Make sure your IVR doesn’t fall victim to these common pitfalls.
Put yourself in the consumer’s shoes. Haven’t we all heard these same old automated responses over and over again when calling customer service? Customers are tired of these IVR lines, as evidenced by the tweets below. It’s time to switch it up! How can your support organization change these up?
1. “Please listen carefully as our menu has changed.”
This one’s an obvious attempt to prevent your customers from pressing 0 to be transferred to an agent. Instead, think about offering your customers an immediate connection to a person who can help. Imagine how refreshing that would be!
Has there ever been a time when someone’s menu options haven’t changed?
— JP Williams (@notthefakeJPW) January 21, 2014
2. “Your call is important to us.”
Automated, robotic and over-used, this phrase is incredibly irritating to your customers. And, if they happen to hear it during or after an extended hold time, it comes off as particularly insincere. If customer retention is important to you (and it should be), you’re definitely better off leaving this one out.
If I have to hear this recording say “please continue to hold, your call is very important to us” one more time I’m gonna go insane. #bursar
— Hailey Stiver (@HaileyStiver) January 21, 2014
3. “We are currently assisting other customers. Your call will be answered in the order in which it was received.”
No doubt you can perfectly mimic the sing-songy voice that delivers this canned phrase, which offers little to no value to your customers. A better choice would be to provide an update on how much longer they’ll have to wait, or to offer a callback option.
When I hear “call will be answered in the order it was received” I’m like apparently I made my call in 1955. HAND ME THAT ROTARY PHYLLIS!
— Stephanie Mickus (@smickable) January 14, 2014
4. “I’m sorry…I didn’t get that.”
The problem here is not so much in the sentiment, but in the frequency with which many customers hear this and similar phrases as they are forced to repeat themselves over and over again. Instead, try including an option to connect with a customer service agent right away. If you must ask a customer to repeat themselves, change up the language so it doesn’t sound trite and overused and limit the number of times it’s said.
@jonfmerz “say or press 1” “one” “I’m sorry, I didn’t get that” “our hold time is 15-20 minutes” They are the worst!
— colinaclark (@colinaclark) April 12, 2013
5. “You can find information on our website at …”
It’s 2014 now…. chances are, your customers know that you have a website, and that it contains useful information. If there is really something important on your site to which you’d like to point them, then be specific and tell them exactly what it is they can find (account history, user manuals, etc.).
“While you’re on hold, there’s lots of useful information on our website to look at.” No there isn’t #HMRC, you shower of bastards.
— Dan O’Sullivan (@DKOSullivan89) May 14, 2012
Over to you. Which customer service phrases turn you off?