Free IVR? Might not be as free as you think
If you’re outsourcing customer support operations, you’ve probably run encountered the lure of free IVR before. A Business Process Outsourcer (BPO) offers live customer support agents, in addition to IVR solutions and it can get incredibly expensive, incredibly quick. So to make doing business with them more enticing, many BPOs will offer to throw in IVR for free. Sounds like a good deal, right?
Think again.
If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. And that’s certainly the case with free IVR. Customer self-service via IVR is often the first touch-point most individuals have with an organization when they call for customer service. The IVR is like the “front door” to the phone channel and either facilitates positive customer experience (CX), or drives customers to opt for a more costly live agent. Because of the proliferation of mobile devices, today’s consumer has experienced a mobile mind shift: They are more efficient than ever before and used to having their problems solved when and how they want – on their own terms. This means consumers will naturally gravitate toward an expensive live agent to help solve their problems, and suddenly you are paying the price.
We have broken down the major differences—in terms of both cost and performance—of free versus paid IVR in the infographic below. What did we find? Free IVR isn't actually free, or even fully optimized to encourage self service.
As you can see, paid, adaptive IVR has a higher self-service rate and actually saves you money in the long run. "Free" IVR can end up costing you $1M per year, or more, in added customer service charges each year.
Many companies overlook the importance of optimizing the self-service channel to encourage their consumers to use it. If self-service is easy to use and adapts to a callers speed and preferences, they’ll be more likely to use it, facilitating positive customer experience and a better bottom line. In fact, for every caller who opts out of self service, an organization pays the agent rate of roughly $35 per hour for their assistance! That cost can add up quickly, especially for companies who have busy call centers. Compounding the financial impact are higher telecommunications costs due to an increase in service minutes by live agents.
One more thing to consider: BPOs pocket ten-times the money when calls are routed to live agents, so there is little incentive to optimize the IVR for their customers, especially since it’s a free add-on. We urge you to understand how your BPO makes money, the business practices in which they engage to support their business model, and how those practices impact your business. The “free” service they have given you is actually costing you.
IVR plays a major role in most companies’ customer service and business strategies. Poor customer care threatens your most important asset – the long-term profitability and loyalty of your customer base. An effective, fully optimized IVR with an adaptive solution that is personalized for your customer’s needs can have a demonstrative impact reducing operational costs, optimizing customer care, and improving the overall customer experience.
So, don’t be duped into a “free” IVR offering that will be ineffective, could frustrate your consumers, and actually cost you more money.