10 Tips For Creating The Perfect IVR Survey

If your company is already using voice broadcasting software, then you're well on your way to having an effective marketing and communication strategy. But are you taking advantage of all the features your service has to offer?

IVR technology and surveys are the key to understanding if you're using your voice broadcast API to its fullest potential.

What are IVR Surveys?

IVR stands for Interactive Voice Response, which is a type of software that allows customers calling into your company to interact with an options menu via pressing different numbers on their phone keypad. (Want more information on IVR software? We've got you covered! Read more about our IVR API to learn about different parts of the system, when to use IVR, and more.)

With this in mind, here's a basic IVR survey definition: a pre-recorded phone survey in which your customers can respond to automated questions by using the keypad. Each number on the keypad indicates a specific response. For example, pressing 1 may indicate ‘yes,' pressing 2 may indicate ‘no,' etc.

Benefits of IVR Surveys

Chances are, you've probably participated in one of these. That's because they're fairly common, and for good reason! IVR technology has plenty of benefits, and so do IVR surveys. We've listed just a few below:

• Allows for hassle-free customer information collection
• Presents customers with an easy way to provide feedback
• Creates a customized but professional support experience
• Are simple to create and send with the correct software
• Provides actionable data almost instantly after sending
• Saves time and money for both employees and customers

If you're ready to start reaping these and more benefits, read on for IVR survey best practices.

Creating the Perfect IVR Survey

Even if you create a survey, how can you get the best ROI? Is there anything you can do to guarantee high IVR survey response rates? The short answer is, unfortunately, no— there's no 100% fool-proof method to get customers to respond.

However, there are several steps you can take to ensure your survey is as well-received as possible. Check out the tips below for some help on how to create a powerful IVR survey.

Tip #1: Choose Your Software Wisely

Your survey will only be as good as the IVR survey software you create it with. Make sure whatever service your company signs up with is able to meet your IVR needs and expand your current capabilities. The size and reach of your customer base are two of the most important factors to consider when choosing an IVR software.

Tip #2: Have a Clear Survey Topic

Have a clear topic in mind before crafting the survey. Try to work from a broad focus point to a specific topic, such as narrowing ‘customer satisfaction' down to ‘customer satisfaction with nightly call center help agents.' Once you have a focus in mind, let it guide the rest of the survey. Each question should relate to the main topic.

Tip #3: Create an Engaging Script

On top of being clear and succinct, the IVR survey script you create should be as engaging to the customer. Make it relevant to their experience with your company and worth their while to respond to. No one wants to interact with robot asking boring, irrelevant questions for half an hour, so many sure your script stands out!

Tip #4: Keep the Questions Short

Once a customer has started the survey, the next step is to get them to complete it. Easier said than done, when drop-off rates can spike as a result of any number of factors. Making your IVR survey questions short and relevant keeps customers engaged. However, make sure your brevity doesn't cause confusion. Each question should still be clear and easily understood.

Tip #5: Balance the Data Types

Open-ended questions can provide valuable qualitative data, but often require a significant amount of manpower and time to parse through. Conversely, close-ended questions provide quantitative data that is easy to analyze, albeit potentially less rich. Balance the types of data you collect according to your company's needs and abilities.

Tip #6: Rely on the Rating Scale

When in doubt, rely and reply on a rating scale. The traditional rating scale, which uses the numbers 0-9, is simple to use and understand for customers. Pressing 0 for not satisfied, 1 for somewhat satisfied, 2 for satisfied, and so on and so forth provides easily quantifiable answers for customers and data for you.

Tip #7: Consider Ordered Answers

For close-ended questions, ordered answers provide easy but comprehensive responses. With these answers, each keypad number represents a range of possible responses. For example, in response to a question asking how often a customer calls the support desk, some options may be to press 1 for never, press 2 for once per week, press 3 for once per month, etc.

Tip #8: Cover All Possible Answers

Make sure to try and cover all possible ways a customer may wish to respond if using the keypad numbers. When faced with a question and limited options, a customer will choose the option that most closely aligns with their reality. Because of this, the accuracy of your data is directly related to the range of answers you provide.

Tip #9: Target Your Surveys

If you already have data on your existing customers, use it to better target your surveys. The more relevant a survey is to a customer, the more likely they are to actually respond with useful feedback. So if your survey is on a customer's experience with a specific service you offer, only send it to customers who have actually used that service.

Tip #10: Advice in Action

What would a comprehensive tip list be without an actual example of the advice in action? Below, we've provided a basic IVR survey script example, along with potential answer options.

• Topic: Customer satisfaction with your company's latest product
• Script: Thank you for taking the time complete this survey! You're a valued customer, and we appreciate your feedback. The information you provide in this survey will be used to improve our future products and services. Please listen to the question and answer options in their entirely before answering. End the call to leave this survey at any time.
• Question 1: Did you buy [x] product?
• Answers: Press 1 if you bought this product, press 2 if you did not buy this product, press 3 if you were gifted this product, press 4 if you have used but did not buy this product, …
• Question 2: How satisfied were you?
• Answers: Press 1 if you were very satisfied, press 2 if you were somewhat satisfied, press 3 if you were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, press 4 if you were somewhat dissatisfied, …

Phone Notify and Easy Surveys

With Esendex's voice broadcast services, you're not just getting a quality IVR technology. You're getting a completely scalable, programmable, and effective voice broadcasting software — one of the best in the industry, in fact.

Phone Notify! allows you to send and receive up to 12,000 tier 1 bulk phone calls per minute, and all on a global scale. We offer a superior service at a competitive price, so that you can connect with customers anywhere, for less. And along with IVR, you'll also receive access to features like Answering Machine Detection (AMD), Text to Speech (TTS), and other voice broadcast features.