How Visual IVR Has Transformed CX

The interactive voice response aka IVR, has been an inseparable part of the contact center industry worldwide. People reach out to customer service departments & get their queries addressed. 

Whether it is about generating a PIN or raising a dispute, the IVR is widely used across verticals like finance, banking, etc., However, IVR comes with its limitations. Customers have to follow a drawn-out process to resolve their query before it reaches the agent. 

The contact center industry saw a major transformation with the introduction of AI due to which the world saw the evolution of IVR into Visual IVR. Leaf through the blog to find out what visual IVR is, the challenges it faces, and how it elevates the customer experience.

Understanding Visual Interactive Voice Response

The visual IVR solution is the modern-day incarnation of the traditional IVR. As compared to its predecessor, this solution is far better at resolving customer queries promptly & assuring an elevated customer experience. 

The visual IVR is a telephony feature that allows customers to communicate with the agent through touch-tone dialing. It enables conversations with customers without going through an operator & saves a lot of time.

How Does Visual IVR Work?

Here’s a use-case example that explains the functionality of visual IVR. A bank customer calls the customer service department to acquire assistance related to a credit card. 

First, he has to interact with the traditional IVR with audio prompts that ask him to press certain buttons for different services (1 for account balance, 2 for credit card).

When the customer doesn’t find the apt solutions rendered first-hand by the IVR, the system offers an option to switch to the visual IVR interface. It prompts the user to visit the mobile app or website of the bank. Logging into the app/website presents a visual interface replicating the IVR menu with visible options related to the customer’s query. 

The visual IVR displays a dropdown containing different service options by tapping on the desired query option. The customer can easily select the right option and choose the visual input displayed on the screen. 

The query inputs are integrated with the backend system for retrieving the details to initiate necessary action. The customer receives a confirmation message on the app/website that includes the estimated duration for resolving the query.

Top Benefits of Integrating Visual IVR

Below is a list of top benefits that help contact centers enhance their customer experience strategy.

Enhanced Brand Perception

Any brand emanates to be superior to its competitors when it offers fantastic customer support. When the process of reaching the support department is plain sailing, it creates a strong professional image of the brand.

Customized Experience Guaranteed

Fostering customer recognition is the first step toward an exceptional customer experience. The visual IVR solution is an automated process where customers are driven toward resolution by computer, it makes a customer feel proactive in contributing to resolving the query.

Improved Metrics

With the help of visual IVR, agents provide apt resolutions to customer queries. This improves key metrics like CSAT score, increased FCR, and reduced AHT. 

Though the list of benefits of visual IVR is long, the paradigm of the top three benefits remains consistent. This has helped contact centers overcome challenges that were faced while using IVR. 

Hence, more and more contact centers are inclined toward integrating visual IVR to improve performance metrics that reshape the overall customer experience. Next, you’ll read about the obstacles that were cleared by visual IVR.

How Visual IVR Managed Restrains of IVR

As stated previously, the traditional IVR has limitations that restrict its performance. However, visual IVR successfully removes those boundaries & enhances overall performance. Here’s a quick look at those challenges cleared by visual IVR.

High Abandonment Rate

Customers prefer instant query redressal rather than following the drawn-out IVR process to reach the agent. As a result, they abandon the call mid-way which hampers the AHT, an important metric for contact centers.

Visual IVR fixes the problem as per the existing circumstances. Owing to this, the call abandonment rate is reduced which enables customers to view necessary options on the window.

Weak Call Containment

Call containment measures the percentage of customers who figure out solutions to their queries via IVR. This refers to resolving a query without turning to a human agent. A lower rate of call containment indicates that IVR is not performing correctly by automating self-serve for high-volume queries.

The visual IVR fixes the problem by integrating broader self-service channels. These are chatbots that have access to FaQs and online manuals that can be sent to customers for query resolution. 

Final Words

The transition from IVR to Visual IVR is one of the biggest examples of technological progress. As technology advances, customer expectations upsurge in terms of seeking better customer experience & query redressal. The visual IVR helps streamline the problem by fixing customer grievances through an automated process.

NovelVox is among the trusted names in the CX Solution industry. With its experience of 15 years, this IT firm has offered smart integration solutions for various market-leading CRMs & third-party apps globally.

It has a vast product line that includes wallboards (iVision), unified agent desktops (agent accelerator), chatbots (Infibot), Smart CTI connectors, and Visual IVR. The visual IVR is compatible with contact centers like Cisco, Avaya, Genesys, etc.