Five things to get right when you design a phone menu (IVR)
How to decide the order, the length and the way out of your phone menu, so callers reach the right place without getting lost.
An IVR (interactive voice response) guides each caller to the right place for what they need. How it is designed makes a big difference to how much effort a call takes. Here are five things to check when you write your menu.
1. Keep the opening short
A long greeting feels like waiting before the call has even started. Say the company name and what the caller should say (or choose), and leave the details for later steps.
2. Put the most common requests first
Order the options from the most frequent request to the least. Look at your past call records to see which requests come up most, and the menu will match what callers actually need.
3. Do not offer too many options
People can only keep a few options in mind at once. Group similar requests together and move finer choices to a later step, and callers are less likely to get lost.
4. Always leave a way to reach a person
There will always be requests that fit no option. From every step, let callers reach a person, ask for a callback, or leave a voicemail.
5. Separate business hours from after hours
Playing the daytime menu to someone who calls after hours does not solve anything. Tell them your business hours, then offer only what you can take care of outside them.
Setting it up in Call
In Call, you set up the IVR, call routing and business hours from the console. After you change the menu, we recommend calling the line yourself to hear how it sounds.