• You don’t really know what’s going on in your IVR system

In other words, you do not have reporting on interactions in your IVR and therefore cannot tell whether there is an issue, or not. This will likely not be the case for most of you – but if it is, it’s a good idea to reach out to your IVR system provider and ask how to remedy this situation.

• Your IVR reporting shows a lot of lost calls and/or callback requests

There are many reasons for why customers hang up in your IVR system. First off, some customers simply do not like the channel. Research indicates that only slightly more than one fourth of consumers are highly satisfied with companies automated phone menu IVR or Voice Portal systems. Interestingly enough, 33% of businesses think their customers are highly satisfied – in other words: your customers may not be as happy as you think (source). We all know, when customers are not happy, they will leave – in the case of an IVR that means they hang up or give up or, if you are lucky and that option is available in your solution, request a callback to get out ASAP.

• Your reporting shows a high percentage of transfers

If the intent of your IVR is to get callers to the best available agent as quickly as possible but you are seeing lots of transfers, you should look at your IVR system immediately. Many things can “break” an IVR – it’s too complex, there’s too many levels and users lose patience or get lost, the language used is unprecise or outdated, there may be technical issues. Many transfers, though, means that your agents are taking on the IVR system’s responsibility, and that is definitely not a good thing.

• Your customers do not self-serve

You implemented an IVR system to automate routine interactions and free up agent capacity for more involved, higher value or high complex interactions. It is best practice to offer customers a “way out” at any point of your automated system, but if more consumers opt-out than actually work through the automated system, then there’s something wrong.

• You experience low customer satisfaction

Last but not least: listen to your customers. Make sure you measure customer satisfaction (if possible, by channel, which includes your IVR system). And capture feedback, from your agents, and from your customers. Survey tools are readily available and allow you to find out when and why your customers are not happy. And once you know, see above: review your IVR system to first understand and then fix the issues.