Best Practices for the IVR

Orange Business Services

Haytham SAWALHYHaytham SAWALHYHaytham SAWALHYHaytham SAWALHYhaytham.sawalhy@orange-ftgroup.com23rd February 2011, Singapore

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Agenda

1. IVR investment plan

a. set clear goals

b. define ROI analysis

c. measure IVR performance

2. IVR best practices

a. focus : proactive IVR

b. do’s and don’ts

c. tips !

3. benefits of hosted IVR

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IVR investment plan

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set clear goals for IVR investmentnew IVR or upgrade of existing IVR

� unmet potential of IVR

• limited strictly to routing logic but, can be valuable for distributed contact centre environment

� maximize cost savings

• self-service tasks cost pennies compared to dollars with agent-assisted tasks

� provide great customer experience

• well-designed IVR offers fast access to the right information when completing regular transactions and spend less time on hold

� differentiate with a unique, positive brand experience

• combined with a positive experience in other interaction channels with the product or service, can add up to brand preference in the customer’s mind

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define ROI analysisnew IVR or upgrade of existing IVR

� the challenge following an economic slowdowneconomic slowdowneconomic slowdowneconomic slowdown, come up with a plan

• improve customer service?

• retain customers ?

• minimize costs (telco, agents, infrastructure, …)?

� ROI analysis is critical to minimize risk in implementing new or upgrading IVR system

• maximise automation of agent’s tasks and business processes

• increase customer satisfaction and loyalty

� Orange customer experience

• 75% completion rate in IVR 75% completion rate in IVR 75% completion rate in IVR 75% completion rate in IVR for one of largest bank in Europe

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measure IVR performancesome common IVR indicators

� call completion rate - the one metric that matters

� navigation in IVR application

� category of the calls

� Time and purpose of calls

� First Call Resolution (FCR)

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IVR best practices

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focus: proactive IVRkey benefitskey benefitskey benefitskey benefits

� maximize customer reachmaximize customer reachmaximize customer reachmaximize customer reachoutbound IVR can be deployed shortly compared to live agents needing training and scheduling.

� automate campaign process in order to reduce pressure on live agautomate campaign process in order to reduce pressure on live agautomate campaign process in order to reduce pressure on live agautomate campaign process in order to reduce pressure on live agents ents ents ents reserve agent’s time for complex interactionsinformation is delivered rapidly without relying on agents or staff calling chains

� maximize IVR port usagemaximize IVR port usagemaximize IVR port usagemaximize IVR port usageinbound and outbound activities to achieve close to 100% occupancy of IVR ports

� flexibilityflexibilityflexibilityflexibilitycommunicate with customers during out of office hours or when agents are unavailable

� realrealrealreal----time & time to markettime & time to markettime & time to markettime & time to marketthe enterprise is immediately made aware of notification delivery

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healthcare industry

� drivers

• cost containment

• valuable staff time for doctors and nurses

• quality of care and patient safety

• time sensitivity to reach patients

• over certain age do not respond to text or emails

� applications

• Patient registration and welcome calls for admin staff

• appointment scheduling and reminders

• prescription refill

• reminders for medicine doses and vaccination

• disease outbreak alerts

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financial services

� drivers

• economy and sub-prime lending crisis

• improving customer relations

• management of contact center costs

• incidents of fraud on the rise

• collections agencies under cost pressure from creditors

• outbound technology viewed as competitive advantage

� applications

• fraud services

• debt collections and customer reminders

• overdraft notifications

• credit card payments

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travel & tourism industry

� drivers

• improving customer experience

• need to send time dependent information

• automating processes

� applications

• flight cancellations

• confirmation of bookings

• check-in and upgrade requests

• reminders of flight times

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emergency notification

� drivers

• increased awareness of natural disasters

• terrorist threats

• business continuity

• standardization processes

• competitive advantage

• legal liabilities and compliance

� applications

• alert of issues

• Interactive messages to track staff location

• IT failure notifications

• parent contact for schools and universities

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fundamental difference between placing an outbound and

receiving a call from customer

receiving customer callreceiving customer callreceiving customer callreceiving customer call

� Customer is prepared for the conversation

� Customer is already operating in the context of the task he would like to complete

placing an outbound callplacing an outbound callplacing an outbound callplacing an outbound call

� Lack of context significantly impacts the attitude of the person receiving the call

� Willingness to participate in conversation

� Less tolerant of inefficiencies

� Prone to abandon a call that does not benefit them compared to initiation of call to Toll-free customer service line

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your IVR application should be

timelytimelytimelytimely relevantrelevantrelevantrelevant actionactionactionaction----orientedorientedorientedoriented efficientefficientefficientefficient

in order to

� reduce customer frustration

� Increase engagement

� drive better task completion rates with outbound campaigns

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timely: reach out when it’s best for the

customer

� use a combination of business processes and the customer’s historical behavior across all contact channels to determine the best time to call

� timely outbound are determined by two factors

• calling when information or action for the call is most beneficial to the customer

• calling when the customer is most likely to answer

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maximize the relevance of each call

� display caller ID can be a useful tool in giving your customer the context of the call

• people often answer or decline the call based on caller ID

• consider what caller ID to display to encourage the behavior you want

• a blocked or private number is worst way to introduce your company

� no upfront delays once customer answers the call

• audio must be presented within milliseconds

• audio must contain useful information for customer,avoid “please wait…”

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focus on a specific action

� action -> outbound notifications should be closely tied to action

• Encouraging action that directly benefits the customer

• Or preemptively preventing a frustrating situation

� consequence -> something of consequence has or will happen to customer or their account, and the call you place is designed toalleviate or reinforce that consequence

• e.g. : when flight cancellation, hear upcoming alternative flights and maybe book a seat

� use speech-enabled IVR which permits faster, more streamlined interaction than DTMF or touchtone

• e.g. : “I would like the flight at 5:40 PM” or “sell 50 shares at a limit of $25.00”

With interactiveinteractiveinteractiveinteractive

outbound care,

the airline can

turn a negative

situation into a

positive service

event.

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optimize for efficiency

customers dealing with outbound call don’t tolerate the inefficiencies. Here are some recommendations:

� allow option to rescheduleconsider allowing customers to request being contacted at a later time or date (schedule a reminder or callback).

� bear in mind customer contextdon’t assume a customer has information on hand that is necessary for an outbound call (e.g., account number, recent transactions, prescription IDs). Therefore, provide alternative authentication techniques and leverage customer data as much as possible.

� focus on the essentialsdeliver only essential information during a call, focusing on high impact data or situations where there is a high probability of not delivering the info through other channels.

� take advantage of speech technologyuse speech-enabled interactions to streamline call flows and let customers respond naturally wherever they are, on whichever phone you reached them on, however, create prompts and dynamic data that sound as smooth and natural as possible to ensure callers retain critical information and don’t have to request repeats.

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do’s and don’ts: finding the balance between IVR

and live-agent support

use a collection specialist who can develop a payment plan

use live agent to retain customers

use IVR to verify a transaction and delivery date

customers can quickly identify and verify themselves

routine inquiries about balance, payments, etc…

dodododo’’’’ssss

late-stage collections

customers who are attrition risks

complex transaction

multiple level of verification is required

inquiries that are fraught with emotion (like fraud)

dondondondon’’’’tstststs

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tips !

� share with agent customer journey in IVR

• Place tags in order to track customer navigation

• Transmission of DATA to agent desktop about customer navigation in IVR (duration, menus, …)

� personalize the interaction when you request the customer to key in his number

� text-to-speech : check data format and readiness of your database

� information accuracy same like in order channels

� outbound : DO NOT CALL List (compliancy with regulations)

benefits of

hosted IVR

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early adopters of hosted inbound IVR

hosted solution particularly suits businesses with fluctuating traffic volumes and those with

a need for assistance with complex speech application development and management

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most common applications for hosted IVR being

deployed by the early adopters

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benefits of Hosted IVR

� limited business risk for enterprise

� faster deployment than on premise IVR

� OPEX financial model

� SLA commitments

� on-demand speech TTS or ASR activation

� existing platforms and very limited CAPEX for customer

� Orange Management Portal can be deployed in 4-6 weeks

� Orange usage model: “pay as you grow”

� 99.99% availability SLA

� several languages already activated

what Orange can offer

http://www.orange-business.com/en/mnc2/solutions/crm-solutions/index.html

thank you

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