Who’s Answering Your After Hours Calls? Time for a Conversational IVR

One of the most important aspects of running a business is being available to your customers. Now, of course, with this sort of availability can come a great deal of expense. Whether you choose just a couple of people to answer calls or questions or decide on a full-on Contact center, the costs can be daunting

Not only do you have to pay for the equipment; phones, computers, telephone lines and the like, but you also have to pay all the salaries and benefits that come with a full staff. So what can a business do to still keep in contact with their customers and not destroy their bottom line? The answer just might lie in a Conversational IVR.

An IVR stands for Interactive Voice Response. You have probably encountered one with varying degrees of success, anytime you have called a business after hours. Luckily, as technology has progressed so has the capability of these systems. Voice recognition has taken leaps and bounds in advancement over the past few years. This is why we have seen the onslaught of interactive voice assistants on our phones and in our homes. That same technology has begun to be utilized in IVR systems as well. There are many reasons to have a Conversational IVR to help your business thrive.

A Conversational IVR has many advantages over a standard Contact center. Here are just a few of the advantages:

• No need for staffing personnel or paying overtime and after-hours pay
• The IVR can be available 24 hours a day
• The services can be hosted so you can have a hands-off approach
• Messages can be customized and specific to promotions or information you want your customers to have
• The overall expense can be far less than a Contact center

Along with the convenience, these kinds of call center technologies can create a great “look” for your business. How many times have you called a business outside of their normal hours only to be left with a phone that just keeps ringing? With an IVR you never come across that situation; you can provide call center services around the clock.

Not to mention the added benefit it gives to the employees that you do have. Instead of answering the phone to give directions, hours, your website, etc., the IVR can field those questions and leave your employees to help your business.

The IVR also gives your customers a sense of who you are as a business. If they call you at 2 am in the morning, they might still get an answer to their question, rather than just being left empty-handed. The IVR serves as the first touchpoint for your business and can be an extremely positive one.

Businesses live or die by the customers they serve. Give customers a positive experience and a worthwhile product and they will come back again and again. The worst thing a business can do is to create a disgruntled customer.

As everyone knows, they will tell their friends about bad service or confusion and then those friends will tell their friends and so it goes. Of course, add in social media and now your business’ reputation will be known around the world.

So one simple way to keep some of these things from spinning out of control is to have an IVR that can immediately service your customer’s needs. No being on hold or waiting for your answer, just the voice of your business to everyone that calls. And that can make a huge difference to your customer satisfaction metrics.

Running a business is complicated, and leveraging technology to make your business stronger will ensure the longevity of your business and brand. An IVR is a simple way to make sure that you are reaching the customers when they want to interact with your business.

Not everyone works a 9-5 schedule, and not everyone will be able to reach out to your business in the hours that you operate. So why not have your business available to everyone at any time of the day? An IVR is a simple and sophisticated system that can help every business create a stronger relationship with their customers in a very simple and straightforward manner.

IVR is an amazing technology that gives businesses the flexibility and capability to be available at all times. There’s simply no other cost-effective way to give customers access to your business without keeping a full staff engaged 24 hours a day.

The simple ability to pick up the phone and find the answer you’re looking for is what every customer wants. And even though websites are a nice addition to a business, they don’t have the capability to have a voice at the other end of the line, telling you that you and your call are important to our business. It makes people feel included in a way that a computer screen just can’t compete with. An IVR just might be the perfect solution for your business.

About babelforce

babelforce is a global cloud communications platform focused on No-Code integration and automation. It allows non-technical people to build even the most complex integrated processes for customer-facing teams, particularly in the call center.