Over the years, it has become increasingly normal to call an organisation and be greeted by a voice recording, rather than a human. Businesses typically use this to provide important information to callers and direct them to the right place as efficiently as possible.
The solutions available today are even more advanced, with auto attendants, or virtual receptionists, modernising and streamlining voice communication. But, do they truly deliver convenience or is it a risk of frustrating your customers?
What is an auto attendant?
An auto attendant is a phone system that acts as your virtual receptionist - it answers any inbound calls automatically, using a company greeting, and routes the callers to the correct department or resource.
It’s important to understand that, although they overlap with the classic IVR (Interactive Voice Response) system, they are not the same. IVR provides callers a list of options which they can then choose on their dialpad (e.g. “press 1 for sales, press 2 for support”). While auto attendants use IVR-style menus, they also include more intelligent features, such as tailored greetings and smart routing.
When is an auto attendant useful?
There are many contexts in which an auto attendant can be a huge advantage for a business or an organisation. This includes:
- Sales inquiries in businesses that have specialised departments or salespeople and need a smart system to forward callers to the right place straight away;
- Customer support hotlines where a huge number of common questions can be answered through self-service or, conversely, certain issues require specialised knowledge (a senior staff member should deal with it);
- Multi-location organisations that want to direct callers to the right office for localised expertise;
- Call centres that receive a high volume of sales, so efficiency and productivity is a top priority;
- Businesses that often receive calls in the after hours, such as restaurants or hotels, but do not want to miss them (customers can leave a message).
An intelligent auto attendant supports all of these scenarios, allowing organisations to not only reduce waiting times and the number of missed calls, but also improve customer experience through efficient, professional service.
Not just that, these tools are highly scalable, meaning they are suitable for both small businesses with just a few agents and large organisations with offices around the globe.
When do auto attendants become frustrating?
Despite the many benefits to businesses, it’s true that auto attendants can irritate callers when poorly implemented. Here are some tips on how to make it helpful, rather than frustrating:
- Clear, brief menus - Menus should only present meaningful options. Too many choices may bring confusion, while overly long introductions can feel like a waste of time to regular callers.
- Tone of voice - Callers should be greeted in a professional, friendly and articulate tone of voice. Intelligent systems allow you to customise the greetings based on the caller’s location (code number).
- Business hours awareness - If a person is calling outside business hours, the greeting should make that clear and offer alternative options (voicemail, email, etc.). Do not just loop the same message, making the caller sit through the usual greeting.
- Human fallbacks - Always include a way to reach a human in case no menu options have been chosen. Even if the agent is not in the right department and needs to forward the call to someone else, this ensures that all callers receive help.
It’s a two-way street
Despite the frustrations commonly associated with auto attendants, they can absolutely be a convenience to both the company and the caller. However, it’s important to prioritise the user experience first - the business benefits will follow!
