IVR (Interactive Voice Response) is an automated phone system of voice messages that can be activated by commands on a phone keypad.
They are used to identify, segment and route calls.
For example:
- A client has used your services >> You can send an NPS campaign via IVR.
- A customer has an appointment >> Send an IVR message to confirm it.
How it works in practice:
1- Send an IVR campaign.
2- Your client picks up and interacts with it.
3- You collect the data provided.
How do I create an IVR message?
It's pretty straightforward: the first thing you should do is decide on the IVR call flow.
Let's go through a practical example so you can see how it works:
After Sales Customer Satisfaction Survey
- Call started -
Menu: Message requesting to assess satisfaction - from 1 (not at all satisfied) to 3 (very satisfied).
TTS solution or MP3 Audio for each number: Thank you message once the client has pressed a number.
Webhook Action: Data sent to your CRM.
- Call ended -
As you can see, it's a pretty simple process.
Once you've decided on the call flow, you can get on with implementing it in E-goi:
1) Click on Engage in the menu, hover over Voice and click on Create.
2) Select the Contact List that will be receiving the call in the pop-up window you'll see next. Finally, select the campaign type you want and click on Next.
3) On the next page, click on IVR Campaign.
4) Then give the campaign a name (don't worry, the clients you call won't see it).
5) Then, under Sender, choose the number displayed for the call, which lets your clients know who's calling. If you haven't added any senders before, you'll need to add one now (lembre-se que deve ser um remetente numérico). Click on Next.
6) This is when you create the flow of the call itself: drag actions into the centre, customise the options for each one in the menu on the right and create links between the actions.
- DTMF Menu (Dual Tone Multi Frequency): The first thing your contacts will hear when they pick up the phone. This is where you decide on the actions routed by each keypad number (e.g.: Press 1 for..., Press 2 for...).
To make your message even more personal, you can include merge codes (if you choose to use a TTS message).
- Voice Content:
You can choose one of the formats in the DTMF Menu and in the following Actions:
TTS (Text To Speech): Write the text you want in the box and it will magically be transformed into the voice you have selected.
Both male and female voices are available (ca-ES, en-US, fr-FR, pt-BR, pt-PT, es-MX, es-ES). This format allows you to add merge codes ; )
Audio (MP3): If you'd rather, you can import an audio file to be played on the call.
Good quality voice recordings are super important as phone lines will significantly reduce the quality of any audio played. The audio should therefore not contain any music (as the end quality would be awful) and it should be no longer than 60 seconds (30 is the perfect length so as not to bore people).
- Webhook: This action allows you to send all the data collected on the call to a URL of your choice (e.g.: sending data about customers who pressed 1 to your CRM) with the option of sending more than one action.
You'll need to input the URL you want to receive call data on and the JSON code with the information you want to send.
The Webhook must be linked to a TTS or Audio solution, or both. This option should only be used between an action and the end of the call, never between two actions
- Important notes about the IVR call flow:
- All actions must be linked to some point in the call flow.
- The top of the action shows “where it came from” and the bottom “where it's going”.
- If you'd like to delete any of the connections, select it and click on the red cross.
- To give a client the option of hearing the menu again, all you have to do is choose a number not to add an action to, which you will then link to the top of the menu they want to hear again.
That is, click on the number and drag it to the very top of the menu. - All actions must have (at least) a start and end connection, except for any that start/end a call, which should only have one connection.
- There must always be an action connected to the end of a call.
- An IVR may have more than one end of call message.
- The same end-of-call message may have more than one action linked to it.
- Test the call before sending:
All you have to do is click on the Test Call button in the upper right-hand corner.
If there's something wrong in your call flow, an error message will appear, which you should fix in order to test your call.
7) When you've finished putting your flow together, click on Next. On the next page, you can set who you want to send your campaign to and when.
8) Click onto the Checklist page and check everything's just as you want it before sending.
And you're done! : )