Is Visual IVR a bad idea?
Is Visual IVR a bad idea?
I have been craving for pizza all day long, so I finally decided to order some after work but for all my luck, the Pizza Hut hotline is busy and I have to keep on listening to this automated voice telling me to press all these keys …., well this automated voice you hear before getting connected to a customer care agent is known and the interactive voice response.
Well, we have all gone through such an experience, and well this is the common IVR system that most of us access. when Interactive voice response was introduced in the 1960s it made a significant change in the telco industry and contributed to be one of the main revenue generators, but now with the incremental change in technology and significant change in lifestyle, the good old IVR cannot cut it anymore, since most people find it frustrating to listen to an automated voice and is significantly time-consuming. So, this brings us to the question ‘’what is the next best resolution“?
Applications,?Chat Bots ,?Visual IVR are all??viable?options available in the market which?provide?similar solutions , but among all these selections visual IVR?has a?comparative advantage?as it?provides a?self-service?system where the user can interact?by using a visual interface simply by a touch or a click on a mobile or a desktop.?Which means in simple terms as an end user you will not have to?download an?application every time you have an issue to?solve,?the admin will be able to send you a website link through an SMS where the end user will have one time access to the service.?So,?this really does eliminate all the problems related to the IVR system?and helps?the user to get the job done?but with a better customer?experience.??
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So what does Visual IVR?offer??
?Currently Visual IVR is widely used by most customer centric organizations as it has promising statistics in improvement of customer satisfaction and customer engagement rates.?A study done by?Jacada?(2019)?states that Visual IVR has a 60% customer adoption rate and 20% of the customers solve their issues without contacting a customer care agent, in simple terms which means the company will be able to save up on time and resource which in turn will be a higher revenue Assurance.?
?Apart from better customer?satisfaction,?it?provides the users with?improved?security,?Reduced?Caller Waiting?times,?Self-service?options and converting to omni channel experience, this also provides the business user with an easy experience for a marketing?platform.?But with all this one might have the question of Why Visual?IVR,?with all the applications?available?is this a bad?idea??To be honest even I contemplated on the same?issue,?but the further I thought I understood that this is a?web-based?system,?which means I don’t need to download an app?every time?I want to use a particular?service,?it will be a?one-time?interaction?and?provide the customer?with more security and?customer?convenience.?
?IS VISUAL IVR A BAD?IDEA???
Research Journals?done depicts that most individuals prefer?face to face?interactions?and apart from customer?preference,?Visual IVR is also limited to?a particular audience and since this is a new technology adapting and implementing will be a difficult?task,?so considering all?this,?is Visual?IVR a?Bad?idea??It does?have its???pros?and?cons, but the?cons of visual?IVR are?negligible when you compare what it?offers.?so,?in my opinion I believe Visual IVR will be a great investment for any customer centric organization and most definitely the future of IVR.?And currently most developed countries such as?U.S.A,?China,?and?U.A.E?are adapting to the use of Visual?IVR,?which?means visual IVR will be the future of Customer centric?organizations.?and probably the future of customer call centers.??
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Kisali Ranawaka??- Product Analyst at Wavenet
References??https://www.visual-ivr.com/why-visual-ivr/)?