You use Interactive Voice Response (IVR) to obtain information from callers and navigate them to the appropriate queue. You can specify question-and-answer pairs that you use for call navigation. Depending on the caller’s response, the caller either hears a follow-up question, or is routed to the appropriate queue. The IVR questions and the caller’s responses are provided to the responding agent when he or she accepts the call. This system provides valuable information to the responding agent.

Overview of the IVR Features

The Response Group Service offers speech recognition and text-to-speech capabilities in 10 languages. You can enter IVR questions using text-to-speech or a .wav file. Callers can respond by using voice or Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency (DTMF). When you create a workflow, you select the template to use. Each template has a defined set of features. The IVR feature is available in the One-Level Interactive and the Two-Level Interactive templates.

Using the One-Level Interactive template, you can ask a question that has two possible answers. Depending on the caller's response, the call is routed to the appropriate queue.

Using the Two-Level Interactive template, you can use a more complex IVR design to direct the call flow. It supports two levels of questions. You can pose a question, which has four possible answers. Depending on the caller's response, you can route the caller to a queue or ask a second question. The second question can also have four possible answers.

The IVR questions and the caller’s responses are provided to the responding agent when he or she accepts the call.

Working with Speech Technologies

Speech technologies, such as speech recognition and text-to-speech, can enhance customer experience and let people access information more naturally and effectively. However, there can be cases where the specified text or the user voice response is not recognized correctly by the speech engine. For example, the “#” symbol is translated by the text-to-speech engine as the word “number”. This issue can be mitigated by the following:

  • The speech engine gives the caller five attempts to answer the question. If the caller answers the question incorrectly (that is, the answer is not one of the specified responses) he or she will get another chance to answer the question. The caller will have five attempts to answer the question before being disconnected.

  • After you design your IVR, call the workflow, listen to the prompts, respond to each of the prompts using voice, and verify that the IVR sounds and behaves as expected. You can then modify the IVR to fix any translation issues. Following our example from above, if you need to refer to the # key, you can rewrite your IVR prompt to use the key name, rather than the # symbol. For example, To talk to sales, press the pound key.

IVR Design Examples

IVR with One Level of Questions

The following example shows an IVR that has one level of questions. It uses speech recognition to detect the caller’s response.

Question:Thank you for calling Human Resources. If you would like to speak to Payroll, say payroll. Otherwise, say HR.

  • Option 1 is selected:The caller is routed to the payroll team.

  • Option 2 is selected:The caller is routed to the human resources team.

The following figure shows the call flow.

One-Level Interactive Call Flow

IVR with Two Levels of Questions

The following example shows an IVR that has two levels of questions. It allows callers to respond using either speech or DTMF keypad input.

Question:Thank you for calling the IT Help Desk. If you have a network access problem, press or say 1. If you have a software problem, press or say 2. If you have a hardware problem, press or say 3.

  • Option 1 is selected:The caller is routed to the network support team.

  • Option 2 is selected:The caller is asked a follow-up question.

    Question:If this is an operating system problem, press or say 1. If this is a problem with an internal application, press or say 2. Otherwise, press or say 3.

    • Option 1 is selected:The caller is routed to the operating systems support team.

    • Option 2 is selected:The caller is routed to the internal applications support team.

    • Option 3 is selected:The caller is routed to the software support team.

  • Option 3 is selected:The caller is asked a follow-up question.

    Question:If this is a printer problem press 1. Otherwise, press 2.

    • Option 1 is selected:The caller is routed to the printer support team.

    • Option 2 is selected:The caller is routed to the hardware support team.

The following figure shows the call flow.

Two-Level Interactive Call Flow

Best Practices

The following list describes some best practices when you design IVR:

  • Let the caller get to the task quickly. Avoid having too much information or lengthy marketing messages in your IVR.

  • Speak in the caller’s language. Avoid stilted language. Speak naturally.

  • Write efficient and effective prompts. Remove any unnecessary options. Structure the information so that the caller’s expected response is at the end of the sentence. For example, “To speak to the sales team, press 1”.

  • Test the IVR on a group of users.

See Also