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Press 1 for cheese

Posted by: Ben Morgan @ 22/04/2009 7:20:42 AM

Imagine going to McDonalds and having to choose your meal by using typical call-centre push-button menus. There are so many variables (food type, size, favour, extras) it would be impossible to provide all possible options to a customer. Luckily McDonalds doesn't use a push button IVR for ordering…(yet!) and customers can order in their own words.

Why should contact centres be any different? Irrespective of whether they are in a fast-food restaurant, a shop or calling a organisation, a customer just wants an answer to their question or action to fix a problem. Why is it then that organisations continue to inflect their customers with push button IVR options that mean more to the organisation than the customer?

Because the call centre is often the first touch-point for the majority of customer contact; many organisations are subjecting callers to a poor experience. This ultimately influences a customer's desire to purchase or correspond with the organisation in the future. Would you go back to McDonalds if it took 9 minutes and 19 buttons pushes to order a burger, fries and drink?

A recent internal experiment benchmarked four organisations to assess the process and experience for a customer who wants to apply for a credit card. One of the four organisations allowed the caller to describe why they are calling in their own words. The other three used muti-layed push button menus. The results are compelling; the organisation that lets the caller tell them why they are calling in their own words connected the customer with a call agent in 18 seconds. The other three organisations ranged from 67 – 114 seconds, excluding any wait-time.

Like a fast food order - not all customer enquiries are the same. By allowing callers to tell you why they are calling in their own words, organisations are more likely to gain an understanding of why the customer called – allowing you to respond more appropriately than relying on the customer to match their needs with your terminology. This also provides the opportunity to develop processes around the customer and the fundamental reasons for their contact.

For example someone who is calling to complain has very different needs to someone who wants to buy something. Equally knowing someone is going to order a happy meal verses a quarter pounder may change the way you interact with the customer to ensure a good experience and to maximise value.

Humans want to communicate like humans not like machines. Organisations which realise this design their systems and processes around the customer – and as a result - find that they become focussed on maximising true customer value and eliminating contacts that provide no value to the customer or organisation.

Next time you order a cheeseburger and fries imagine what it would be like if you had to do it through a push-button IVR and ask yourself how different it is for your customers when they contact your organisation.

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