What is IVR in Call Center

Article Summary：Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system is a sophisticated tool integrated into its cutting-edge call center platform. It's designed to streamline customer interactions by providing an automated and personalized experience from the first contact.

You must have encountered the following scenario: when you called the xx customer service hotline, you heard, "Hello, welcome to XX. For xx business, please press 1, for xx business, please press 2, for manual service, please press 0..." This is common IVR voice navigation. In the call center customer service system, IVR voice navigation answers customers’ questions through predefined menu options, filters customer questions, and flows customer calls to different customer service groups for reception according to different rules, achieving customer diversion and improving enterprise service efficiency.

What is IVR in Call Center?

IVR (Interactive Voice Response) is a powerful telephone automatic service system that can use pre recorded or TTS text to speech technology to synthesize voice for automatic response.

Usually, in a call center, IVR is divided into front and post. Front IVR involves voice entering the IVR for processing first, and then transferring to a manual seat when customer issues cannot be resolved. Post IVR refers to the situation where the IVR is in a balanced position with the agent seat, and the human seat is unable to meet the customer's call to switch to IVR to provide value-added services.

With the help of IVR, the call center can automatically respond to inquiries from customers throughout the process, and can set up complex voice navigation bars during conversations to guide customers through steps and help them quickly and conveniently solve problems. This is also a significant symbol that distinguishes call centers from ordinary telephone communication.

Key Features of IVR

IVR can provide 24/7 service, and incoming customers can enter information directly through navigation buttons or voice selection, enabling them to quickly obtain various simpler services on their own. This helps call center customer service personnel save more time and energy in dealing with complex issues and needs of other customer service representatives.

IVR can handle multiple incoming calls simultaneously and has an automatic processing function when busy, greatly reducing the waiting time for busy calls or the probability of hanging up if not connected, greatly improving the incoming call answering rate and customer satisfaction.

The IVR system can run multiple different applications simultaneously, for example, it can provide completely independent information system applications for internal personnel or enterprise customers at the same time. When processing a call, by asking for relevant information, the customer's identity is automatically identified and the corresponding application system is automatically activated.

Industry use cases of IVR

Interactive voice response solutions have been utilized across a wide variety of industries. Below we’ll delve more deeply into these use cases.

• Banking: IVR can be leveraged for a variety of tasks within banking and finance, such as providing account inquiries, including account balances and loan application statuses, as well as enabling transactions, activations and changes to investment portfolios.
• Customer service: Customer service call centers straddle across multiple industries. Organizations can configure centers to handle a high volume of inbound calls using automated menus and pre-recorded messages to handle customer queries and complaints. Some IVR solutions include a callback option where customers are in a queue and receive an outbound call when an agent is ready to help them.
• Hospitality and travel:  Bookings, cancellations, and customer service contacts can speed and improve customer service for airlines, hotels, railroads and vehicle rental agencies. By determining the reason for the call—booking, change of plans, delay—customers can be routed directly to the correct department.
• Retail and e-commerce:  Customers can now verify delivery and return status quickly and easily. Self-service or live chats for retail can answer many customer questions, but then telephone calls can also be routed to a live agent for discussions.

About Udesk’s IVR in Call Center

Udesk's Call Center is a comprehensive, cloud-based solution designed to revolutionize the way businesses manage and optimize their customer communication channels. As a leading provider of omnichannel customer support platforms, Udesk equips enterprises with a powerful suite of tools aimed at delivering seamless, efficient, and personalized customer experiences across all touchpoints.

At the heart of Udesk's Call Center lies its advanced telephony infrastructure, which ensures high-quality voice connections alongside features like automatic call distribution (ACD), intelligent call routing, and skills-based agent assignment. This guarantees that each caller is promptly connected to the most suitable agent, enhancing resolution rates and customer satisfaction.

Case Study

MEIYA Airlines, affiliated with MEIYA Group, is a major B2B international air ticket distribution platform in China. With 24 years of experience in ticketing services, MEIYA helps customers easily access accurate air ticket products through flexible payment methods and a low-cost, user-friendly, and efficient application model.

With Udesk's Call Center, MEIYA has established a nationwide 24/7 1-on-1 dedicated customer service contact center to offer professional international air ticket travel solutions for customers and partners.

1. Intelligent call routing

With intelligent call routing, inquiries are automatically directed to the right agents depending on their skills, channel, availability, or all three. Udesk's implement automatic call distribution (ACD) with skills-based and intelligent routing to ensure every customer receives the right support.

2. Omnichannel agent desktop

An omnichannel agent desktop is an interface that provides a complete view of a customer's history and interactions across all communication channels. It gives agents the context needed to provide the best possible customer experience.

3. Self-service options

IVR systems, knowledge bases, community forums, AI chatbots, and other automation tools help customers help themselves. When customers can solve basic problems on their own, agents and managers can focus on helping other callers with more complex or urgent needs.

Achievements

1. Personalized Service Experience Enhancement

Udesk's Call Center has fully integrated MEIYA's official website, APP, H5, and other customer service channels. The multi-functional call center workbench fully displays customer service data, enhancing the personalized service experience.

2. Customer Satisfaction Improvement

Udesk's call center has IVR navigation, incoming call pop-up, recording, and other functions, making telephone service professional and efficient, effectively improving customer satisfaction.

Ready to Experience Udesk’s Call Center

Embark on a transformative journey with Udesk’s Call Center – a solution meticulously crafted to redefine your customer engagement strategy. Whether you're a growing startup or an established enterprise, our cutting-edge platform awaits to envelop your customers in a blanket of seamless, efficient, and personalized support.

》》Click to start your free trial of call center, and experience the advantages firsthand.

The article is original by Udesk, and when reprinted, the source must be indicated：https://www.udeskglobal.com/blog/what-is-ivr-in-call-center.html