IVR (Interactive Voice Response).
IVR systems, in their most basic form, are the automated telephone answering systems used by many businesses. These systems route you to the desired party through touch-tone responses to recorded messages. Automated voice messages assure consistent survey application. With a little modification, these IVR systems become a very cost-effective alternative to traditional CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing) research while still affording many of the same benefits.
IVR can be used in various ways as a marketing research method for data collection:
- Customers are sent a written invitation to call a toll-free number and complete a survey. As responses to the questions are provided, an automated process records the results of the keystrokes.
- A telephone interviewer initiates the call to the customer and asks the respondent to take the survey. At that point, the interviewer passes the respondent to the automated survey. This market research method is called CATI-assisted IVR.
- A ‘fully automated dial-out system’ works much like the CATI-assisted program, but once the customer answers the telephone, the automated voice does the introduction and proceeds into the survey.
- A fully automated system can also be set up to work with call centers, such as for hotel reservations. At the completion of the reservation call, the attendant forwards the phone call to Sterling’s IVR system, which then administers a short survey. The survey responses can be linked electronically to specific customer service representatives so you can monitor individual attendant effectiveness.
