How to thrive in your startup with an IVR & a small investment?

What is IVR: In today’s digital age, there are countless ways for startups to succeed. One of the most important tools at your disposal is a phone system that can handle interactive voice response (IVR).

IVR allows you to manage and automate your customer interactions which are vital for any small business with a small investment. With the ability to manage your call flow and routing, IVR can keep your customers happy and your business running smoothly.

In this article, you will briefly learn about key ways to thrive in your startup with an IVR and a small investment. Let’s begin by learning about IVR.

What is IVR? How does it work?

IVR is the short form for Interactive Voice Response. It is a phone system feature that consists of an IVR menu with multiple options for callers to choose from by giving keypad entries or voice prompts. IVR consists of a customized pre-recorded message at the beginning of the call to greet the callers.

The main objective of IVR is to interact with the callers for gathering information. The callers choose an option from the call menu and IVR act according to the answer. IVR system can either provide information to the callers or route calls to the most appropriate agents.

Why do startups need an IVR system?

We know most startups have a small investment to work with. It’s important for startups to save as much money as they can in order to spend on necessary things. That’s why the IVR system is a blessing in disguise for startups.

IVR systems are a cheap investment. You only have to pay for a cloud-based phone system and IVR is included in the subscription plan. The cost is so low that you don’t have to worry about paying your phone bills. On top of that, you don’t need additional hardware to use the VoIP cloud phones. You can use your existing devices like smartphones, laptops, etc.

IVR system helps a startup in many ways that you can imagine. It gives you an extra hand to handle your phone calls and customers in the best possible way.

10 ways to thrive in a startup with an IVR and a small investment

1. Always connect with customers

For a startup, it’s really important to connect with customers at any time of the day. It takes time for new businesses to grow the customer circle so it’s crucial to not lose customers because of missing their calls.

With an IVR system in your virtual cloud phone system, businesses can set up a call menu so when a customer makes a call, he/she will be connected to the menu. Initially, the customer will be greeted by a virtual assistant and request customers to pick an option relating to their reason for making a call.

This ensures that even if you or your team is busy with other important work, customers will still be connected to the call and get what they want. Customers may have to wait for their call to be routed to the right agent but it won’t be irritating. IVR maintains a system where the customer queue is stable.

Today, a majority of law firms, attorney houses and legal offices in the US are using the best virtual receptionist for law firms that are tailored and programmed to take calls, answer to customer queries in a “Live” 24/7 manner, forward calls and even take messages, after office hours. 

With the IVR system, you can connect with international customers as well. The virtual cloud phone system that provides IVR features also provides virtual phone numbers for multiple countries. It helps you to establish your local presence in other countries and get calls from international callers.

2. Personalize conversations

Giving customers a friendly environment can increase the chances of their interest to get products or services from your business. IVR system enables startups to customize the IVR menu in such a way that can increase the interest of customers.

IVR system can customize the menu according to the customer’s needs. For example, you can set up multiple languages for customers to choose their preferred language to interact with you. This help customers to easily understand the menu and make conversation using the language they are comfortable with.

Personalizing the system helps your startup to gain loyalty from customers as they will feel that you care about them. It will bring you one step closer to your business growth. This helps your business to become a brand that people know.

3. Maintain a professional image

As a new business, your goal is to create the image of a well-established and professional business. This may become hard to accomplish and can give off an unprofessional impression if you don’t answer calls right away or if customers can’t reach you.

It is critical that your startup is accessible at all times, as this demonstrates that you value your customers and operate your business professionally. People favor companies that are either remarkable or well-known.

Owning an IVR system demonstrates that your business is concerned about its customers and has a devoted team and departments to meet their demands.

4. Add parameter-based routing

There are not many departments in a startup with low investments but there are experts who can give valuable knowledge to the business. These experts could be a key to handling the customer’s calls in a much more efficient way.

You need to implement parameter-based routing in your IVR system. This routing method enables your phone system to route phone calls to the most appropriate agent with expert knowledge.

The parameters include the caller’s location, call time, new or existing customers, etc. which determines the right agent for routing calls.

IVR system distinguishes the customer base and routes them to the best agent to handle the call. This parameter-based routing guarantees that your startup gets the most out of your team while also saving money and resources.

5. Improve customer experience

Customer experience is critical for a startup. Focusing on the customer experience is critical for any company, large or small.

Since there are so many businesses popping up every day, it’s not uncommon for customers to switch brands and products after a single unpleasant encounter. Many customers abandon a brand because of poor customer service experience or excessive wait times for service requests.

As customers are routed to their intended location, IVR improves its parameter algorithm. It is used to execute consumer surveys and track their levels of satisfaction.

IVR can also conduct phone surveys to see where customer interactions should be improved. Customer comments or reviews are critical for any business, but especially for a startup to sustain.

6. Reduce cost

A startup with a small investment needs to save as much money as it can. Collaborating with a good IVR service provider can be another step toward saving money in the long term.

Some of the best IVR systems reduce the requirements for additional human resources. This could reduce the operational cost because you will have to pay less as there will be less staff for handling calls.

In a way, the IVR system is a cheap virtual receptionist solution that provides an efficient customer experience. Getting the right phone service provider could lead you to get a good IVR system at a reasonable cost.

7. Support marketing strategy

Every startup needs a good marketing strategy to improve the chances of increasing the market presence and value of the business. But for a startup with low investment, it’s difficult to constantly invest in marketing as it will get expensive too quickly.

That’s why startups can use IVR systems for running marketing campaigns instead of running advertisements. IVR systems will assist to enhance the public image of your startup as a brand in the caller’s mind.

IVR systems can play greeting messages that contain promotional content, broadcast products, conduct surveys and promote updates. Callers can know what is happening in your business and get more interested.

8. Place as a virtual receptionist

Hiring a real receptionist for a start-up can be not possible because of a lack of resources. This is where the IVR system comes as a right replacement for a real-person receptionist.

There are several virtual receptionist software for small business that effortlessly greet you by introducing your brand and route customer calls to the right agent.

IVR plays a welcome message or a custom message which can be different at different times or occasions. It helps callers know what is happening in your business and get customer service 24/7. Unlike human receptionists, IVR is continuously active all the time and automated answering services can keep your business thrive.

9. Zero-time constraints

A startup in its early stages doesn’t want to miss any business opportunities because of not being available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

For example, most firms now operate a total of 24×7, but there are still times when a connection is dropped or call attendants are unavailable to answer the call.

If the call attendant is absent, an IVR system can give a message to the caller and gather caller details for a follow-up call. As a result, an IVR system assures that no customer is lost during non-working hours.

After office hours, IVR directs calls to available agents or notifies customers about your business’s operating hours. It reassures customers that you will respond promptly.

10. Good first impressions

For any business, it’s crucial to give a good first impression to get the attraction of callers. It assists startups to show their brand image to the public eye.

IVR systems are a great approach to assist you in positioning your startup’s brand properly. It greets callers with a custom message and a systematic IVR menu so that callers can get what they want. Ultimately, it results in great customer service and support. It keeps your business in competition with other businesses.

Conclusion

IVR, or Interactive Voice Response, is a technology that enables customers to interact with a business through their phones. It can be used for a variety of purposes, such as customer service, sales, and marketing. IVR systems are especially beneficial for startups because they are affordable and can help businesses manage their resources more efficiently.

A small investment in an IVR system can help your startup thrive by making it easier for customers to connect with you. With an IVR system in place, you can focus on growing your business and improving customer experience.