Phone and mobile customer service provider, SpeechStorm, has announced its Interactive Voice Response (IVR) application, code-named ‚’Hitchcock’.
The main feature of the new version is the introduction of SpeechStorm Personas, which enables customers to have different experiences of call centre IVR and self-service, depending on their profile, behaviour, or preference.
When calling a bank to check a balance or make a payment, for example, frequent callers can be presented with shortened menu prompts, enabling them to proceed more quickly through the options. First-time callers, on the other hand, will hear menus and options with more explanation and guidance on how to use the IVR.
SpeechStorm Personas can also be used to present alternative voices, or personalities, for the IVR depending on brand or target market – male or female, casual and friendly as opposed to more formal, or in a different language. So, a telecoms operator or retailer might use a different voice for a youth-oriented customer segment than for its business customers, or use exactly the same applications in English, French, Spanish or German in different regions. This results in more engaging, effective and enjoyable customer experiences, as well as major savings on development and maintenance of applications.
Using SpeechStorm, new Personas are created and tested through a business user interface, enabling customer experience teams to work directly on defining the words and phrases that will best engage the target customer. SpeechStorm Personas can also be used to drive further personalization, including special messages, options or offers that only apply to that particular profile. Once complete, the new Persona can be deployed in an instant, with no interruption to service.
‚”SpeechStorm Personas opens up a range of possibilities for organizations and their customers, many of whom have struggled with the limitations of a one-size-fits-all approach,‚” says Oliver Lennon, co-founder and CEO of SpeechStorm. ‚”In a world where customers are increasingly frustrated with tedious, poorly designed call centre menu systems, engaging them in a way that responds to their specific needs will both surprise and delight them, and set your brand apart from the competition. A number of organizations already use our software to deliver services in multiple languages and for different sub-brands, so we’re really excited to see what they and others do given even greater scope for personalization. ‚”
Other enhancements are also included in the Hitchcock release, which has already been made available to customers on SpeechStorm’s Software as a Service (SaaS) platform. Among these are question-level thresholds for customer experience monitoring, automatic alerting and improved management of historic data and extensions to the company’s mobile applications capability.
Lennon comments, ‚”Hitchcock is the first of our planned 2013 releases, building on the success of more than 100 individual advances in our three 2012 releases. We are constantly extending and improving our technology based on customer feedback, innovations from our team and our assessment of where the market for customer service applications is going – or where we think it needs to go – to make everyday tasks easier ‚Ķ and a bit friendlier, too!‚”
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