Ok, not that I didn’t remember, it is just that I wasn’t sure how come, after so many years of frustrations, our poor customers still have to listen to (before being serviced) all these annoying and frustrating IVR recording phrases:

“Please listen carefully, as our menu has changed.” – I hope it truly has for the last time.

“Click 1 for Spanish. 2 for English. Enter the last four digits of your social security or your birth date.”

…just to hear the not-so-refreshing message “we are currently assisting other customers. Your call is important to us and will be answered in the order in which it was received.”

Folks, not sure about you but at this stage, I am usually not so patient and not such a sweet person.

Yes, we all know very well that IVR systems can be as simple as asking customers to press 1 to view their bill, 2 for product information and 3 to speak with a CSR. Or as sophisticated as those that enable consumers to pay their bills using a smartphone or check on the arrival of a technician and appointment updates.

Nevertheless, let’s all admit it. Most callers click 0 right away – Personally, when I dial, immediately I jump right to 0.

IVR is here for a reason, I know! So, once again let us remind ourselves of the possible reasons why we still use IVR: Money Saver, Immediate Response, and Positive Perception – IVR makes even a small company seem bigger.

There could be countless more reasons, but I guess we can all agree at the end of the day, that IVR isn’t human, period!

But we can all agree there are pitfalls of IVR:

• About 87% of the people would rather talk to a real person.

• Many IVR menus are too long and too hard to follow.

• Some IVR recordings include irrelevant information or too much information to memorize.

• Some IVR has voice prompts that are hard to understand – the words are not clear or incorrect.

A wise man said: “The problem with IVR systems is that it’s hard to design a good one and easy to design a bad one. “

Some companies invented the so-called “Visual IVR.” I won’t elaborate on it, but you’ll have to trust me on this (I know you will, you are still reading…) Visual IVR, in most cases, is pretty much a visual interface to the existing IVR. Adding a common sense to it implies: you’ll get a visualization of that same complicated journey.

Additionally – Visual IVR systems involve lengthy integration, require complex system integration and are quite costly. As we already agreed, IVR is inhuman, so visualizing IVR will not make the user experience any better!

Yet, customers still pick-up the phone and dial, when they need help.

Clearly, we all look for a game changer; we should have customer experience as the top priority, we can strive for innovative thinking, a turnkey solution.

VisualCustomer Experience (VCX) is the complete all-in-one approach. VCX is genuinely simple, straightforward and less time-consuming, giving you a satisfactory customer experience.

1. A customer calls (they will always call!).

2. A dynamic and intuitive menu appears.

3. The customer selects “view my bill.”

4. The customer instantly sees the bill.

No more IVR… when you implement VCX, it benefits both the customer and business

Start now with a fast, efficient and dynamic turnkey VCX platform: DialMyApp. Fix the mundane customer issues so you can build better high touch customer experiences