Prompts

The prompts used in your application are one of the few forms of system interaction with callers. For this reason, It is very important that you design the application prompts to facilitate a successful interaction. Use the following guidelines to design the prompts for your voice response applications.

Prompt length

Make prompts as short as possible while remaining polite and informative. Keep the prompts brief, but not abrupt. The more quickly callers can do what they called to do, the more satisfied they will be. For example:

There are some trade-offs when considering prompt length. If you expect to have a high proportion of one-time or first-time callers, you might want to provide more information in prompts and make the prompts longer. Longer prompts are acceptable if you think your callers will need the extra information. Include only helpful information and express it in a short, direct manner.

Use longer, more informative prompts if you are asking callers to enter information in a way that may be unfamiliar. For instance, consider a caller entering a date. Most people think of months by name. For a touchtone application, callers are asked to press the one-digit or two-digit number for the month. For example, the month of December would be 12. With WholeWord speech recognition, the month of December is represented by the words "one, two" which callers may say as "twelve." Both of these examples require that callers think of the information in a way that is unusual, and so prompts should be clear enough for callers to understand. These longer prompts should include examples, such as:

"Next, enter the month listed on your bill. Say two numbers, such as `one, two' for December, or `zero, five' for May."

How to word prompts

Use the following guidelines when determining the wording of prompts:

• Present the option before the action.

  In menu prompts, always list the option first, and the action second. For example:

  Instead of prompting...	prompt...
  Say 2 to receive the information by fax.	To receive the information by fax, say 2.

  When the option is listed first, callers need to listen only to the one action that pertains to their choice. When the action is listed first, they must remember it until they hear the option and decide if it is the one they want. Listing the option first will help both experienced and new callers.

• Use the same structure for each option-action pair in a menu prompt. This helps the caller to know what to expect. For example:

  Instead of prompting...	prompt...
  To hear sales information, press 1. For services, press 2. If you would like to speak to an attendant, press 0.	For sales, press 1. For services, press 2. For an attendant, press 0.

• Make each menu choice clearly different from other menu choices.

  Be sure the menu choices are different from each other, so callers can decide which option they want. If callers are confused about which option they want, consider rewording the choices.

• Avoid jargon and acronyms.

  Assume that callers do not use the same technical words you do. Avoid acronyms and abbreviations that may confuse your callers. Speak out the complete words. Use words that your typical callers will understand. Use technical terms only if your audience is a small group of people who are trained in your business.

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