IVR Containment Rate: Definition & How To Increase It
IVR Containment Rate is an important metric that many companies track, but not everyone knows what it means or why they should even care about this number. This metric has to do with call center performance and efficiency, and it can help you save money by preventing unnecessary calls and expenditures on your behalf. The idea of an IVR Containment Rate may seem complicated at first, but the more you know about the concept and how to increase it, the more it will make sense in terms of how your business runs and makes decisions. Read on to learn more!
Inbound call definition
An inbound call is a phone call that starts with an unknown caller dialing your number to access your business. Inbound calls are sometimes referred to as outbound calls since the majority of businesses provide inbound services and not outbound ones.
The IVR stands for an interactive voice response, a service that can automatically respond to inquiries on your business’s behalf when nobody is available to answer the line.
Current solutions
One of the best ways to work on increasing the IVR containment rate is to offer service-level agreements. These are promises to your customers that they will have their problems solved within a certain time frame. To be successful, it is important to include these agreements in all marketing material and provide the maximum time allotted for solving any problems or complaints.
Ways to increase the rate
The IVR containment rate is calculated by the number of inbound IVRs handled during a specified time period, multiplied by 100, and divided by the total calls handled during that time period. You should work to increase this number because it shows how many inbound IVRs are dealt with effectively. The following is an overview of how to increase this metric
Reduce Abandoned Calls
To determine if you’re doing well on this metric, divide the number of abandoned calls by the total number of calls made. The ideal IVR containment rate is less than 10 percent, but if it’s much higher than that, chances are customers are looking for an easier way to interact with your company. Here are some ways you can decrease abandoned calls.
Keep Customers on Hold Longer
One way to cut costs and increase your IVR containment rate is to keep callers on hold for a few minutes before an agent comes on. This gives the caller time to decide if they’re still interested in holding, instead of canceling the call. Callers are often more willing to wait as long as they can hear your company’s message, so the additional wait time is worth it.
Reduce Call Transfer Time
There are a few different ways that you can reduce your transfer time and keep your IVR containment rate high.
Some possible solutions include, but are not limited to, finding ways to streamline and improve your call routing process and spreading out call coverage across more agents.
Reduce Employee Reassignment Time
When customers experience IVRs, they should be able to get information from the company that they are dialing. There are some ways to reduce this time and increase the IVR containment rate. The key is to educate the customer about their options so that they don’t hang up after waiting for a long time if an employee does not answer their call. Make sure all employees know which departments handle which products, services, or locations and know when people should be transferred to another department.
