Technology is a beautiful thing and it can help your company be more efficient, productive, organized and profitable – BUT it can also alienate your customers.

Think of all the times you’ve called the doctor’s office, the cable company, insurance claims, car dealers, etc.  I’m sure you’ve seen hundreds of examples of irritating technology.  Don’t be tempted to do the same thing to your customers. If you follow the tips outlined below, you’ll be able to avoid the annoying pitfalls that plague so many other companies:

1. Your automated attendant is the “front door” to your company. Make sure it’s user friendly. The first place to start is with the person who does all the recordings. Choose someone with a pleasant and friendly voice.  I don’t mean “commercial quality”, just not a whiny, nasal or monotone voice.  It presents a negative image.
2. Don’t even think about trying to route every possible call type that comes in (for example, press 1 for….press 5 for…..press 9 for…..).  People don’t have that long of an attention span and by the time the 4th choice is offered, they’ve stopped listening and forgot which option to pick. Choose the top 2 or 3 things that people call for and route those.
3. DO NOT provide lengthy broadcast messages for your greeting. When someone calls your company they are prepared to talk, not listen, so chances are they aren’t even hearing the information you’re trying to provide anyway. Besides that, it’s boring, it’s irritating and people don’t want to waste their time listening to it, especially if that isn’t what they called about in the first place!
4. If your company gets a lot of repeat callers, try to avoid changing your menu all the time. Repeat callers learn the short cuts and when you change them all the time, you’re just making it harder for them to conduct business with you.
5. ALWAYS provide a way for callers to exit your automated attendant or voice mail to reach a live person. Maybe none of the options you’ve offered on your menu will solve their problem, and sometimes callers really do need to talk to someone right now, so give them a way to transfer to a real live human being, even if they have to wait in queue first.
6. If you’ve implemented technology that expedites call routing and handling by having customers enter information (phone number, account number, etc.) before the call is transferred to an agent, then make sure it works properly so that when the call is answered, the agent has the requested information and the customer doesn’t have to repeat it. Don’t waste their time!
7. Don’t make callers give you their name, rank and serial number just to make an appointment (think doctor’s offices, field services companies).   If I’m a new patient/client/customer, I first want to find out if you’ve got a date that works for me, I don’t want to give you all my pertinent information before I even find out if I’m going to see you.
8. If a caller has to wait in queue before being answered, let them know an expected wait time, so they can decide if they want to wait or not. Don’t force them into voice mail or to call back. And if they do choose to wait, please provide something for them to listen to so they know they haven’t been disconnected. What it is doesn’t matter as much as that it not be repetitive. If a caller has been on hold five minutes and has listened to the same message that’s only 30 seconds long repeated 10 times, it gives them the perception of waiting much longer. Also, be careful how frequently you provide the “thank you for waiting message”. Every 20 – 30 seconds is far too often.
9. Avoid routing service calls to a voice mailbox. People typically call for service because they want it right now, not whenever you get around to calling them back. Having to go to voice mail makes callers feel their business isn’t that important to you. If it absolutely cannot be avoided, check that voice mailbox religiously and make sure you return calls within an hour ideally, or worst case, the same business day (but that’s only acceptable if you’ve set that expectation in your  greeting , for example “….all calls will be returned before the close of business today.”).

The bottom line is, before implementing new technology or processes, have several people in your company give it a test run. Not just to see if the technical aspect is in good working order, but really try out the “user interface”. It’s been a successful implementation when it makes it easier for your customers to do business with you, and that’s really the whole point.