CRM - July 2008 - (Page 43)

DON’T RUSH THE FINAL PRODUCT A tremendous mistake when designing a VUI for a company’s IVR system is to allow the company to dictate scheduling based on budgetary issues, thereby rushing the designers to throw together the VUI in order to make an arbitrary deadline. “One of the biggest things I feel affects the whole quality of an end solution is when the customer has tunnel vision in terms of its end date,” Halperin says. “Companies fail to look at the big picture and apply appropriate user-centric design strategies. [Companies] just basically want something documented and done, and don’t fully take the time—or have the time—to sit down and really understand what it is you’re trying to accomplish and why it might take more than a day-anda-half [of work] to handle it.” SpeechCycle’s Hunter believes this is a common mistake caused by the culture of approving business projects.“By the time budgets are approved, and resources are allocated and so on, it’s eaten into a significant amount of time—and someone has established that we will be in production by some date that doesn’t really have any allowance for what it actually takes to do the project.” Halperin suggests reemphasizing and setting clear expectations from Day One to avoid this. “A lot of those expectations are taken care of up front, because only having two days [to build a speech system] is not possible if you want a quality product,” she says. EXPLAIN BENEFITS (AND RISKS) It’s one thing to follow a company’s guidelines for an IVR solution, but another to just entirely acquiesce and build everything it says it wants. Halperin explains that, all too often, designers will accept all requests for different aspects of VUI design without pointing out the benefits and potential risks of implementing those requests. “For example, customers may say to kick out anybody who has this [particular] code on their account, and after you look at their data that’s 99 percent of their customers,” she says. Halperin suggests gently pushing back on certain requested specifications. While it’s important to stress that it’s pos- sible to fill a given request, not mentioning the consequences of potential actions can be deadly to the VUI design. Plus, executives will respect the fact that a designer wants to explain the ins and outs. “It’s a give-and-take, but rolling over, playing dead, and becoming a secretary by just writing it down really does not do justice to the final solution,” she states. Dare to Reach New Heights of Excellence! THE PROOF IS IN THE PROMPTS The beauty of writing text for actual reading, be it on Web sites or in print, is that, to a certain extent, you can be as lengthy or as brief as the situation demands. However, when designing scripts for auditory comprehension, prompts that may read just fine to the eye may be disastrous for callers looking for a quick solution—and that begins with the introduction prompts. “People put too much time into setting introduction prompts—almost always too long,” Kotelly says. “This mode doesn’t allow for the same kind of expression, and [this mode] shouldn’t be used for it because it’s not useful to people.” Hura says short prompts are actually the beauty of the automated phone system. “When people call up automated systems, they want their problem solved as quickly as possible,” she says. “That’s what it comes down to: They’re not calling for a lovely customer experience or to have a better relationship with your organization.” Having long introductory prompts can be disastrous for a VUI, because unlike text meant to be read, not heard, you can’t skip ahead. “People don’t mind automation, but they really mind poor automation,” Hunter states. “With a person, they can interject and say,‘Excuse me, I don’t need to hear all that—can we get on with what I need?’ You can’t really do that with a machine, and as a result people feel stuck, trapped, and slowed down.” Besides introductory prompts, Halperin also suggests condensing security and legal disclaimer prompts as much as legally possible. “[Legal disclaimers] can also seriously degrade an application, even though they may be required at the beginning of the call,” she says. “They By Lior Arussy 240 pp/hardbound/$24.95 ISBN 978-0-910965-79-8 Lior Arussy skillfully illustrates how critical excellence is in corporate strategy and the significant role every employee plays in its delivery. Excellence Every Day is an important read for both executives and employees. — Jill Griffin Customer Loyalty Ask for Excellence Every Day in Your Local Bookstore or Order Direct From the Publisher www.infotoday.com http://www.infotoday.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of CRM - July 2008

CRM - July 2008 Contents Front Office Reality Check Customer Centricity The Tipping Point CRM’s a Social Animal SAP Looks to ‘Change the Game' CRM on Twitter CRM to the Max A Prescription for Satisfaction Required Reading Cover Story: Is Microsoft Winning the CRM Race? Jumping into the SaaS Pool Say What? Another Bright Idea Out of Edison A Small Biz Blossoms Biting Off the Right Amount Something for a Rainy Day Connect Re:Tooling Pint of View

CRM - July 2008

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