Why relying on an IVR and call routing fails your customers.

Written by Michael Smith on the 21st of July, 2015


Can you imagine going into a store to speak to the customer service desk and being asked to buy a ticket to join the queue. Even worse, imagine if there was meter charging - so the longer you stood there, the more it cost.

This is strangely how many famous brands operate their contact centres and it is the core reason why call routing and IVRs fail the customer. Especially at a time when devices such as smart-phones and tablets present ways and means of cost-effectively and reassuringly holding the customer’s hand throughout his or her journey.

Unfortunately, many organisations have yet to recognise the importance of reengineering contact centres and reeducating agents to deliver omni-channel care and reduce the need for their customers to resort to inbound telephony.

Core to making this strategy work is an ability to be able to interact on tablets and smart-phones and respond in other channels. An up-to-date knowledge base also provides the option for the customer to find the answer to their question themselves, as well as empowering agents in the same way so they can quickly respond on Chat, Email or phone.

And we are not saying that inbound calling should be binned-off. Its simply becomes a matter of choice for the customer and makes agents much more readily available when harmonized with complementary options such as Chat, eMail, Social and Self-Management.

Where we have deployed Zendesk and opened up self-help options, we have seen an immediate material drop in inbound calling - from 90% to 50% of instance. For customers, this means when they genuinely have to call the helpdesk, they can rely on someone picking up the phone immediately and having the time and resources at their fingertips to answer the question.

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