
When building an IVR, you can create as many or as few menu options as you need. These wait times only become exasperated when live agents encounter a slightly more time-consuming or difficult issue they weren’t prepared for. Long wait times can build up even if there are just a few callers in the queue. Waiting on a live agent with no IVR in place can be a recipe for disaster, even if the phone lines aren’t as busy as you might think. It’s easy to share pre-recorded information, such as business location or hours, or use text-to-speech technology to build custom menus. A well-made IVR will free time from live agents, allowing them to refocus on sales calls, assist customers who need help, or complete other tasks. IVR on the business side of things is a great, and often necessary, technology to offload simple and repetitive tasks to automation. We have lots of tips and tricks for building the best phone menu possible that won’t frustrate your customers into hanging up. Luckily, at SignalWire, we’re experts on IVR.

As a customer, it’s easy to find yourself frustrated by a poorly-made phone tree, especially if you have a question that you need to speak with a live agent about. Maybe you call a business and desperately need to speak with a real person and are unable to get to one easily. If English isn’t your preferred language, there might be a helpful prompt to access a menu in a different language. Or you call your doctor’s office, and are given a few options for keys to press in order to reach the department you need. You call the pharmacy to refill your prescription, and take care of it with a few simple voice prompts, saving the pharmacists who are busy working behind the counter time. We’ve all encountered IVRs (or been frustrated by them).

Alternatively called a phone tree, it’s the automated voice technology that answers the phone to route you to the proper agent using voice prompts or touch tones.

One of the most ubiquitous applications of modern telecom technology is the Interactive Voice Response system, or IVR. What is an Interactive Voice Response System?
