1. THE
15 Commandments
of
IVR
by Allison Smith

2. The 15 Commandments of IVR
TABLE
COMMANDMENT PAGE
of
#1 Don’t Overestimate Your Listener’s Attention Span 3
CONTENTS #2 Thou Shalt Not Create Fake Mailboxes 4
#3 Keep Things Simple 5
#4 Always Give Callers an Opt- “In” 6
#5 Frontload Important Information 7
#6 Understand What Constitutes a “Prompt” 8
#7 Understand the Effects of Proper Punctuation in Concatenation 9
#8 Thou Shalt Not Give Directions to Your Office/Facility 10
#9 Thou Shalt Give a Pronunciation Guide for Proper Names and Place Names 11
#10 Name Your Company Something That Needs no Special Instruction 12
#11 Don’t Go Overboard with Niceties 13
#12 Read the Copy Out Loud 14
#13 Be Clear on Your Company’s Vision/Image — and be Able to Explain That to Me 15
#14 Don’t Frontload Too Much on the Opening Greeting 16
#15 Write in a Conversational Tone 17
by Allison Smith
www.theivrvoice.com
2

3. The 15 Commandments of IVR
#1 DON’T Keep it simple. Keep it short.
Overestimate
Your Listener’s
Attention Span Resist the temptation to use your main greeting as a way of dazzling
customers or overloading them with information now that you have
them “cornered.”
Impart only the basic amount of information to set the tone and to best
TIPS: direct your customers to the appropriate department. Never forget that
Keep it simple & short.
the purpose of a good opening greeting is to direct your callers to the
right department, so that they may be best served, and your staff’s time
Avoid over-informing is spent most effectively. Plain and simple.
in the opening “main”
prompt.
Welcome your caller
and help them get
to the appropriate
department quickly.
by Allison Smith 3

4. The 15 Commandments of IVR
Thou Shalt
#2 NOT A common technique is to manufacture the impression that a company
Create Fake is bigger than it really is, by inventing a lengthy menu of mailboxes
Mailboxes which technically don’t exist. An impressive, vast menu which goes on
for 12, 13, 14 options, all in an effort to make your company look bigger.
Keep the opening menu as simple as possible to navigate around. Only
feature the mailboxes that are actually assigned. It respects the caller’s
TIP: time, it streamlines the system, and it prevents missed messages and
botched follow-through.
Customers are grateful
for three or four simple
options, narrowing
down the likelihood
in their mind that
they have chosen the
correct department for
their inquiry.
by Allison Smith 4

5. The 15 Commandments of IVR
KEEP
#3 THINGS Reduce the choices into the simplest options. Guide callers to their
SIMPLE needed department as quickly as possible.
Don’t ask for information to be input – such as pin or account numbers –
if the live agent is just going to ask for the information again.
TIPS:
Always respect the
caller’s time and
energy.
Keep it simple, concise,
and don’t be repetitive.
by Allison Smith 5

6. The 15 Commandments of IVR
#4 ALWAYS
Always Give Even the best-designed IVR systems need a safety switch that will
Callers an enable callers to bail out of the menu at any time.
Opt- “In”
Rather than have a caller opt-out (hanging up and moving on to your
competitor) install an escape hatch…but one that is traceable and
measures how many people had to resort to using it.
TIPS: Determine solutions of how to manage callers through a touch-key
There must be a
option instead of wearing out the “0” button.
plan to address the
eventuality that none
of the options might
be pertinent to your
customer.
by Allison Smith 6

7. The 15 Commandments of IVR
#5 FRONT
LOAD It is critical to offer the most important, time-sensitive, safety-related,
Important and crucial information at the top of your phone menu.
Information
Give an emergency fail-safe escape hatch at the beginning. Then,
assign the mailbox options to be top-heavy – those most commonly
used or likely to be needed options at the top – and have them cascade
down (5 options max!) in likelihood of selection/importance.
TIPS:
If you offer a service in
It will improve call sorting and efficiency on your end. It will also be a
which consumers could more user-friendly method of handling your callers, vastly improving
have a dire or imminent their experience in your call structure.
need to reach someone
immediately, you
must offer an “escape
hatch” as a first point of
triaging calls.
by Allison Smith 7

8. The 15 Commandments of IVR
Understand
#6 What What constitutes a prompt?
Constitutes a
“Prompt” Basically, from edit point to edit point. Where a prompt needs to be cut
in order to be a free-floating entity, ready to be plugged into your phone
tree anywhere it needs to be linked with other prompts.
The prompt below would be universally recognized to be a prompt:
TIPS:
IVR (short for “Thank you for calling Morrison, Incorporated – the nation’s number-
Interactive Voice one ranked search engine optimization company. Please make your
Response) is a selection at any time. For sales, press 1. For Accounting, press 2. For
technology that
automates interactions
Marketing, press 3. For all other inquiries, press 0. Thanks again for
with telephone callers. calling Morrison, Incorporated.”
A prompt is a spoken
piece of information or
a direction to educate
a caller on what action
to take.
by Allison Smith 8

9. The 15 Commandments of IVR
Understand
#7 The Effects of You can easily save yourself the trouble of typing out a lengthy explanation if
PROPER you simply adhere to a basic protocol when writing prompts. For example, a
Punctuation in painfully simple protocol often involves nothing more than using capital letters,
Concatenation ellipses, and periods.
Starting off a sentence with the capital letter: “Your pin number”
... definitely lets the voice talent know that it’s the start of the thought, and when
voicing it, we will “launch” the prompt as such, with a strong “start.”
TIPS:
Add ellipses after that phrase: “Your pin number…”
Adhering to a basic … this effectively communicates to the announcer that this phrase starts off
protocol – using
strong and will be followed by something else – whether it’s the sequence of the
capital letters, ellipses,
and periods where customer’s pin numbers or something like: “…is incorrect.”
needed – will help you
clearly communicate If you write: “…your pin number.”
information to your … The voice talent will instinctively know that this phrase is to concatenate with a
listeners. previous thought, such as “Please press 9 to…” but needs to end in a finite way.
And if you put ellipses on either side of the phrase “...your pin number...”
... indicates that it can be concatenated anywhere in a sequence, and therefore
needs to be read with no distint start or finish.
by Allison Smith 9

10. The 15 Commandments of IVR
Thou Shalt
#8 NOT What seldom gets taken into consideration is how overwhelming it
Give Directions is for clients to hear a description of each turn onto every off-ramp as
To Your you approach the office from all possible directions. Some of these
Office/Facility directions can get frighteningly detailed!
It’s one of those aspects of the modern phone tree which many people
feel compelled to include. Most agree that they are time-wasting and
TIPS: obsolete, and IVR menus would be refreshingly more concise and
streamlined without in-depth directional instructions.
Provide callers with
your physical address
and major cross streets How wonderful, instead, would it be to hear:
only. “We’re located off Drake Avenue, in the Fisher Medical Park. Program
1225 Fisher Lane, Detroit, Michigan into any GPS-enabled device for
detailed directions to our facility.
by Allison Smith 10

11. The 15 Commandments of IVR
Thou Shalt Give
#9 a Pronunciation A clear, informative pronunciation guide is an extremely beneficial
Guide for
Proper Names feature to any IVR script especially one which has the possibility of
and Place multiple pronunciations. Think of which words have a good chance of
Names be pronounced multiple ways, and indicate to your voice talent which
way you’d like them to go.
When submitting your phone tree with a menu of your personnel’s
TIPS: names, please provide a guide (either in a paragraph prefacing the
script, or right next to the name, in brackets) explaining how they
You may know how
to pronounce all the should be pronounced.
employees names, but
the person recording Similes are a good way to clarify. (“Saier” sounds like “player”). Make
the prompts may not.
sure to also capitalize emphasis points (“Tajera” is pronounced
Creating a “ta-HAIR-ah”).
pronunciation guide
will be helpful and
appreciated.
by Allison Smith 11

12. The 15 Commandments of IVR
Name Your
#10 Company If you are starting a new company, consider the following when you are
Something
That Needs choosing a name for your business. Always to take into consideration
NO SPECIAL how easy the name will be to hear and say. Imagine someone hearing
Instruction your company name for the first time and then later typing it into a web
browser. Will they immediately know how you spell it just by the way it
sounds? You want to ensure that visitors land at your website without
fail every time; that your site is easy to find; and that the complex and/or
TIPS: unique spelling of your company’s name isn’t derailing their search.
You’ve decided to call
your new company Some of the most recognizable and profitable companies operating
“Ignyshyn.” Although today do so under names which have practically no chance of
creative and imaginative, mis-interpretation, mis-pronunciation, and have zero confusion
it could create problems
associated with the names: Apple, Microsoft, IBM, Google.
whne people go to
search for it – how are
they supposed to know The name should speak for itself. It should stand alone. It should not be
it’s not spelled like
an unpronounceable in-joke, and it only benefits you and your company
“Iginition”? Simplicity
and accessibility are key if you create as simple a path as possible for customers to find you.
— the name should be
able to stand alone.
by Allison Smith 12

13. The 15 Commandments of IVR
#11 DON’T We are sensitive to the fact that customers and clients might have a
Go Overboard
with Niceties bit of a delay before they are assisted by a live agent – and rightfully
so. We are more than aware that their time is valuable and that waiting
– for even a relatively short period of time – can erode the customer’s
patience and heighten the possibility of them hanging up and going
elsewhere to have their needs met.
TIPS: Always keep customers time on hold as brief as possible. Keep your
on-hold system deliberately concise, fact-filled, interesting – and thank
By streamlining both
prompts and on- them once for their understanding while they wait for service.
hold messaging to be
useful, informative, Fine-tune your response time and make sure that the customer always
concise, and genuine,
you’re maximizing has an out by a reliable call-back option (which stays true to its promise
your efficiency, and of keeping them in queue and stays loyal to that estimate of when
sending the strongest they can expect a call-back). Or use a dedicated voicemail box which
message you can to
is serviced regularly and which doesn’t become a catch-all dumping
your customers that
their patience is most ground for messages.
definitely appreciated.
by Allison Smith 13

14. The 15 Commandments of IVR
Read The
#12 Copy There’s a huge difference between seeing your IVR prompts written on
OUT the page and actually having them hit your ear – either by you intoning
LOUD them, or having them read out loud to you.
IVR prompts are an aural experience. Callers will listen to them. It’s
surprising how many writers of IVR systems don’t have the opportunity
– or don’t think it necessary – to hear the prompts in their spoken form.
TIPS: Many neglect to hear what their prompts will actually sound like and
sometimes awkwardness and phrasing problems only come to light
Hearing what IVR
prompts will sound after they are recorded.
like is a vastly different
experience from Hearing what IVR prompts will sound like is a vastly different experience
eyeballing a script.
from eyeballing a script. Lock yourselves in their office or find an empty
Listen to the prompts conference room to better hear what the prompts will sound like. You’ll
before you have them be surprised by what clarifications or changes may be needed once you
recorded. Read them
get the prompts on their feet and hear what your customers will hear.
aloud or have them
read aloud to you, or
better yet, do both.
by Allison Smith 14

15. The 15 Commandments of IVR
BE CLEAR
#13 on Your Why should your telephone system be any different?
Company’s Vision
and be Able to
Explain That to Me Is your company a stoic, older, established and conservative firm, with
a similar clientele? Or are you a young, irreverent startup, looking to
create a hip, almost aloof persona? Or are you somewhere in between?
To know the mood, feel, and personality of the company is a great
help to voice talent when assigned the task of voicing the IVR prompts
TIPS: for your telephone system. The sound and attitude can be adapted
to match the image you’d like to convey. If your clientele is straight
Communicate your
company’s image in business, or no flashiness or showiness evident, or if their needs are
order for your IVR urgent or fast-paced, it’s good to know all that.
prompts to match your
company’s personality.
If you’re catering to a generally older client base (or a client base
If your clientele is whose health/hearing/reaction time may be compromised) we can
straight business or its take that into consideration and be more metered and deliberate in our
needs are urgent and
pace and delivery. A more informal, accessible company may desire a
fast-paced – it’s good
to know all that. conversational, more casual approach.
by Allison Smith 15

16. The 15 Commandments of IVR
#14 DON’T People’s Attention Spans Are Shorter Than You Think.
Frontload
Too Much on
the Opening It’s a blend between the oft-quoted axiom about “only having one shot at
Greeting
making a first impression,” and the truism that people just plain do not have
the time or the patience to listen to a seemingly endless and wordy opening
prompt.
TIPS: There’s many other venues in which to tout your product and give customers
as much information as they need. Set up a dedicated information line – and
People’s attention
spans are shorter than make it a line item in your IVR (“To hear more about XYZ’s patented solvents
you think. and why they are the nation’s #1 choice in non-toxic and environmentally-
friendly solvent solutions, press 5…”).
Keep your opening
message brief, factual,
and even a little Use your on-hold program as a way of educating/promoting/selling; making
curiosity-piquing. good use of that limbo time while customers are on hold. But try your best
to not look upon the opening prompt as holding the customer in captivity
and thinking of the opening prompt as a commercial. Keep your opening
message brief, factual, and even a little curiosity-piquing.
by Allison Smith 16

17. The 15 Commandments of IVR
Write in a
#15 Conversational IVR designers and writers are getting farther and farther away from the
TONE automaton style of years past – they are less interested in fostering
the robotic, unemotional voice once thought to be a necessary element
in IVR systems. The tendency is moving more towards an
automated voice which sounds conversational, candid, and more like
an actual person.
TIPS: The former gold standard of an automated android was prized for the
fact that there was no confusion as whether or not this was a recording
The IVR is the entry
point into your you were encountering; it made the vocal style a non-issue and even
company. left the corporate identity of the company a bit of a mystery until you
actually spoke to a flesh-and-blood human. The paradigm has shifted
The way in which
into the thinking that the IVR sets the tone for the caller. Your IVR is the
your IVR prompts are
written and voiced entry point into your company – and especially if your product projects
should reflect the an essence of warmth, humanness, and personability – the way in which
“first impression” you your IVR prompts are written and voiced should reflect that.
want to make on your
callers.
by Allison Smith 17

18. The 15 Commandments of IVR
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by Allison Smith 18