Interactive Voice Response (IVR)

Description

An Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system, sometimes termed a Voice Response Unit (VRU), allows a computer to handle phone calls interactively by inserting voice messages into a call and detecting key presses. Some systems can respond to spoken words and phrases through speech recognition technology and synthesize audio through text-to-speech (TTS) technology.

Usage

An IVR is most commonly used as a pull communication channel, i.e., customers place a call to the system. An IVR can also be used for push messages, where it places an outbound call to the customer, but such services may be viewed as intrusive and should be thought out carefully. They do have an advantage over other push services, however: an outbound call is by its very nature performed in real-time and its results verified in real-time, whereas an SMS does not have a guaranteed delivery time. Thus, pushed voice messages should be considered for notifications where speed is critical.

IVR audio messages can be very effective when coordinated with SMS text messages. The Messaging Platform simplifies setting up such interactions by using a key press during an audio message to trigger the sending of an SMS. For example, a customer with a mobile phone might call an IVR phone to hear music samples and then press a key during the sample to receive an SMS with the name of the artist, song, and album sent to the phone for future reference. The SMS might also be used as a coupon for a store discount: a sales assistant would verify that the sender's phone number was the IVR and delete the SMS coupon so it could not be used again. To complete the loop and show the actual effectiveness of the promotion, the Messaging Platform could insert in each coupon a unique serial number that the merchant would return to the Messaging Platform through another communication channel, for example, a secure web site. This action would authorize the merchant to give the customer a discount and also track the sales conversion rate for the promotion.