AI Interactive Voice Response

It’s time to add powerful AI and effective interactive voice response to your organization.

Good IVR systems alone may help your enterprise to operate more efficiently. Yet, a changing economy, evolving customer behavior, and competition mean that it is time to catch up and get ahead by adding smart AI to your work flows.

AI may be controversial in some applications. Though using it appropriately, in balance with, or to augment humanity, it can provide a huge edge. Even just enabling you to keep up in an incredibly competitive environment, with compressed financials.

So, how can you implement AI and machine learning with your IVR for even better results, that actually serve all stakeholders well?

Why Use AI In Your IVR System?

Efficiency and cost effectiveness are probably two of the most common reasons that intelligent professionals desire to add AI to their operations.

Then there are many who just want to ensure that they are on the AI train, and aren’t losing ground or becoming irrelevant or inferior to competitors.

For others, having AI integrated into their ventures can be the make or break when it comes to obtaining funding and remaining on trend and interesting to various partners.

Implemented well, AI and IVR systems can provide cost savings, trim losses, improve competitiveness and NPS scores, increase customer retention, and profits.

What is vital here is to ensure that your integration of AI serves all of your stakeholders well. Most prominent that means your customers. It should be serving them above all else. If you nail this, then it will also bring value to your team. Making their jobs more pleasant and rewarding, and empowering them to do their best and most satisfying work. That all means you shareholders and investors will benefit from less risk, and growing equity and returns.

AI can solve one of the biggest challenges corporations face today. Which is the importance of personalization, and helping customers to feel valued. Or done poorly, it can make them feel abused, alienated, and taken advantage of. Which has unfortunately become the most common result of poorly thought out AI chatbots and tools that have no intelligence at all.

Balancing Artificial Intelligence & Humanity In Your Organization

This is a vital balance to get right in order to get value from AI and other technology and automation, versus just sabotaging your own organization.

This doesn’t have to be complicated. It is mostly common sense. It’s putting yourself in the other person’s position, and ensuring you are providing value, not just irritating junk that harms the user.

While many approach this from the perspective of first improving their own internal business metrics and financials, that can be counterproductive if it deteriorates UX. Whereas taking the approach of striving to serve the customer better and provide a better experience will naturally improve those other metrics, and in a much more sustainable way.

If you aren;t sure if you are getting this right, even after walking through the experience as a customer yourself, then be watching your top and bottom line, online reputation, NPS score, customer churn rates, and customer lifetime value.

If you’ve completely gone in the wrong direction with this already, shut it down, and stop the bleed and loss of value now. You can still implement smarter AI and IVR tools that are valued, appreciated, profitable, and blend the best of technological convenience and real human support.

So, how do you get it right?

Ways To Implement AI In your Interactive Voice Response System

Here are some of the ways that you can apply AI in your interactive voice response system for better short and long term results.

Personalized Greetings

Your IVR system can use AI to provide a personalized greeting and introduction by name. Everyone’s favorite word is their own name. Use it.

This will start the interaction on a much more positive note, and make your callers feel valued.

Localization

This may apply to greeting them and mentioning where they are from, or directing them to the right geographic hub of your business for their needs.

Phone Numbers & Identity Verification

By using your customers’ phone numbers your AI can also speed up the identification of your callers. Greatly reducing the headaches, circles, and time drain that takes up the bulk of phone calls in many cases. Especially for banking and financial services.

You may still wish to use a partial account number, social security number, or other identifying information to double verify callers. This depends on how sensitive the information is that they are accessing or transacting on, versus the risk of having sensitive data, and the ensuing compliance and legal and financial ramifications of that.

Streamlining Payments & Revenues

Online payments don’t always work. Consumers have been increasingly burned by auto pay options as well. Which means businesses still need to accommodate other means of support. Human live chat support online is great. Though others will need or want to call in.

The easier you can make it for people to buy and pay you, the more your revenues will grow, and more consistent your incoming cash flow will be.

Good AI systems can enable customers to complete financial transactions just through your IVR system.

Streamlining Service

When users do need to speak to a human, your AI can be used to not only detect this, but direct them right to the best fitting information, department, and specialist. Someone who is capable of solving the issue or making a decision on it the first time.

This not only serves the customer well, but boosts your experience and reputation, and helps to greatly optimize your labor spend.

Upsells & Add Ons

Your AI and IVR system could also be used to offer and complete upsells, upgrades, and add ons. Both for new customers during their initial transaction, as well as for existing and past customers. A great way to simplify increasing revenue and per customer profits, with the best ROI.

Gaining Valuable Feedback

No one wants to complete lengthy surveys any more. Not even for the chance to win something.

However, feedback is important. Even more so when implementing new technology and processes.

You could achieve the best of both worlds with this system, with a very streamlined feedback request. Like the NPS score. Just ask for a one out of 10 rating for how likely they are to refer others to you.

Summary

AI is hot. While many have implemented poorly created apps unintelligently, AI can be highly valuable and appreciated when integrated into your IVR well.

It is emerging as a vital move to retain competitiveness, profitability, and customers.

Done right, an AI interactive voice response system can wow your customers, improve your financials, and put you well ahead of competitors with a streamlined and efficient work flow.