Is visual IVR a bad idea?

Is Visual IVR a bad idea?

I have been craving for pizza all day long, so I finally decided to order some after work but for all my luck, the Pizza Hut hotline is busy and I have to keep on listening to this automated voice telling me to press all these keys …., well this automated voice you hear before getting connected to a customer care agent is known and the interactive voice response.

Well, we have all gone through such an experience, and well this is the common IVR system that most of us access. when Interactive voice response was introduced in the 1960s it made a significant change in the telco industry and contributed to be one of the main revenue generators, but now with the incremental change in technology and significant change in lifestyle the good old IVR cannot cut it anymore, since most people find it frustrating to listen to an automated voice and is significantly time consuming. So, this brings us to the question ‘’what is the next best resolution “?

Applications, Chat Bots , Visual IVR are all  viable options available in the market which provide similar solutions , but among all these selections visual IVR has a comparative advantage as it provides a self-service system where the user can interact by using a visual interface simply by a touch or a click on a mobile or a desktop. Which means in simple terms as an end user you will not have to download an application every time you have an issue to solve, the admin will be able to send you a website link through an SMS where the end user will have one time access to the service. So, this really does eliminate all the problems related to the IVR system and helps the user to get the job done but with a better customer experience.  

So what does Visual IVR offer? 

 Currently Visual IVR is widely used by most customer centric organizations as it has promising statistics in improvement of customer satisfaction and customer engagement rates.  A study done by Jacada (2019) states that Visual IVR has a 60% customer adoption rate and 20% of the customers solve their issues without contacting a customer care agent, in simple terms which means the company will be able to save up on time and resource which in turn will be a higher revenue Assurance. 

Apart from better customer satisfaction, it provides the users with improved security, Reduced Caller Waiting times, Self-service options and converting to omni channel experience, this also provides the business user with an easy experience for a marketing platform. But with all this one might have the question of Why Visual IVR, with all the applications available is this a bad idea?  To be honest even I contemplated on the same issue, but the further I thought I understood that this is a web-based system, which means I don’t need to download an app every time I want to use a particular service, it will be a one-time interaction and provide the customer with more security and customer convenience. 

IS VISUAL IVR A BAD IDEA?  

Research Journals done depicts that most individuals prefer face to face interactions and apart from customer preference, Visual IVR is also limited to a particular audience and since this is a new technology adapting and implementing will be a difficult task, so considering all this, is Visual IVR a Bad idea? It does have its   pros and cons, but the cons of visual IVR are negligible when you compare what it offers. so, in my opinion I believe Visual IVR will be a great investment for any customer centric organization and most definitely the future of IVR. And currently most developed countries such as U.S.A, China, and U.A.E are adapting to the use of Visual IVR, which means visual IVR will be the future of Customer centric organizations. and probably the future of customer call centers.  

Kisali Ranawaka  

Product Analyst

References  https://www.visual-ivr.com/why-visual-ivr/)