Everyone is familiar with the “Press 1 for Support” voice recording that is attached to some business’ numbers, but many are unsure about the importance and relevance of this key technology. These pre-recorded voices are referred to as an Interactive Voice Response (IVR). This technology is used to help narrow down the motivation behind a consumer’s call.
Purpose of an IVR
When a consumer calls and is greeted by an IVR, they are prompted for a keypress to narrow down the motivation behind the call. For example, “Press 1 for Sales, Press 2 for Support, and Press 3 to talk to someone”. Once the consumer selects a keypress, they will be forwarded to the desired service. The purpose behind IVRs is to help businesses narrow down consumer calls to the right department. It creates ease for businesses ensuring the consumer calling reaches the department they want without a fuss.
IVRs & Pay Per Call
Pay Per Call can be a complicated business when it comes to directing calls to the right service – this part is where IVRs come into place. When a consumer calls a promotional number for a service they are interested in, they will occasionally reach an IVR. The IVR will ask for the consumer to enter their zip code. Entering their zip code will narrow down the businesses that are available to the consumer. Once the location is determined, the IVR will ask the consumer to enter a keypress depending on the service they are looking for. For example, an IVR could say “For a family lawyer, please press 1. For a corporate lawyer, please press 2. For general legal, please press 3”. From these keypresses, the IVR will connect the consumer to the most optimal business according to what they are looking for.
As you can see, IVRs can be a huge help with determining the quality of a call. If the IVR is too complicated or not thorough enough, it could be turning away quality leads. However, if the IVR is set up just right, they can be a tremendous amount of help when connecting businesses to inbound sales-ready calls. With the help of IVRs, RingPartner can ensure they are delivering calls to the most optimal business while ensuring the consumers are happy.