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Should we use Interactive Voice Response?
I manage customer service for a local bank with two branches. I know that implementing IVR for simple phone inquiries (balances, account information, etc) would save us money in the form of having to hire less CSRs but we pride ourselves in customer service and most of our customers love the fact that they can pick up the phone an speak to someone in person at our bank. Any suggestions?
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3 Answers
Chelsea-
This is an excellent question. You have a wonderful opportunity to give more robust service to your customers. It will not detract from the customer focus you have already established, and some customers will actually appreciate the chance to get a transaction completed or get a simple answer faster.
Keep in mind that although you may save in CSR headcount by deferring some calls, there is a capital outlay that can be quite expensive. Do your homework and shop around. If you can locate your reps in the same building with your phone switch and your account servers, you don't have to go to a VOIP type of ACD, and that can save you some money right there.
Here are a few tips:
(1) Make sure that your customers can opt out of the decision tree at any time and speak to a rep. Also, try to make the number of prompts that the customer have to use is 3 or less. More than that and customers tend to be less favorable.
(2) Speak to your vendor about integration with your existing PBX. You don't want to make an outside call (potentially for a charge) to transfer a customer to a manager that is only a few feet away.
(3) Network with others in the banking industry and try to find out what works with them. I know there is competition, so use someone you trust. There may be issues unique to banking (like account security regulations) that your potential vendor needs to be aware of.
I hope this was helpful to you. Good luck.
Dear Chelsea
First i would like to wish You a great new year ahead.You can use the IVR for simple Inquiries like Balance and others what you did mentioned,.Its not going to cost your company's rapport with your customer as long as you are providing the Real Voice to your customers other than the simple like Cheque Clearance , Over Draft like .......
Rodney's right about the opt-out. The advantage of computerized functions on IVRs is that they can operate 24/7, easing up demand on your incoming lines and CSRs during business hours. Additionally, sometimes people are more comfortable dealing with a machine than a person, or they're just feeling grouchy.
But do make the human option easily available so that customers who can't stand the IVR, or have a more complex query, can bypass it quickly.
I'd also add that I've found a remaining-time function to be quite useful when waiting in phone queues. If I have to listen to "Your call is important to us", I want to know if I'm only going to have to listen to it for five minutes or forty-five, whether it'd be faster to get in the car and visit the local bank branch, or whether I have time to go and do other things without having to have a phone clamped to my ear the whole time.
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