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This topic describes the types of observations to make with callers.
When callers become confused
You can assume a caller is confused if you hear extraneous speech (such as "What?" or "I do not understand"), response delays, or silence instead of a response. Often, you will know callers are confused by observing their facial expressions or by listening to the tone of their voice.
Information you gather from observing callers interacting with the application can help you decide how to modify the application to increase its usability. For example, you might discover that callers sound unsure or delay responding at a prompt, "What is your customer number?" To remedy the prompt, you could prompt instead with, "Your eight-digit customer number is printed on the back of your catalog. Do you have a customer number?" Callers who say no can be transferred to an attendant, while callers who say yes can be prompted next with "What is your customer number?"
When callers say non-key words
For example, you might observe that several callers gave non-key word responses to the question "What department do you want?" In this case, you might want to list the departments after you have prompted once and no key word was recognized. The application could say "What department do you want? Please say sales, service, credit, or office."
Recognition errors
If your application uses speech recognition, listen to what the caller says, and what the recognizer determines that the caller says. Change your application, if necessary, so that callers give you the responses you want at the right time. For example, if you do not want callers to barge-in during the prompt but they tend to barge-in, you might announce at the beginning of the transaction that callers should wait until the end of the prompt before responding, or use the word "now" in your prompts when the system is ready to accept input.
System performance
Pay attention to how the system operates. Is the response time too slow? If the server stops working or other system problems occur, does the application handle the call in a graceful manner?
