Saving Speech Recognition

Customer Inter@ction Solutions, Mar 2005 by Chavez, Michael

Consider the following scenario: Jack, a customer of a large financial services organization, forgets to pay his credit card bill on time. He knows he can pay it over the phone and avoid a late fee, so he calls customer service and is routed into the company's IVR system. He listens to the long list of menu options and finally hears one about billing. He chooses that option. Jack is then prompted to use the company's speech recognition system to indicate the reason for his call. After speaking the phrase, "pay bill" several times, he is transferred to the company's insurance department. Frustrated, Jack hits zero to talk with an agent and is then put on hold for what he considers to be an unacceptably long period of time. When Jack finally reaches the correct department, he is frustrated and angry. Furthermore, the cost of serving this customer just rose dramatically because a live agent became involved.

In a recent Forrester study, 176 companies with revenues near the $500 million mark indicated they would spend more money this year on a wide range of customer experience categories. These organizations realize that the IVR (and similarly the Web site) is often the "welcome mat" to their customers. For many customers, navigating an IVR feels like walking while wearing a blind-fold. Customers can be easily confused when the rules change from step to step. In an ideal world, a customer would enter an IVR system, tell it what the desired task is, and it would route the customer to the proper area of the application. In reality, creating this perfect IVR is a very difficult endeavor.

On the flip side, organizations can drastically cut costs by directing customers to IVR systems in order to allow them to self-serve. Each time someone like Jack zeroes out to speak with a customer service agent, it costs the company anywhere from $5 to $15, according to Forrester Research. Compare that with self-service interactions that typically cost no more than a dollar or two per transaction and you see why companies are feeling the need to optimize these systems, making them effective for both company and customer. So what are the methods companies can deploy to help solve this problem?

Design Documentation

IVR design documentation allows designers to see the ins and outs of your speech or IVR system. Similar to a schematic layout, which would allow you to see how mechanical components are positioned, design documentation shows you the flow of your system, how callers get from point A to point B and what specific steps callers go through.

Design documentation addresses fine details. For example, it will show the number of digits the system allows after the "enter your account number" prompt and whether the customer has to press the pound sign. Often, IVR systems are built by outside firms based on the requirements given by the company, so design documentation can be a good way for customer service managers to learn more about the customer's experience within their IVR system. Design documentation can be a good place to start when developing an overall strategy for improving customer experiences.

Logs Or Record Files

Logs and record files are generated as a result of a customer's interaction with a specific application. For example, Jacks interaction with his bank's IVR system created a record that noted who he is, what time he called and what specific set of steps he went through. Speech system log files can also include what the system heard the caller say. In Jack's case, his spoken command of "pay bill" was translated into text and matched up with a set of grammar states which unfortunately was interpreted by the speech software as a request to be transferred to the insurance department.

Logs and record files are widely available as part of an organization's IVR system, but are not often utilized because they can be challenging to interpret. For example, it would be difficult to reach any solid conclusions regarding problems with your IVR system by looking at a spreadsheet with log files on 100,000 calls. Additionally, logs and record files don't tell the story of the confused caller who gets stuck in an error loop and can't get out. They can be helpful in confirming specific issues, but they do not provide a "big picture" view of your IVR system.

Agent Interviews

Interviews with customer service agents can be a great way to obtain secondhand information about the customer's experience. Agents might notice that a higher-than-normal volume of customers - six out often, for example - are having problems paying bills through the IVR system.

Agent interviews can be helpful to a limited degree. These employees work "on the front lines" every day, but their input is anecdotal, as they can only relay their personal experiences.

Often organizations will bring in a consultant to interview agents or will conduct usability studies. Usability studies involve direct observation of a customer attempting to navigate the system. This information can also be helpful, but still is only a random sample and often not representative of the larger issues.