2/14/2007

Tip of the Month

411XML E-Zine

IVR (Interactive Voice Response) Tip: Ask for home phone - for 85% match rates - instead of Caller ID (ANI) or Caller ID option. 
 
Our experience with inbound IVR programs has taught us many valuable lessons. One of the most valuable is to simply ask the caller for their home phone as opposed to other methods of obtaining the name and address for a new caller. With the home phone number, our clients can usually obtain the name and address. 
 
The most obvious option is to use the incoming phone number (from the caller's Caller ID phone number). This may work well for campaigns where the callers are primarily calling from home, but for other programs (like radio advertising), calls may be coming from cell phones or internal business lines. Name and address information may not be available or may not return the contact information the caller would like to use. 
 
Another option is to read the Caller ID back to the caller and ask them if they would like to use this or enter another number. At this point in the call the caller does not know that providing another number will make the transaction or information request quick, easy and automatic, so callers often just say "yes" when read their Caller ID. 
 
Therefore, in most programs, the best name and address automation results come from simply asking the caller to enter or say their home phone number. With a good speech recognition engine, along with phone keypad entry option, callers on cell phones can safely speak their number while driving and others can protect their privacy using the keypad. 
 
Using this approach, programs we execute using 411XML's premium data service experience a "completed transaction" rate of 85%--meaning the program is able to capture the majority of names and addresses or information requests without human operator assistance.

- Richard Weerts