Outbound IVR for Service Companies and Utility Providers (Part 1 of a series)

Service organizations such as air conditioning companies and pest control companies and utility providers are finding Outbound IVR an invaluable business solution.  They have found that Outbound IVR can help them increase their customer contact rates, proactively communicate with customers which reduces inbound traffic to their customer service centers, increase sales, and improve results in their collections departments.  Outbound IVR solutions with the ability to conduct interactive customer satisfaction surveys lets service companies know if customers are not satisfied and allows them to “win back” those customers versus losing their business forever.

 Here are the ways service organizations are using Outbound IVR and the benefits they enjoy from its use:

 Automated Appointment Reminder Calls

Customers are busy people, and while they don’t try to miss appointments, there are a lot of distractions competing for their attention. It’s easy for them to forget appointments without a proper reminder call.

Missed appointments are expensive, both in the time it takes to prevent them and the cost of sending service techs out on calls that can’t be completed due to customer forgetfulness. With an automated appointment reminder solution a service organization can arrange automated calls to confirm or cancel appointments as the date approaches.

 Benefits:

Customer Satisfaction Surveys

Let’s say, for example, you are a service organization providing air conditioning and heating services.  After one of your service techs leaves a customer’s home or business, do you know whether or not the customer was satisfied?  Unless you have something in place to gauge customer satisfaction you might be needlessly losing dissatisfied customers.

Service organizations have found Outbound IVR platforms which include the ability to conduct customer satisfaction surveys to be an affordable means to increasing customer retention.  Companies can find out if the job was completed, the tech was professional and courteous, and whether or not the customer will use their services in the future.  If the survey comes back with a negative response, the company has the opportunity to reach out to the customer and “win back” their business.

Some utility providers have found an added benefit to this survey functionality is that it allows them to rate their technicians or contractors.  This can help in better developing in-house technicians or to find out which outsourced contractors are meeting the service standards and those who are not.  Coming up in Part 2 is how service organizations and utility providers utilize outbound IVR to assist in sales and marketing.  Stay tuned.