Visual IVR delivers on the promise of self-service & call center connectivity (Evolution of Self-Service - Part 3)

www.jacada.comCustomer Service. Simplified.

The Natural Shift from Self Service Technology to Visual Connectivity

Part III Visual IVR: Ease of Connectivity from Self Service to the Call CenterContributor:Dr. Natalie PetouhoffFormer Forrester Analyst

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The Natural Shift from Self Service Technology to Visual ConnectivityThe Natural Shift from Self Service Technology to Visual Connectivity

Table of ContentsSection A: How Visual IVR Delivers on the Promise of Self-Service and Call Center Connectivity

Evolution of the Push-Button IVR to the Visual IVR

No Need to Retire the Current IVR Technology; Just Evolve It’s Interface

No Rip and Replace of Current Push-Button IVR Technology Required

How Touchscreen IVRs Can Replace 1-800 Numbers on Websites

How Touchscreen, Visual IVRs Keep The Customer’s Journey and Information Across All Channels

What about customers who do not have smart phones?

Section B: Example Use Cases of Touchscreen, Visual IVRs

Reducing Customer Frustration and Rage

Better and Less Expensive Onsite, Field Service

Staying On Top of Inventory

Increasing Customer Safety and Loyalty

Section C: The Benefits of Visual IVRs

Section D: Next Steps and Best Practices - Evaluating Your Current Capabilities

Building the Business Case to Increase Your Capabilities

Where do I Begin?

The ROI of Touchscreen IVRs

Summary

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NOTE: A timeline of the evolution of self-service can be seen at the boarder of the paper. It gives a historical perspective of the progression of how self-service has transformed over the last 125 years. Highlighted are various inventions that have driven innovation, developed the technological innovations and lead us to where we are today.1

Section A: How Visual IVR Delivers on the Promise of Self-ServiceEvolution of the Push-Button IVR to Visual IVR

One way to cut costs in the contact center has always been to provide self-service. And while self-service has promised to deliver cost reductions, studies show it does not always do that. In fact, for self-service to really be an option that drives positive customer experiences and thus lower costs for companies, the gap between agent-assisted customer experience and self-service, push-button IVRs has to be narrowed.

Unfortunately, up until now companies could only offer non-visual, non-touchscreen IVR menus. However ,with HTML 5-base technologies, one of the ways to narrow the gap in customer expectations and actually deliver the financial benefits of self-service is to use a visual/touchscreen IVR. Figure 1a shows the customer experience before a push-button IVR and Figure 1b shows the customer experience on a touchscreen IVR. A visual, touchscreen IVR interface provides the customer with a visual representation or picture of the IVR menu. Instead of having to listen to the IVR options, a customer can see a picture of the options and using touchscreen, choose the option they want.

Figure 1a. The customer experience before a touch screen IVR and Figure 1b with a touchscreen IVR.

Before After

1876 1877 1880 1882

47,900 Telephones

in the US

1st patent for a telephone switchboard

1st regular telephone line from Boston to

Somerville MA1st switchboard was

set-up in Boston

1st bi-directional transmission of

clear speech1st telephones were

rented in pairs

1880's

1st Vending Machines for postcards in

London

1888

Sears Catalog- advertises watches and

jewelry

1st automatic telephone exchange replacing manual switchboards


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No Need to Retire the Current IVR Technology; Just Evolve It’s Interface

While retiring the IVR investment isn’t desirable nor economically practical, evolving its user interface is practical because the ROI is quick and large. The process of how this works is seen in Figure 2. By giving IVR’s a visual interface, cutting edge enterprises are redefining IVR, improving its customer satisfaction contribution and using it in many ways that were not possible before. Visualizing an IVR is like creating a multi-level menu on a website or a mobile application. The IVR’s path becomes a picture on a touchscreen or a website. Users can touch or click the selection they want, making their selection a lot faster, visually. This completely changes the experience, first by allowing users to view the path of the menu choices and not forcing customers to listen to all options. And second, by allowing them to easily navigate back and forth to find the option they need. It is also significantly faster and cheaper than the traditional IVR alone.

Figure 2. How The Touchscreen Visual IVR Process Works

1892 1894

Phone Service was established

between New York and Chicago

1st battery-operated

switchboard

1905

Self-Service Gap Pumps- in St. Louis,

Missouri

1915

Transcontinental telephone service by overhead wire was inaugurated

1937-1939

Elektro- the robot built by

Westinghouse, could walk by

voice command & speak ~700 words using a Voder Machine

1939

Voder Machine - the first attempt to

synthesize human speech by breaking

it down into its component sounds

and reproducing them electronically


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No Rip and Replace of Current Push-Button IVR Technology Required

Often the issue with making changes to contact center software, especially for large organizations is that changing technology is expense, time consuming and nearly impossible to get approved. Fortunately, implementing a touchscreen IVR technology doesn’t mean companies have to rip and replace their current IVR. Touchscreen IVRs can augment current IVR technologies and provide even higher ROIs than just push-button IVR. Figure 3 shows how the current IVR strategy can be transformed into a touchscreen, visual IVR. The touchscreen, visual IVR menu system integrates with your current IVR system and works both on your website and on mobile devices. This integrated approach provides a more consistent customer experience regardless of the touch points the customer chooses.

Figure 3. How an IVR Menu is Translated By Technology as a Visual Representation of the IVR

Build your IVR

The technology interprets your IVR in real time

And renders a Visual IVR with enhanced features of Web & Mobile

1941 1946 1947 1962

Credit Cards- “Charge-It” was

introduced. The $1 Buckaroo Buffet was established

Beginnings of cellular phones; AT&T proposed

the FCC allocate radio frequencies

for widespreadmobile phone

usage

Bell developed a new way to dial

area codes using DTMF

1st touch-tone phone using tones

1963

1st touch tone phones – mobile car phone model

introduced

1965

Touch screens were developed


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Even if your IVR system runs on proprietary code, most IVR formats can be mapped and extended onto mobile or integrated into your website, complete with all the features – including pre-recorded voice segments or agent screen pops. The advantage is that it works with your current IVR technology, preserving and reaping your original IVR investment without involving costly interruptions or clashes with your other vital communications channels. And because it works with your existing IVR scripts, you don’t have to maintain a separate set of customer interaction scripts. And the implementation time is in days, not months.

Figure 4. Changes Within One Channels are Immediately Duplicated to All Presences

A visual IVR can be implemented on websites, microsites, within online communities and forums and on any mobile device. The touchscreen, visual IVR solution reuses the same Voice XML (VXML) scripts your current IVR runs on. Most modern IVR systems run VXML (short for Voice XML). The Visual IVR can read the VXML scripts in real-time and render them out on your customer’s smartphones, mobile devices or tablets. Any changes made to your VXML script are immediately and automatically reflected real-time on mobile devices and websites / platforms, Figure 4.

1967 1968 1970 1971 1977 1982

ATM’s Touch

Screen UI

Donald Wetzel created the idea of the

ATM network

1st cordless phones

Southwest Airlines

introduces the ability

of the passenger

to pick their own seats

HP introduced a programmable computer that fits on top of

a desk

Internet protocol suite was

standardized

1986

QVC –allowed customers to

shop from homeFCC granted the

frequency range of 47-49 MHz for cordless

phones


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How Touchscreen IVRs Can Replace 1-800 Numbers on Websites

Many customers will look at your website for the customer service contact number. Instead of a customer picking up a phone and calling that number, a customer can click on the touchscreen IVR button embedded on your website. Studies show that a visual IVR is more efficient than listening to audio IVR prompts. On average, it can take a customer 26.83 seconds to listen to an IVR menu vs 6.03 seconds to scan a smart phone screen. And the visual IVR lowers the number of “zero-outs”.

Imagine the 1-800 number on the webpage transforming into a “contact us” button. Once the customer clicks on this bottom they will get the IVR menu on their screen and from that point on they can navigate through the IVR menu on their own, and get any information they needs. Customers can touch their way from menu to solution in a matter of clicks– all from the comfort of their smartphone screen or webpage. They can even connect directly to a specific call center agent, request a chat, or even view holding time and choose a call back option.

At any point in time, the customer can choose a different channel like chat to interact with the company. Because the website, chat, email, the phone are all part of one touchscreen, visual IVR menu system, anything the customer does in one channel is kept as part of that customer’s journey.

That way anything the customer has done is tracked and visible to the contact center agent. If they reach out to an agent, they do not have to repeat what they have already done.

1990 1993 1994 1995 1996 1999

Frequency range of 900

MHz for cordless phones

Bellsouth introduces the mobile phone with a calendar, address book,

email and more

Amazon

1st digital, cordless phones

Alaska Airlines offers online

check-in

eBay AOL Napster

1987

Star Trek debuted touchscreens and voice recognition


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And all of the same features on the website are also possible in the mobile version of the application. This can become the company’s mobile application if they do not have one or it can integrate to a current company’s mobile applications. All the data collected on the customer experience, regardless of the channel is maintained in the database so the customer does not have to explain what they have already done. A customer can be sent a text message to get them started on a mobile, touchscreen experience, Figure 5. And the system allows a customer to type in information, which is more difficult to do on a touch-tone phone pad without making mistakes.

Figure 5. A customer is sent a text to start a visual, touchscreen session.

Dear customer, please click here to tap your way through our visual system

2000 2001 2002 2003 2011 2013

Microsoft Tablet

iTunes allowed customers to purchase individual

songs online

RedBoxIntroducedDVD kiosks

Web UIs and visual technologies

such as HMTL 5 lead to multi- touch devices

Mobile Payments

Jacada Introduces the

Visual IVR


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How Touchscreen, Visual IVRs Keep The Customer’s Journey and Information Across All Channels In Tact

Visual IVR not only provides a visual experience for the customer but it also provides consistency and continuity so a customer can start the interaction on the web or mobile and finish it done and at the same time, keeping the experience across all touch points the same. This is in part why a touchscreen, visual IVR increases customer satisfaction. It also improves your call center service levels by routing calls precisely where they need to go and reducing the need to forward and re-route incoming customer calls.

What about customers who do not have smart phones?

Visual IVR supports multiple output channels. While web, mobile web and native iOS and Android are very popular, there are large sections of users who do not have smart phones. Visual IVR can support non-feature rich phones through the USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) protocol. USSD is supported across most GSM carriers and provide an alternative mechanism for rendering a visual IVR interface to these users.


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Section B: Example Use Cases of Touchscreen, Visual IVRsTo better illustrate how visual IVRs can be used, the following section provides some examples of how companies are developing new customer experience strategies that include visual IVRs.

Reducing Customer Frustration and Rage

This first example is with a national cellular provider with millions of subscribers. They found that over 600,000 customers per month were travelling internationally. As a result, these customers were hit with data roaming charges. When customers called to change their plan, they found calling the 1-800 number when aboard was cost prohibitive.

If the international cellular provider proactively sent their customers a text message when the customer was near a border or at an international airline terminal with a link to a visual IVR, the customer could quickly and easily follow a visual menu to compare, select and choose an international calling package. This would help customers avoid the shock and upset of roaming charges. When roaming, the visual IVR is considered part of their data plan because it uses the local wifi connection. This can also save customers money.

Better and Less Expensive Onsite, Field Service

Another example is a communication equipment company who installs and provides set-up and troubleshooting service. They often have to rely on contracting third parties to deliver that service. And it can be difficult, with all the new products and services being offered, to keep those third-party service providers trained in the latest updates.

As a result, often these contractors who are faced with challenging trouble shooting situations, end up needing to place a call to the contact center. These calls often result in lengthy diagnostic call flows to get to the root cause of the issue. With visual IVRs, the touchscreen helps these contractors to more easily navigate the IVR and trouble-shoot the customer’s issue faster, especially on mobile devices. In fact, service technicians find that they are able to resolve the customer’s issue without having to place a call to the contact center.


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Staying On Top of Inventory

In this example, a large beverage company is receiving orders from restaurants to replace inventory. However, because of the pace in the restaurant industry and the need to service customers real-time, the focus is on serving the customer versus paying attention to inventory levels. As a result, often timely re-ordering to restock the inventory doesn’t happen, and ends up resulting in calls to the contact center.

The beverage company can leverage the touchscreen IVR as a visual ordering system. This makes it easier for restaurants and kiosks to conveniently re-order directly from their smart phone. Because of the ease, effectiveness, and efficiency of the visual ordering process, the adoption is high and the beverage company receives more frequent orders, increasing their cash flow, reducing calls to the contact center and increasing customer satisfaction.

Increasing Customer Safety and Loyalty

In this example, there are regions in the world where people are faced individual security and safety issues. For instance, hailing a cab should be an easy task, but in dangerous regions in the world it can be a hit or miss affair. An enterprising taxi cab company could see this situation and using a visual IVR, create a unique service that increases the trust of customers, and hence the use of their services.

One example scenario is that a customer calls a cab, not realizing that the cab company is not legitimate. Locked in the cab and driven, at gun-point to an ATM, they are forced to withdraw cash. In these situations, a customer could be dropped off in a remote area, and if they are lucky, eventually found. However, if they are less lucky, they may end up being shot and/or killed.

However, if you are the enterprising, reliable, well-known taxi company you can provide customers with a visual IVR to use on their smart phone or tablet. This reputable taxi company could embed photos of the driver into the Visual IVR application and then the passenger, before the passenger gets in the cab. That way both the passenger and the cab drive are informed of what each of them looks like. This increases the peace of mind of the customer and reduces the risk of foul play. And makes that taxi cab company the number one choice in cities with high risk or even a top choice in low or non-risk cities.


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Section C: The Benefits of Visual IVRsProviding a visual IVR experience as an addition to traditional IVR systems, creates an innovative, advanced and practical solution that makes the common pain points of traditional IVRs a thing of the past. A touchscreen IVR solution enhances a company’s customer satisfaction goals while removing the barriers placed by traditional IVR systems on a company’s profitability. Figure 7 shows the benefits to both the customer experience as well as to a business’s bottom-line.

As you look through the table, you’ll find that there are benefits to both the customer experience and customers as well as to the company. This is one particular solution that drives the goals of both the company and customers. This is a rare, but important distinction. Many technologies have promised better results for companies, but often at the detriment to the customer’s experience. In this case a touchscreen visual IVR actually enhances the customer experience a great deal while reducing costs. This is an important fact to use as part of your business case for senior leadership.



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Benefits to Your Customer Benefits to Your Business

Easy, Visual Navigation• No need for customers to simultaneously listen to

long, confusing menu trees in an effort to remember which number corresponds to the right option and then use the phone’s keypad to choose that option

• Quick access to the desired selection• Intuitive, easy-to-use, 24-7 self-service tool for all

channels• Improves access to important information• Expand the communication channels for your wide

range customer preferences• Allows customers to visually walk through your

existing IVR menu, anywhere, anytime• And from convenience of their own home, computer or

mobile device• Don’t have to listen to complete menu trees and have

quick access to their desired selection

Dramatically Reduces Costs / Enhances Revenue• Reduce agent-assisted call volume• Lower IVR and telephony charges• Allows you to keep your original IVR investment and

easily update it for mobile and web• Re-uses same set of scripts in other channels• Lower agent turnover and attrition costs by reducing

stress and boredom from routine requests• Increases FCR• Decreases AHT• Increases customer satisfaction, positive word of

mouth, customer lifetime value, customer retention and loyalty

• Decreases or eliminates call abandonment rates and zero outs

• Preserve the investment of your original IVR

No Need to Repeat Information to an Agent• Rich screen-pops mean customers don’t have to retell

their story to an agent• Customer’s frustration is reduced

Reduces Call Times and Volumes• Rich screen-pop reduces agent-assisted call time and

call volume• Increased routing effectiveness increases first contact

resolution and reduced agent handling time• Bottlenecks and peak times can be controlled better

Better Customer Experiences• Reduced call times• Reduced hold times

Easy Implementation• Reduces interdepartmental issues between various

stakeholders (Customer Service, Self-Service, Mobile, Web, IVR…)

• Reuses existing IVR scripts, so lower barrier to implement

• If the IVR runs on Voice XML it is compatible with any website or mobile app

• If it runs a proprietary format it can be converted to work with Visual IVR

• See return on investment faster• No coding required; implementation is days not

months

Easy Maintenance• No additional scripts to maintain• A website or a mobile app is synced to the IVR menu

so no maintenance time, programming, or cost.• Is not tied to a specific call center hardware or

software

Figure 7


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Section D: Next Steps and Best Practices - Evaluating Your Current CapabilitiesBuilding the Business Case to Increase Your Capabilities

Your goals in developing a better IVR strategy might mean driving more calls into a highly effective and efficient self-service offering. This might include:

•Decreasing the number of “zero-outs” or agent-assisted calls

•Knowing more about the customer and why they are calling if they opt to talk to an agent so you can:

•Decrease Average Handle Time

• Increase First Contact Resolution and

• Eliminate asking a customer to repeat their interaction history and details of their story / issue when they connect to an agent

•Providing a consistent experience regardless of which channel the customer uses

You will want to spend time looking at your current goals, how the technology is / is not meeting those goals. Those goals should include not only company goals but also goals on making the customer experience the best it can be. Providing better customer experiences has been shown to have a direct correlation to driving the company’s goals of reducing costs and increasing revenue.

Where do I Begin?

You’ll want to start out by determining what your current system provides. Figure 8 provides specific warning signs that can help determine if your current deployment of your IVR is not meeting customer expectations. And Figure 9 provides some sample questions to get customer feedback on their point of view on the effectiveness of your IVR system. Getting customer feedback is very important to providing the best possible service and lowering costs. Once you have gotten feedback on your current technology, you are ready to develop the business case and Return on Investment (ROI) for making changes.


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Figure 8: Signs Your IVR is Not Meeting Customer Expectations

Here’s some of what to look for:

IVR “zero-out” rate is greater than 7%

Percentage of call transfer within the contact center is high

Your company’s website is listed on sites that show customers how to “zero-out” to reach an agent

When customers who used an IVR more often than not reach an agentand are even more frustrated than when they first tried to reach the company.

Figure 9. Sample Questions To Ask Customer’s About Your IVR

Ask your customers if they feel:

Forced to listen to long, introductory prompts?

Are the menu options so long that they have a difficult time deciphering or remembering which option to choose?

Is the navigation path clear, i.e., is it easy for them choose the right option to get their answer as well as to go back to the main or previous menu?

Does the IVR system hang-up on them when they don’t respond fast enough or go down a IVR path that is a dead-end?

When picking an IVR menu option, does the agent receive the information about the customer or does the customer have to repeat it all once connected with an agent? (I.e., is the agent desktop computer telephony integration (CTI) delivering all customer interaction data to the agent?)

When using your IVR, especially on mobile devices, do customers become frustrated and just zero-out vs. navigate the IVR menu tree?


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The ROI of Touchscreen IVRs

The return on investment or ROI is a calculation that balances the costs of a something vs the value of the benefits. The benefits listed in the previous section are part of what needs to be calculated to determine the ROI. Figure 10 shows the inputs required for determining the ROI. This calculator can be found at the following website for you to input your own numbers: www.visual-ivr.com/calculator.

It’s important to gather your inputs like:

•Call volume/ month

•Average handle time / call

•Number of agent transfer/month

•Percentage of customers who use self-service currently

• IVR cost/ minute (hosted)

•Cost of an agent-assisted call/ month

At the bottom of Figure 10 are the cumulative 3-year net savings after costs.

Figure 10. The inputs for a visual, touchscreen ROI.


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SummaryWith Phone still being the number one channel customers use to contact a company, it is important this mean of communication is enhanced to better the customer experience. IVR constraints like long hold time & confusing menus are still a major source for customer frustrations. Looking forward, Visual IVR stands to correct this wrong. It is a win-win solution for both company and the customer. The company can easily implement this solution while gaining immediate cost reduction. The customer enjoys an experience he controls, using his own devices, anytime, anywhere. For more information on visual IVR – click here.

Refrences1. Study of Airport Self-Service Technology, IJCSI International Journal of Computer Science Issues, Vol. 7, Issue 3, No 1, May 2010




http://ijcsi.org/papers/7-3-1-17-26.pdf