Legacy IVRs Fail to Deliver Good Experiences, Underscoring Need for Digitalization

SurveyMonkey research by eGain finds that consumers face roadblocks at every step of their journeys across IVR and agent-assisted customer service

SUNNYVALE, Calif., March 17, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- eGain (NASDAQ: EGAN), the leading cloud platform for customer engagement automation, today announced the results of their survey on customer experiences with IVR systems. The central finding was that legacy IVRs frustrate customers due to long hold times and their inability to resolve queries. Most customers “zero” out to a human agent, and upon escalation, bear the burden of repeating context to the agent. Adding to their frustration are the inconsistent answers consumers get across touchpoints.

Focused on the US market, the survey was conducted in February and March 2021. The results were compiled from 500 respondents who had used smartphones to call businesses or government agencies for customer service in the last 12 months.

Key findings

• 88% said that the IVRs were not intelligent enough, with 38% saying they were unintelligent or somewhat unintelligent
• 60% zeroed out to a human operator very often or often, and an additional 26% somewhat often
• 67% wrestled with the IVR for 5 minutes or longer, 41% for 15 minutes or longer, before trying to get to an agent
• 70% waited for 5 minutes or longer to get the human agent on the phone upon escalation, 43% for 15 minutes or longer
• A whopping 73% had to repeat information they had already entered at the IVR to the human agent
• 44% said they got different answers from different touchpoints
• And more
  

Most IVRs have no connectivity with digital channels, missing a big opportunity to deflect smartphone callers to digital self-service. Moreover, making changes to IVR business logic requires IT involvement. “Companies cannot simply throw away their legacy IVR systems, given the large investments they have made in them,” said Ashu Roy, eGain CEO. To add to the problem, they have very little insight into the customer experience their IVR banks are delivering.

eGain SmartIVR™ is an over-the-top solution to modernize IVR systems, making it easy to deflect smartphone callers to digital self-service or agent-assisted messaging, powered by AI and knowledge guidance. Business users can change IVR logic in a snap and optimize the IVR experience with end-to-end analytics. “Our clients,” said Ashu Roy, “are quickly digitalizing their IVRs, deflecting over 30% of customer calls to digital service in just days after deployment.”

More information
Report of research findings: https://hd.egain.com/ivr-customer-experience-report.pdf
Related webinar with Sheila McGee-Smith, premier contact center analyst: http://bit.ly/3rDQHr7
eGain SmartIVR: https://www.egain.com/smart-ivr/
eGain Virtual Assistant: https://www.egain.com/products/chatbot-virtual-assistant-software/
eGain Messaging Hub: https://www.egain.com/messaging-hub/
eGain Suite: https://hd.egain.com/overviews/egain-suite.pdf
eGain Innovation in 30 Days™: https://www.egain.com/innovation-in-30-days/

About eGain
eGain customer engagement platform automates digital-first, omnichannel experiences across all touch points. Powered by AI, machine learning, knowledge and analytics, our top-rated software optimizes customer journeys with virtual assistance, messaging hub and desktop to serve customers, reduce cost and improve compliance. To learn more, visit www.eGain.com.

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