
How IVR Can Revolutionize Customer Support for SMEs
Imagine that you are running a small business. Your phone is ringing non-stop. One customer wants to check an order status, another wants to raise a complaint, and a third is just looking for your office hours. You want to help them all but with a small team, it’s tough. That’s where IVR (Interactive Voice Response) steps in like a support for your customer support.
Let’s learn how this simple yet powerful tool can completely change the way of small and medium businesses to handle customer service.
What is IVR, Anyway?
IVR is that voice interactive response system you often hear when you call a business:
“Press 1 for support, Press 2 for billing, Press 3 for support and so on…”
It’s an automated phone system which interacts with callers, gathers information, and routes calls to the right person, department or sometimes answers the question without human help at all.
For big companies, IVR has been around for years ago. But now, thanks to affordable technology, even SMEs can use it to look and feel like large, well-organized businesses.
1. Make Every Customer Feel Valued
IVR makes your business sound professional even if you have a team of just two or three. Callers don’t have to wait so long or get frustrated talking to the wrong person. With a well-designed IVR menu, they quickly get connected to exactly what they need or required.
Imagine a customer calling your company to ask about a delivery. With IVR, they can press “2” (As number “2” is assigned for delivery issues) and get real-time info without disturbing your whole team or others.
2. Save Time and Money
Hiring the multiple numbers of employees for customer support service is very expensive. IVR helps you automate basic queries like order tracking, working hours, product availability/information, delivery and payment status. This reduces the number of incoming calls your staff has to answer personally and save the time and money and grow your business.
3. Available 24/7 – Even When You Sleep
The IVR system never sleeps. It works 24/7, handling calls after hours, on weekends, and even on holidays without taking rest.
Customers feel more confident when they know that they can reach with you anytime even if it’s just to get simple information or others.
Think about a client trying to contact your store at 10 PM to check something or delivery. The IVR can answer their query or let them leave a voicemail for you to follow up the next day.
4. Smart Insights from Each and Every Call
Modern IVR systems come with analytics and reports in which you can see what customers are calling about most often and track the reports of all the incoming calls. You can track what are people mostly asking about prices, delivery delays, Refunds or others? These insights help you improve your services and to win the trust of your clients.
It’s like getting a free market survey- directly from your own customers with real time.
5. Easy Integration with CRMs & others.
The IVR systems can be linked to your CRM and others also. This means that when the customers call, your team sees their past orders, general complains; complain status, delivery status and preferences and many more.
It saves time and builds trust with your customer and doesn’t have to repeat them, and your team comes prepared with proper answers/justifications.
6. Simple Setup and Powerful Results
The days have gone when IVR systems were too much complex and costly. Today, cloud-based IVR services can be set up only in few hours. You don’t need any hardware or tech skills. Just with the right provider, you get voice recordings, menu setup, and full support all at a very reasonable price made for small businesses.
7. Real Results – Real Stories
Let’s understand by a quick example.
A small IT company in Jaipur was struggling to manage over 100 customer calls a day. After implementing the IVR system, 60% of those calls were handled automatically by IVR and no more staff needed to handle these calls. Customers got all the queries answers i.e. tracking updates, delivery times, and complaint registration via phone without waiting.
And the result is:
Faster service, faster resolution of queries, fewer missed calls but as result happier customers. All these are at a lower cost.
What’s next for IVR?
IVR is getting smarter day by day. With the help of AI and voice recognition, it’s becoming more interactive and natural. Some systems now understand spoken questions and no need to more pressing numbers!
For the SMEs, this means even more automation and customer delight in the near future by the help of IVR.
Working flow of 6 Channel IVR System
Final Thoughts
IVR is not just for the big corporates anymore but it’s for all i.e. for SMEs also due to cost effective and easy to set-up.
It’s a game-changer for small and medium businesses. It helps you serve better, save costs, look professional, and never miss the customers call whether in day or night as IVR works 24/7.
“If you want to make things easier and better for your customers, this is the right time to start using the IVR in your business.” now is the time to explore IVR for your business.
Source: Online and Human Made by AGSIPL