Industry Standard Abandoned rate in IVR

[PFCCWA]

Hello,

We have recently started to use a front end IVR and trying to determine the industry standard percentage of abandoned calls.

For example prior to implementing this we had a 3% abandoned rate within the greeting announcement ("Thank you for calling..."). 
After implementing the IVR ("Select from the following options..."), an additional 3% is now abandoned, meaning we are losing more calls than before.  The former greeting itself was reduced in length so we expected a reduction in abandons there (2% now).
Some might say this inevitable and in time we can determine why and where callers are dropping within the IVR itself however looking for a benchmark.

Thanks,
WA

[cavagnaro]

I don't think such exists. Each IVR and business is unique...why customers are abandoning? Why don't you ask them? call them and make a poll, maybe you will find interesting things like "I heard nothing" or "It took me to the wrong option", etc...

[ExodusSS]

Curious...

There are so many variables here, I'm not sure it would be possible to determine why there is a service detriment.  There is no SLA for an IVR, basically because there are so many things to consider - and that is not just the IVR Service, but the customer, too...

It would be interesting to see if anyone has a different view....

ESS

[Kevin S]

PFCCWA -

If I'm reading your post correctly, I'm assuming that previously you did NOT have an IVR (callers went directly to a rep) and you recently implemented one.

There could be many reasons for the abandon rate going up, many of which are out of your control
- some people don't like change
- some people think that the IVR will take them more time to get done what they wanted to
- some people are too self-important to deal with a machine or to take time to learn how to navigate the system
- some people are too lazy
- some people don't like IVRs

Others are in your control
- Too many menu options on a single menu
(caller forgets what each option was before the menu finishes voicing)

- Menu or instructions not clear
(what is the user to do at a specific point?)

- Menu or informational blocks too long

- No easy way to reach an agent/help option changes from menu to menu
(on one menu, it's option 5, on another menu it's option 6, on another menu it's option 4, etc)

- Timeouts are too short
(assume the person has to read their account number from a piece of paper)

- Multiple digit entry inconsistent/Terminator inconsistent
(It asked for my 16 digit account number. Do I need to press the pound key afterwards? Or is it the star key?)

- data dips are too long/too much silence in between prompts

- Caller is "forced" to get through IVR before they can speak to a human
(no "rotary" or "I don't have my account" option)

- IVR sounds unprofessional
(amateur voice, too much background noise, uses too many different voices)

I agree with cav and ESS - you'll need to find out specifically WHERE they are leaving, which may lead you to WHY.  Is it possible for someone internal to go through the IVR to provide feedback, who has not been involved in the project? Maybe one of the most non-technical people you can find?

[Allan]

Hi,

Too many  variables in this and you have some good general answers already.
Sounds like you had a message played to your customers from some source  and then  routed to the agents and you had a 3% dropped call rate.
Now you have implemented an IVR that has a menu structure and you have a 6% dropped call rate which is the contrary of what you are expecting.
Initiallly I would suggest that you have a confusing menu structure and your customers are hanging up. Other things too look at are the error recovery paths through the IVR, do they recover elegantly and eventually goto an agent?
In your call detail records, you should log the point at which the customers are hanging up so that you can analyse why the customers are hanging up.
Have you implemented some self service and is this working correctly?
Good luck and let the forum know what happens.

Allan