Long wait times and multiple transfers frustrate customers and overwhelm your team. Especially when your team is already experiencing high call volume.
That queue is likely to get longer. Fifty-seven percent of customer care leaders expect call volumes to increase by 20% by 2026. Using an IVR customer service solution can help you better manage that increase.
This guide explains what customer service IVR is, how much it costs, and how it can benefit your business. You’ll also learn how to quickly set up and start using an IVR call flow with tools from Quo, formerly OpenPhone.
What is IVR?
An interactive voice response system lets callers route their own calls by pressing keys or speaking specific words. When someone calls a number with IVR, they’ll hear a recording like “Press one for English, two for Spanish.”
Based on their selection, the IVR can connect them to the right rep or department. IVR can also handle some basic tasks on its own. This includes providing business hours or letting customers check their account balance. It offers self-service for simple requests, allowing your team to focus on more important or complex calls
Other names for IVR include:
- IVR menu
- Phone menu
- Auto-attendant
- Phone tree
- Voice menu
- Voice prompt system
Benefits of IVR for customer service: Why you should use phone menus
Using IVR technology has several benefits for your call routing strategy:
Improved customer experience
Providing customers with a menu instead of making them wait for a rep improves your workflow by:
- Getting callers to the right team member or department faster
- Reducing wait times and transfers
- Giving callers more control over how they get help
Helps capture more leads
Missed calls and long hold times can lead to lost business. IVR menus help manage call bottlenecks so every caller gets immediate attention, even if it’s automated.
You can also direct leads to voicemail or an AI-powered assistant. This lets you collect the information you need to follow up and close the deal.
Improved first contact resolution
First contact resolution, also called first call resolution, is when reps solve a customer’s problem during the first exchange. Hosted IVR helps by routing callers to the right department immediately, so they don’t get bounced around.
With systems like Quo, your team also sees which number or menu option the caller used. This added context also helps shorten average handle times, or AHT.
Reduces operational costs
Implementing an IVR auto-attendant keeps costs down with:
- 24/7 call handling. No dedicated onsite staff, answering service, or virtual receptionist required.
- Prerecorded messages. These recordings can answer common questions so you don’t have to.
- Automatic filtering for spam and robocalls. Since bots can’t dial numbers, reps can focus on legitimate customer support requests.
Better call routing efficiency
IVR phone menus filter calls to reduce manual transfers and distribute calls between departments. Preventing hot potato with calls that reps aren’t equipped to handle can also prevent customer service burnout.
As your business grows, you can add submenus to route calls more specifically. For example, when customers press “support,” they hear another menu. “Press one for billing questions, press two for technical issues, press three for account help.” This gets people to specialized teams faster instead of routing everyone to general support first.
Gives you insights into customer behavior
The best IVR systems track call activities, like which menu options callers choose the most. They also show where calls tend to drop off. You can use real-time metrics to customize your phone tree and staff departments based on customer needs.
Reviewing caller activity regularly also helps you spot business opportunities. For example, growing demand for a service you don’t currently offer.
How does IVR work?
Here’s how an IVR menu works in practice:
- A customer calls your business number.
- The call is routed based on business hours. The phone system uses your preset business hours to determine which greeting to play. During business hours, customers hear menu options for different services, information, or departments. After-hours and overflow calls can go to voicemail, an emergency number, or an AI agent, like Quo’s Sona.
- The phone menu greeting plays. The caller hears a prerecorded IVR greeting. For example, “Hi, and thanks for calling ABC Company! Press one to book a service, press two to speak with support, or press three to hear our business hours.”
- The customer chooses an option by pressing a number from zero to nine or saying a keyword like “sales,” “support,” or “order status.”
- Calls are routed to the right place. Based on the customer’s selection, the system offers more menu options or connects them to a department or rep. It can also play an audio message or send the call to voicemail. Quo users can also send callers to Sona to take messages, answer FAQs, and qualify leads.
3 Different types of IVR
When you set up IVR for customer service, you have several options:
- Touch-tone IVR: The most basic and widely used type of phone menu. Customers press numbers on their phone keypad to choose the option they want. Touch-tone systems use dual-tone multi-frequency, or DTMF, to recognize the number’s tone and route the call.
- Voice-command IVR: With voice menus, customers navigate by speaking specific words or phrases. For example, they may hear options like, “For our hours of operation, say ‘hours.’ For directions, say ‘location’.” They’re more user-friendly than keypads but require clear pronunciation.
- Conversational IVR: The most advanced IVR option. It uses natural language processing, or NLP, and AI to decode what a caller’s words mean. Customers can use natural phrases like “My order hasn’t arrived yet” to reach the right option. Conversational IVR with speech recognition is the most expensive IVR type. But it can reduce navigation times and handle more complex customer interactions.
💡Pro tip: Combine keypad IVR with voice commands to give customers flexibility and make your phone menu more accessible.
IVR applications: How do growing businesses use IVR?
Here are several use cases for these call routing systems:
- Basic support triage for limited staff. IVR can ask simple questions or offer menu options to understand why someone is calling. It then routes them to the right place. This keeps your team from having to answer every call manually.
- Answer simple questions. For example, include your opening hours, address, or services provided.
- After-hours message handling. IVR can route after-hours calls to voicemail to take a message. Or to an AI voice agent like Quo’s Sona to capture detailed information and qualify leads.
- Sales inquiry routing. Send different types of prospects to appropriate team members. For example, new customers are routed to sales, while existing customers are routed to account management. Urgent requests can go to a priority inbox.
- Multi-location routing. IVR lets callers choose their location up front so they’re automatically sent to the right branch or team.
- Personalized call routing. Some voice prompt systems can route customers based on detailed segments. These might include call priority or VIP status. For example, a small law firm could route existing clients to their attorney, while new prospects are routed to an intake rep.
- Emergency routing for service businesses. Industries like landscaping, plumbing, and HVAC can separate emergency calls from routine requests. For example, “If this is an emergency, press one. If you’re an existing customer with a non-urgent request, press two. To request an estimate, press three.”
💡 Pro tip: Quo users can pair phone menus with Sona to make the most of their IVR and reduce the burden on team members. For example, you can direct routing questions to Sona or have Sona take messages if someone calls after hours.
What functions to look for in a small business IVR
Here are some must-have and advanced features to consider as you evaluate IVR solutions:
Must-have features
- Call routing and menu options: The ability to direct calls to different departments, reps, or information
- Professional greetings: Custom-recorded messages that show your company’s personality
- Voicemail integration: Seamless connection to voicemail when reps are unavailable
- Business hours call routing: Different call handling for incoming calls during and after business hours
- Easy setup and management: Simple interface for creating call flows and making changes without IT help
- Caller ID integration: Give reps context before they answer so that they have context to personalize the interaction
- Integration capabilities: Works with your existing CRM and other business tools to automatically capture call details
- Analytics and reporting: Track call patterns and system performance to improve call handling and customer satisfaction
Advanced features
- Call queuing with hold music: Announce expected wait times and use background music to keep callers engaged
- Multiple language options: Serve diverse, global customer bases with the option to choose a preferred language
- Skills-based routing: Connect calls to customer service representatives with the right expertise
- Callback options: Let customers request callbacks instead of waiting on hold
- Text message handoff: Switch conversations to SMS when it’s easier or faster for the customer
How much can I expect to pay for customer service IVR?
A business phone system with IVR typically costs between $23 and $100 per user per month. On Quo, you get phone menus on the Business plan, at $23 per user per month when billed annually.
Compare this to how much an answering service or a virtual receptionist costs:
- Human answering services start at around $250 per month and get more expensive as call volume or length increases.
- Third-party AI answering services can cost as much as $800 or more per month, depending on features.
- Human virtual receptionists range from around $300 to $2,000 or more per month.
- In-house receptionist salaries can be anywhere from $40,000 to $70,000 per year. The cost is fixed, no matter how many calls they handle.
💡Evaluating options? Take a look at our guide to the 13 best IVR systems for small businesses.
6 IVR customer service mistakes to avoid as a growing team
Here are six common errors to avoid with your IVR call routing strategies:
- Having too many menu options. Give customers no more than five options per menu level to avoid confusion. Put the most popular options first, based on your call data, like voicemails, call transcripts, and call tags.
- Not setting what happens if a caller doesn’t choose an option. Callers might have lost track of the menu. Or maybe none of the options meet their needs. Let these callers through to a team member or Sona.
- Starting with an overly complex phone menu design. Avoid adding complex features like skills-based routing before mastering the basics. This can create unnecessary complexity and potential failure points for smaller teams.
- Not using self-service automation. Making customers wait for a rep to answer common customer inquiries wastes time and can overburden your team. Instead, automate the process with recorded answers connected to menu options or use an AI voice agent.
- Using wordy or confusing greetings. Long menu greetings or messages loaded with industry jargon can confuse callers. Keep it simple.
- Creating endless voice menu loops. For example, when the menu keeps repeating, there’s no clear way to reach someone, or the options lead back to the start. To avoid this, always give callers a way out, like speaking with a person or leaving a message.
💡 Pro tip: Try Quo’s free phone menu greeting generator to create a customized greeting for your business. Just type in the greeting, choose your preferred voice, and you’re ready to go!
How to set up IVR on Quo
It doesn’t take long to set up IVR — usually between 15 and 30 minutes. And you don’t need any fancy tech skills to do it.
Here’s how to set up a phone menu in Quo:
- Sign up for a Quo account. Start a free trial of Quo or sign in to your existing account.
- Choose the number you want to create an IVR for. Go to Settings, click Phone numbers, and choose your main business number or a department-specific number.
- Turn the Enable business hours toggle to On. Set your time zone and put in your business hours so you can use time-based routing for after-hours calls.
- Scroll down to Call flow and click Edit call flow to start building your phone tree.
- After the Incoming call step, drag and drop Business hours from the right-hand side as your second step.
- Drag and drop the Phone menu step as the next step under During hours. And if you want, After hours, too.
- With Phone menu selected, click Add a greeting message.
- Upload a file, record a greeting, or use text-to-speech. Make sure your greeting includes your business name and alerts callers to the upcoming menu options. Use these IVR scripts for inspiration!
- Click Add keypad option to set menu options. Next to each option, you can also add a voice-triggered keyword. This is optional. If you have more than five options, consider using multi-level IVR.
- Set each option to go to a nested menu, ring reps or teams, go to voicemail, play an audio message, forward to an external number, or send to Sona. Remember to configure the No selection option so callers always get help!
When setting up your call flow, you can route specific menu options directly to Sona. These options could include after-hours calls, basic FAQ requests, or overflow calls during busy periods. This gives you an AI assistant that works alongside your IVR system to ensure no call goes unanswered.
💡Need help building your menu? Check out these free phone tree templates.
Quo: The best IVR Customer Service Solution for growing teams
Using customer service IVR lets your small team handle high call volume efficiently. These automated systems help you stop missing calls and losing valuable leads.
Quo’s cloud IVR system is built to scale with your business. Use our drag-and-drop call flow builder to set up your phone menu. Then, personalize it with a custom greeting and up to 10 routing options.
As your business expands, you can also build multi-level menus, create custom call flows for different scenarios, and help reduce missed calls with Sona.
Quo also offers valuable business phone features like:
- Unlimited calling and texting to the US and Canada
- Shared phone numbers for team collaboration
- Ring groups to evenly distribute calls between reps
- SMS texting automations, including call follow-ups
- Integrations with popular CRMs and over 8,000 other business tools
Start a free trial today to see how Quo’s IVR tools can help your team be more efficient.
FAQs
The best IVR software is the one that meets your business needs. For small and growing businesses, Quo offers a flexible, scalable solution that’s easy to customize. With Quo, you can:
– Use a visual call flow builder to set up and tweak your IVR without tech help
– Create IVR menus and submenus for each department
– Let customers choose self-service for basic questions
– Send calls to voicemail, Sona, or an emergency number for after-hours calls
– Add Sona, Quo’s AI voice agent, to handle calls 24/7
Not necessarily. For small and growing businesses, IVR is the easiest and most cost-effective solution for streamlining call routing. Pricing for AI voice agents is typically usage-based, so costs increase as call volumes grow. To optimize your results, consider using an AI assistant alongside IVR to handle calls after hours or when reps are unavailable.
IVR auto-attendants aren’t just for call centers or contact centers. IVR lets your small businesses handle more calls without hiring more staff. Calls route automatically, so your team spends less time on manual transfers.
The system also answers every call immediately and keeps callers engaged instead of letting them hang up and move on to your competitor. This improves scalability and helps you miss fewer calls even as call volumes increase. Plus, you can capture leads you’d otherwise lose.
Growing businesses across industries can use IVR customer service. For example:
– Service businesses. Share basic business info, capture leads, manage appointments, or route calls to the right department, like sales, support, billing, or emergency services.
– Ecommerce: Self-service for order tracking, account updates, returns, and product info. IVR can also connect callers to live reps to handle complex issues.
– Healthcare: Refill prescriptions and send calls to the right specialist. You can also route emergencies to an on-call nurse. Plus, offer automated appointment booking, confirmation, or cancellation.
– Hotels and hospitality: Create recordings with basic information like hours and check-in times. Self-service options to let guests check, confirm, cancel, or change reservations.
– Banks: Callers can check account balances or transaction histories, initiate transfers, and check transfer status. IVR can also play a recording of current special offers.
– Sales: Capture leads, send callers to the right salesperson, or answer basic product questions.
You can choose to record calls routed through your IVR, but make sure you let callers know you’re doing it and why so that you don’t violate consent laws. If you do choose to record calls, you can do so on demand or automatically with Quo’s Business and Scale plans.
