Key Takeaways
- 63% of customers would switch companies after a bad IVR experience, making IVR design a bottom-line issue.
- Limit your top menu to 5 options or fewer; 70% of Fortune 500 companies follow this practice.
- Always provide a path to a live agent by the third menu to reduce caller frustration.
- Keep introductions brief (under eight seconds) and avoid branding statements that delay callers.
- Design for customer goals first, not internal business metrics.
An Interactive voice response (IVR) system is an automated phone system technology that allows callers to interact with a company’s phone system through voice commands or keypad inputs before reaching a live agent.
A well-designed IVR system balances customer needs with business efficiency. But get it wrong, and you risk losing customers. Research shows that 63% of customers would take their business elsewhere after a bad IVR experience.
How should you design an IVR for customer needs?
Research by Daniel Harris, Market Research Associate at Software Advice (2014), shows that while IVRs are central to communications in modern customer engagement centers, they are also a major pain point for customers. Specifically, a poorly designed IVR can significantly impact a company’s bottom line.
The research produced these key customer considerations that any company should keep in mind when designing a new IVR application:
- Design for your customers’ needs, not your own. Historically the IVR has been viewed as too rigidly automated to accommodate the needs of human beings.
- Focus first on customer goals instead of business goals. The focus should always be on what the caller wants to accomplish.
- Determine the goal for your IVR. If your IVR is intended to route calls, it should be designed differently from an IVR designed for self-service.
- Optimize for your primary callers. Determine how your primary demographic will successfully interact with the IVR.
- Plan for happy customers. The goal of your IVR shouldn’t be just to reduce costs.
What do customers want from an IVR system?
So what exactly constitutes a good IVR experience? And, how do you know what your customers want? Surveying 50 Fortune 500 companies, here are eight best design practices that are included in the report:
- Provide the option to speak to an agent by the third menu. This practice was followed by 28% of the companies surveyed. This keeps opt out volume low but provides a way for customers to reach an agent.
- Limit top menu options to 5 or fewer. This practice was followed by 70% of the companies surveyed. This practice avoids overwhelming callers with too much information.
- Use open-ended questions and ‘Next’ options to eliminate submenus. Followed by 54% of the companies surveyed, this structure allows for a greater number of choices or natural language selection.
- Keep introductions shorter than 8 seconds. While all companies surveyed use an introductory message identifying the company, a message that is too long risks boring customers.
- Offer dial pad response. This practice is followed by 42% of companies surveyed. Even companies that use voice recognition offer dial pad input as an option.
- Avoid branding statements in introductions. Even a brief branding message risks making the introduction too long.
- Use female voices. Research shows that the human brain prefers female voices.
- Avoid hanging up on customers. While such a tactic can reduce call volume, it is ultimately ill-advised for your IVR to hang up on a customer as this frustrating experience may motivate customers to take their business elsewhere.
IVR best practices vs. common mistakes
| Best practice | Common mistake |
| Limit menu options to 5 or fewer | Overwhelming callers with 8+ options |
| Provide agent access by the third menu | Burying the live agent option deep in menus |
| Keep introductions under eight seconds | Long introductions with branding messages |
| Offer dial pad response as an alternative | Voice-only input with no backup option |
| Design for customer goals first | Prioritizing cost reduction over experience |
How Cyara can help you get it right
So, given the research, can you afford to potentially drive away up to 63% of your customers due to a poor IVR experience? Cyara can help you deliver a great customer experience by optimizing your IVR application. After all, a great experience also includes such things as testing to ensure that the voice quality within the IVR is good and the IVR response time is consistent, even under peak loads.
Cyara is the market leader for omnichannel customer experience testing, discovery and monitoring. Millions of flawless customer interactions are delivered every day by organizations of all sizes utilizing the Cyara Agentic Platform. Stop driving your customers away with poor customer experiences. Contact Cyara today.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does IVR design matter for customer retention?
A poorly designed IVR can directly cost a business customers. Research from Purdue University found that 63% of customers said they would take their business elsewhere after a bad IVR experience.
How many menu options should a top-level IVR menu include?
Top menu options should be limited to five or fewer. This practice avoids overwhelming callers with too much information and was followed by 70% of Fortune 500 companies surveyed.
When should callers be given the option to speak to a live agent?
Callers should be offered the option to reach a live agent by the third menu at the latest. This keeps opt-out volume low while still giving customers a clear path to human assistance.
How long should an IVR introduction message be?
Introductions should be kept shorter than eight seconds. Messages that run longer risk boring callers, and branding statements should be avoided entirely to keep introductions concise.
Should IVR systems use voice recognition or dial pad input?
Both options should be available to callers. Even companies that primarily use voice recognition offer dial pad input as an alternative, which was the case for 42% of the Fortune 500 companies surveyed.
What voice type does research recommend for IVR systems?
Research shows that the human brain responds better to female voices, making them the recommended choice for IVR system recordings.
Is it ever acceptable for an IVR to hang up on a caller?
Hanging up on customers is ill-advised, even if it reduces call volume in the short term. This type of frustrating experience can motivate customers to take their business elsewhere.
How should the goal of an IVR influence its design?
An IVR designed to route calls should be built differently from one designed for self-service. Defining the primary goal upfront ensures the system is structured to help callers accomplish what they actually need.
How can Cyara help improve IVR performance?
Cyara helps organizations optimize their IVR applications through omnichannel customer experience testing, discovery, and monitoring, including checks on voice quality and response time consistency under peak loads.
