According to a recent Forrester study on the Best and Worst Of Phone Self-Service Design, here are some questions to consider when evaluating your own IVR system. After setting up your IVR system according to our 10 Tips for IVR Success, I suggest reevaluating it using the following questions:
1. Does the system provide essential content that is easy to understand?
Make it easy to get an order status update, hours of operation, or the soup of the day.
2. Are menus and prompts clear and concise?
It should be quick and easy for callers to make a selection. Confusing or elaborate menu options frustrate callers.
3. Is the phone menu flow efficient?
Callers should be able to get to the end of the phone tree with as few menus as possible.
4. Are users offered global commands?
Can callers press * at any time to go back to the main menu?
5. Does the system provide clear feedback in response to user actions?
If callers enter an order status number, do they get their order status update right away?
6. Is human assistance available at key points?
Can callers press 0 at any time to speak with a human if the IVR menus don’t fit their needs?
7. Does the system help users recover from errors?
If callers accidentally hit the wrong key, they should be able to go back a menu so they can select the correct option.
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