No one enjoys playing phone tag, repeatedly trying to connect, but unable to communicate because of a series of missed opportunities. These situations quickly become a source of frustration, especially when a situation demands immediacy. But, as annoying as this can be with a friend or family member, it’s far worse when it happens with your customers; they won’t settle for what feels like a runaround. Every interaction must be error-free, ensuring your customers receive the help and information they need without any hassle.
Learn how to eradicate bad customer experiences with Cyara’s IVR testing solutions.
Studies show that it only takes a single bad experience to leave a poor taste in customers’ mouths, driving them away from your brand and toward your competition. And yet, many businesses rely on outdated and unoptimized interactive voice response (IVR) systems to connect with customers.
Your customers expect seamless interactions, but without the right testing strategy in place, your IVRs may be holding you back. Just like no one likes phone tag, no customer wants to be redirected time and time again before reaching the right department or falling victim to a dropped call. By following several best practices, you can ensure your IVR is prepared to deliver quality experiences every time your customers call.
Conduct Thorough, Continuous Tests
Maintaining your CX performance is an ongoing process that requires more than a single or periodic test to confirm your systems are performing as intended. For many businesses, IVRs serve as the initial point of contact, setting the tone for how your customers will feel about your brand.
First impressions mean everything when it comes to whether or not your customers will stay loyal to your brand, and you can’t afford to let sloppy mistakes threaten your bottom line. But by continuously testing your IVR, you can quickly resolve issues that would put a customer relationship in jeopardy and pinpoint areas for future improvements.
Validate Performance with Regression and Load Testing
There are many issues that can arise during your CX development lifecycle, both pre- and post-deployment, and you must execute a variety of tests to ensure your IVR is always performing to your standards.
Regression tests validate your IVR’s performance whenever you’ve updated or made any changes to your infrastructure. Even a single minor change can introduce complications into your system’s performance, but you may be unaware the new defect exists until a customer files a complaint. And by that time, it’s already too late. By conducting regular regression tests, you can catch and remediate these issues ahead of customer impact.
Meanwhile, load tests are critical to understanding how well your IVR performs under sudden traffic spikes or during significant events such as a new product release or high-volume seasons like holiday shopping or open enrollment. Load tests identify performance issues leading to disruptions, long wait times, or poor service quality, so you can take corrective action to scale your system and deliver exceptional interactions, even during busy periods.
Simulate Real-World Interactions
It’s critical to understand exactly how your customers are experiencing interactions with your brand, or you may fail to identify detrimental issues. In many cases, businesses that fail to consistently test and monitor their CX pathways are only made aware that an issue exists after a customer files a complaint. And by that time, it’s too late and you’ve lost out on key business.
An IVR testing solution provides visibility into your CX performance by mimicking real-world user behavior and following specific customer journeys. Instead of relying on guess work, your team benefits from a comprehensive understanding of how customers experience the IVR, along with any errors they may encounter during these interactions. Then, with these insights, you can make more informed decisions and uncover issues before your customers are affected.
Adopt Omnichannel Testing Strategies
Contact center and CX technology have undergone rapid evolutions in recent years in response to growing customer demands. As customers shift between channels, it’s your responsibility to optimize your systems to provide streamlined transitions and cohesive experience across all touchpoints.
Additionally, with the rise of AI-powered IVRs, it’s critical to ensure you’re expanding the scope of your IVR testing strategies to account for new features and risks. For example, instead of merely verifying menu and voice quality, you must ensure your AI-powered IVR is equipped to generate responses based on customer sentiment and provide personalized interactions, without causing any additional compliance or reputational risks.
Leverage Automation
Contact center teams are already stretched to their limits to meet top-line business objectives, adhere to changing regulatory standards, and fulfill a wide range of customer needs. However, many teams are adding more to their plates by relying on outdated, time-consuming manual testing processes. Without an automated IVR testing solution, your team will spend hours walking through each permutation of a single customer journey. Even still, manual testing processes are subject to human error, leaving plenty of room for defects to slip unnoticed into the live environment and reverse all your hard work.
With an automated IVR testing solution, you can verify CX performance in a fraction of the time and eliminate the risk of human error. Instead of wasting hours with manual testing, your team can reallocate resources appropriately to focus on high-priority, high-impact tasks.
Deliver Frustration-Free Interactions with Cyara
Your customers aren’t willing to settle for subpar experiences, so it’s up to you to deliver quality interactions across every touchpoint, every time. With the right IVR testing solution, you can regain visibility and control over your CX development lifecycle and mitigate the risks that put your bottom line in danger.
Leading brands trust Cyara’s AI-Led CX Transformation Platform to test, monitor, and optimize their CX journeys. Our customers have realized key results, such as:
- 90% decrease in IVR testing time
- 50% acceleration in IVR updates
- Recaptured 90% of abandoned callers
It’s time to take your testing to the next level, and Cyara is here to help. Contact us to schedule a personalized demo and see how you can benefit from our solution suite or visit cyara.com for more information.
