As the business grows, its call volumes also rise which present an excellent opportunity to convert business leads into sales. IVR or Interactive Voice Response system proves to be a great communication tool as it help businesses in efficiently manage customer calls and thus boost customer satisfaction. In this post, we are going to discuss the role of IVR for business communication.
Many of us already know that IVR stands for Interactive Voice Response which is an automated voice response technology used for voice calls. Popularly, an IVR is used by small to large sized businesses around the world in assisting callers by presenting them with a menu and respond as per the choice made by the caller. In simple words, it acts as a representative that handles customer inquiry calls by offering various options to the callers and transferring them to the right department. The content of the IVR is generally prerecorded manually.
Modern day cloud business phone systems usually have IVR as a part of their feature set which makes it even more useful. Let us highlight some of the major benefits of IVR systems for business communication:
With an automated call assistant, much of the call center agents’ work gets simplified since calls are transferred to the right agent by the IVR. The working time of the agents gets saved which they can use to focus on complicated issues.
IVR let businesses thrive easily even when there are large call volumes as calls get routed to the most capable agent in accordance with the caller’s concern. Issues get addressed quickly and there is lesser waiting time even when the agents are busy. Also, some systems have the option that let customers request a call back from the agent rather than waiting in the queue.
With an IVR, there is lesser waiting time as the callers get the freedom to choose the department as per their area of concern. This leads to majority of the issues resolved at first attempt which adds to better customer satisfaction and experience.
An automated voice response definitely gives a professional impression to the caller. No one likes to talk to a confused receptionist who handles multiple calls simultaneously, or even worse listening to repetitive music.
Since an IVR makes basic information available at just any time of the day, it gives business the advantage of providing service to its callers even during non-business hours. Presenting menu with multiple options, an IVR gives callers the opportunity to self-service even outside the business hours.
These days, IVRs are popularly a part of cloud based phone systems that offer several other useful features as well. You can look for cloud based business phone providers on the internet and avail their service which are quite cost-effective and useful for a business.
