Enhance customer experiences with Voice IVR

Customer expectations are evolving, simplicity and immediacy are now key in maintaining relevance and meeting the needs of demanding clients. Ignore the trends and risk losing out on business, brand credibility, and falling NPS scores. A poor customer experience, at any point in the customer journey, can no longer be brushed under the carpet. It’s time to step it up.

Often, call centers are the first port of call for many customers seeking advice or help. Positivity is essential in the first step on a journey with a new brand. There’s only one chance to make a first impression, it needs to be a smooth, user-friendly exchange to set the scene for the rest of the (hopefully) ongoing relationship.

Interactive Voice Response (IVR) is an automated telephony system that enables callers to interact with a phone menu by selecting options via a touch-tone keypad (DTMF tones) or using their voice.

IVR works by collecting caller responses (either by keypad or voice) and then routing their call to the most relevant place based on logic built into the menu. Providing information via pre-recorded prompts or dynamic text-to-speech capabilities is also a possibility.

• Improve the customer experience – make it as easy as possible for customers to connect with your business
• Increase engagements and heighten the customer experience
• Reduce costs via increased productivity thanks to automated basic support, pre-qualifying of leads, and marketing campaigns

As well as traditional DTMF (Dual Tone Multi-Frequency) tones, customers can interact with IVR systems using their voice, which is then processed by speech recognition.

Voice-based IVR provides the opportunity to respond to prompts using spoken language. Using pre-determined voice commands, customers can select from the options presented to them in menus. This makes navigation easier while improving the customer experience.

One of the biggest advantages of voice IVR over traditional DTMF IVR is that voice-controlled IVRs have a superior international reach. This is because voice IVR commands are interconnected using a voice channel and delivered separately within the telecom network. When connecting internationally, voice IVR has a higher delivery rate than traditional DTMF tones.

This feature is available in open beta, so get in touch if you want to be among the first ones to get early access to it.

Seamless integration and scalability

Our robust cloud-based APIs allow integration with existing systems while providing full control over IVR setup and communications. Flexible, intelligent routing along with multilingual support helps you scale with confidence.

Thanks to our tier 1 network of 350+ direct connections worldwide, there’s no need to worry about the quality and deliverability of calls.

Text-to-speech with multi-language support

The text-to-speech feature helps customers find information quickly and complete simple tasks such as scheduling or canceling an appointment, checking account balance, or placing an order without the need to pre-record multiple messages for each scenario.

You don’t even need to record audio files using a human voice, audio messages are automatically generated from typed text. With our multi-language support covering 29 languages, you can reach more people without the need to build different flows for different languages, making integration so much easier.

Custom menus

Another advantage of cloud-based IVRs is that they come with full flexibility as standard, to help you build and customize IVR menus. Written in code, they’re not locked to any hardware; updates and changes are easy to make.

If you’re not sure how your menu should look, you can also test several alternatives and compare metrics such as core resolution, call length, etc. to find the solution that works best for you.

Phone number verification

Both DTMF and voice IVR can be used to verify customer phone numbers when signing up or logging in to an application. After providing their phone number, customers get a call, they then supply the information requested via a keypad or with their voice and they’re authorized. Quick and easy. Click to learn more about voice API from Sinch.

Use cases:

• Sales – automate basic sales qualification and cold calls so account managers can focus on qualified leads
• Support – automate basic support, so your support team can focus on resolving more complex issues
• Marketing – run cost-efficient surveys, polls, promotions, and campaigns to boost brand awareness
• Operations – automate booking reservations, appointment reminders, and more, outside standard office hours

The Sinch advantage:

• Global connectivity with 350+ direct carrier connections worldwide
• Operator-grade platform ensuring superior robustness and reliability
• Intelligent routing for best call quality and deliverability
• 1000+ enterprise customers globally, including 8/10 of the largest US tech companies