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What is IVR and How Can it Benefit Your Business?


Marketing is vital for the growth of an organisation, and it helps skyrocket the revenues, if done right. There are plenty of tactics that modern businesses do in order to get more sales. 

However, businesses often overlook IVR thinking that it has nothing to do with the business growth. Well, IVR is something more than just serving the customers. With the help of IVR, businesses can close more sales while they can make the prospects aware of their new products. 

This article covers some important information about IVR and how it can empower business success through marketing growth.

What is Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and How Does it Work?

Interactive Voice Response (IVR) is a technology that enables telephone users to communicate with a computer-operated telephone system by utilising voice and DTMF tones that are input through a keypad. Through IVR, customers can interact with an organisation’s host system with either voice recognition or a telephone keypad, and then inquire about services through the IVR dialogue. This system can provide pre-recorded or dynamically generated audio to guide users in their next steps. IVR systems deployed in the network are able to handle high call volumes, and they can also be used for outbound calling as they are more advanced compared to many predictive dialler systems.

This is a very clinical explanation of what an interactive voice response is, so let’s break this down. If you are in the market for an IVR system, Simple Telecom has a range of products that Include the technology to deliver an IVR technology to your business. The IVR systems are common when routing calls into contact centres and give a customer experience that is well received.

We refer to them as free add ons, but it is part of the core platform – not so much an add on. With our 1300 number and our Call tracking number, you can have IVR systems or menus as part of the experience your caller will engage with. We don’t have IVR software, instead we have a complete web based platform that allows you to configure your system including detailing exactly what keypresses route calls and manage your incoming calls in real time.

Some people also associate the IVR technology that is present in speech recognition platforms that accept voice telephone input instead (or sometimes combined) as an IVR menu, but technically they are a lot more complicated and therefore expensive to build and maintain. This type of IVR software can be used for call centres but generally this is for large business to handle high call volumes and route calls with a seamless customer experience with automatic call distribution.

What are IVR Systems Used For?

IVR Systems are commonly used to set up how customer calls are managed when they first call your business. By directing the caller to a call queue or a department or a specific person we can save time for both the caller and for the business by not tying up people on the phone who are not equipped to help the caller with their specific request.

There is not much point connecting a caller to the support department when they have a sales related enquiry.

Often at Simple Telecom we have customers that might want to appear like they have multiple departments. Using the touch tone keypad selection can give calls the impression they are going to be connected with call centres or even self service facilities. The IVR system that Simple Telecom includes is perfect for getting this perception up and running for your business.

Lastly, the other common use for the Interactive voice response system is to simply appear more professional to your customers. Given that the IVR is a free add on for your inbound calls there really is no reason not to do this!

What is IVR Payment?

Customers can pay bills, fees, and more over the phone using Simple Telecom’s IVR add on feature. This is done through integration with payment gateway applications that feature security and compliance measures to protect customers. To learn more about this please contact Simple Telecom and we will discuss it with you.

The Payment Gateway will handle the collection of invoice related data and the PCI data (credit card details). This can really improve your ability to get paid to improve cash flow through the interactive voice response platform.

What are the Benefits of an IVR System?

An IVR or Interactive Voice Response lets companies interact with their prospects and customers using technology. This technology used to be clunkier before, but the advancement has made it a must-have for every business, irrespective of the size and industry.

IVR solutions have now become more intelligent and have a plethora of offerings. Some telcos are even providing IVR bundled with AI and natural language processing to help businesses use natural language processing to understand customer queries better.

Here are some ways IVR can be leveraged to give businesses a winning advantage:

Increased Customer Satisfaction: Get Customer Feedback

Long gone are the days when customers used to fill out the feedback form or reply to emails giving feedback. IVR has now changed the scenario, and customers can quickly give feedback just with a click. Streamlined customer service interactions are at the core of customer satisfaction during the rapidly moving digital age and IVR can help leverage this.

These systems give customers an option to choose from 1-5, and things can’t be more convenient. 

Increased Security: Optimised Identity Verification

IVR systems can automate the identification process, and it sheds the burden from the salesperson’s shoulders, while the callers also get a sense of security. 

Customers can easily feed their data to the system using keys, and there is no need to wait in the ACD queues. These significant factors make customer interaction better and increase their satisfaction.

Businesses can transform the IVR options depending on their need and can get in touch with a reliable telco to get IVR services activated on their toll-free number.

Reduced Bounce Rates: Location-based Routing 

With an IVR system, the bounce rate of inbound calls can be decreased dramatically. The reason is location-based routing. The IVR system automatically connects the call with the right agent of a particular location.

As a result, the callers quickly get a solution, and they don’t have to wait for longer to get in touch with a human.

Reduced Downtime: Around-the-Clock Availability

IVR eliminates the chances of downtime, as this is a cloud-based platform. Even if the company’s servers go down, the IVR keeps up and running because this works on the cloud of the telco.

IVR allows businesses to offer around-the-clock uptime, and businesses can serve their customers 24×7. All the customers and prospects need good service, and that’s what a business can provide using IVR.

Increased Customer Retention: Automatic Renewals

If you are into a business that sells services and products which require reordering or renewals, you can use the IVR system to automate the process. The outbound IVR service reminder calls the customers and asks them if they need the services or products again.

Orders and renewals can be done just with a click, while businesses can also connect the callers to the sales rep for collecting the order information using IVR.

Works in Synergy with 1300 and 1800 Numbers

1300 and 1800 numbers are helping Australian businesses expand their reach while making it easier for the customers to remember them. Some telcos offer IVR services bundled with these numbers, and businesses can reap more benefits.

IVR can also be activated on existing 1300 and 1800 numbers. This combination helps businesses make it easier for the callers to call them and reach the right destination to get the solution/service they need.

How do I Set Up an IVR System?

You are only a few clicks away from getting your new IVR system. The process for getting this setup is as follows:

  1. Sign up for a 1300 or 1800 number from Simple1300Numbers

    • You can port your number if you already have a number

    • You can opt for a local number rather than a 1300, click on Call Tracking for this

  2. Write your script for the audio files that form the IVR Technology. This is normally something like: “thanks for calling Billy’s Bike Shop, the number 1 bike shop in Sydney. To talk to sales press 1, for Service press 2 for accounts please press 3 and for account balances please press 4”

  3. Supply us the script and the phone numbers that correspond to each keypress

  4. We will provide you a price for the professional recording of the required files and setup everything up for you when it’s ready.

Getting a new advanced IVR system from Simple Telecom will lead to better customer service and listing specific menu options will help self service options and improve the efficiency of your contact centre calls.

How IVR Technology Empowers Customer Centricity

Over the years, Interactive Voice Response has evolved and has become a marketing tool for businesses. Every business, irrespective of the industry, can use IVR to engage customers and help them in a better way.

Getting IVR service on your number is easy, and all you need is a telco like Simple Telecom. We help you activate 1300 and 1800 numbers while you can get IVR services activated on these numbers.

Click on the Contact Us button, or you can give us a call to know more about our IVR service.


Author: David Thomas & Posted at: November 29, 2022 at 12:44pm