Defining successful voice response applications

Consider multiple criteria when defining success in your voice response applications. You may have to measure some aspects of how you currently do business, and decide on one or more specific areas to target for improvement. Think about why you are interested in automating some of your business interactions. To save time? To save money? To better serve your customers? To free personnel for more challenging tasks? Take your most important reasons for automation, and determine measurable objectives for automation.

Defining measurable objectives

For example, if you want to use voice response to better serve your customers, you might choose as an objective reducing call holding times. A measurable objective might be to reduce call holding times by 50%. You can also figure out the yearly savings expected from reduced holding times, and factor this into your plan.

Here are some examples of other types of measurable objectives that you may want to achieve through the design of your application:

• Reduce your cost per call by 30%
• Increase call completion rate by 45%
• Reduce the percentage of callers who get a busy signal by 50%
• Increase customer satisfaction with the voice response system by 25%

Remember to estimate the rate of savings for each objective.

Determining your true objectives, as well as how to measure them, will allow you to judge the effectiveness of your voice response applications.

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