to create the IVR menu for such a call routing, the announcement and error announcement must be set first. In the field “Variable” you can select under which name the input data should be stored. By specifying the minimum and maximum number of digits, it can be ensured that the input is in the correct format. Furthermore, an end character, the maximum number of attempts and the duration until timeout can be entered. If the input is not to be made by key selection but by voice, the “Voice input” function can be activated in the routing plan.
In addition to the setting of the announcements, the variables and the number of trials, the desired language can be selected out of the 80 available languages.
4.3. Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR)
Besides the speech input of digits, TENIOS also provides IVR applications with speech recognition of preset keywords. In this case, individual keywords are stored instead of digits. If the caller now says a keyword, the input is analyzed and verified by ASR – Automatic Speech Recognition. For this purpose, TENIOS uses an API and makes use of Google’s Cloud Speech-to-Text technology. The AI-based speech recognition system constantly learns using Deep Learning methods and leads to a continuous optimization of the speech analyses. The following figure shows a possible application example of Automatic Speech Recognition:
After a welcoming message has been played, the caller is prompted to enter his or her request. Here, the caller can choose between order, invoice, return and other topics. As soon as a voice entry has been made, the system analyzes it and forwards the call to the selected routing destination A, B, C or D.
ASR in the TENIOS cloud portal
Navigation targets can be an announcement, a destination number, a SIP account, a SIP trunk or a routing plan. One of the advantages of Google’s Speech-to-Text technology integrated in TENIOS is that it recognizes both the individual mention of the keyword and its embedding in a complete sentence. Thus, the speech inputs “Order” and “It’s about an order” both lead to the navigation target.
Once all destinations have been entered, the language to be recognized can be selected. 80 different languages are possible here.
4.4. Text-to-Speech (TTS)
In addition to automatic speech recognition – the conversion of speech into text – speech technologies also enable a reverse synthesis: the conversion of text into speech, also called Text-to-Speech. This involves translating text input into spoken language. Today, the output voices are increasingly lifelike and have little in common with robot voices.
TTS in the TENIOS cloud portal
The TENIOS Cloud Portal has an integrated text-to-speech service. On the one hand, announcements can be created and saved for further use. On the other hand, it is possible to control the speech synthesis directly in the routing plan. For direct integration, the block “SAY” is selected. An input window appears in which the desired text can be entered via the keyboard. Via TTS, this text is now converted into human speech and put out.
A total of 38 natural-sounding voice variants – including male and female – in 18 different languages are available for the voice output. The human-like voices can be further optimized using SSML tags.
5. Which advantages does IVR offer?
The use of cloud-based IVR voice menus within a service hotline has a positive impact on the success of the company. This is reflected not only in the improvement of the customer experience for callers, but also in the profitability of the company.
+ OPTIMIZATION OF WORKFLOWS
Automated voice dialogues and IVR systems can help to make workflows in telephone customer service more efficient. For example, a wide range of activities can be automated, such as requesting general information or recording customer data.
+ REDUCED CALL TIME
When customers contact customer service, they want a quick solution to their problem. IVR can reduce the amount of time customers and employees spend by taking them directly to the right person, eliminating internal forwarding.
+ ACCESS TO CONTEXTUAL INFORMATION
Call prequalification through IVR menus can also be used to directly display customer data of previous interactions to the agent – a service that 67% of customers definitely appreciate. This is done by linking to the company’s internal CRM system.
+ SUPPORT FOR QUALIFIED LEAD GENERATION
IVR can also contribute to the generation of qualified leads: By pre-selecting callers based on interests or similar, sales staff can follow up with the introduction of relevant products or services.
IVR can be used in a variety of ways and refers to much more than classic DTMF menus. With the advancing developments in the field of voice control, the topic of interactive voice response is taking on a whole new significance. This potential should definitely be used to offer customers optimal call experiences and to improve the customer experience.
With the implementation of the modern IVR features of TENIOS, you are well prepared: The simplicity and flexibility in the cloud-based infrastructure and the use of APIs make the integration of voice recognition, selection menus and co. child’s play. By coupling with Google Speech technology, TENIOS is always up to date and provides you with the best possible communications services for your service hotline.
The benefits of TENIOS Cloud IVR at a glance
- extensive IVR solutions
- flexibly adaptable
- scalable at any time
- connection to customer systems via API
- access to state-of-the-art voice technology (Google, Microsoft, Amazon)
- simple VoiceBot integration
- intuitive customer portal
- attractive pricing model
You would like to integrate an IVR system into your contact center? The TENIOS Cloud IVR incl. Voice API offers you wide-ranging solutions and full flexibility. Our IVR experts will be happy to advise you.
