The XV Commandments of IVR
Julie August 11th, 2010
We hope that you have been enjoying the IVR Clinic from our guest blogger, Allison Smith. The fifteen-part-series of blogs is designed to assist in the writing of smooth-flowing, efficiently-working IVR systems. As the voice of Asterisk, Allison Smith, has a wealth of experiences recording IVR prompts and has unique insight into the pitfalls that lead to awkward-running and ineffective IVR systems. Allison’s blog will help facilitate the writing of clean, easy-to-navigate prompts for your business phone system.
So far, Allison has shared the first 5 commandments of the 15 Commandments of IVR. If you have missed one of the commandments simply click on the link. Otherwise, stay tuned over the next several weeks as Allison discusses the remaining IVR commandments.
If you would like to meet Allison in person, please join us at AstriCon 2o10 in Washington, D.C. Register Now.
15 Commandments of IVR
1. Don’t Overestimate Your Listener’s Attention Span
2. Thou Shalt Not Create Fake Mailboxes
3. Keep Things Simple
4. Always Give Callers an Opt-”In”
5. Front-Load Important Information
6. Understand What Constitutes a “Prompt”
7. Understand The Effects of Proper Punctuation in Concatenation
8. Thou Shalt Not Give Directions To Your Office/Facility
9. Give a Pronunciation Guide for Proper Names and Place Names
10. Name Your Company Something That Needs No Special Instruction
11 Don’t Go Overboard with Niceties
12. Read The Copy Out Loud
13. Be Clear on Your Company’s Vision/Image — And Be Able To Explain That To Me
14. Don’t Front-Load Too Much Information in The Opening Greeting
15. Write in a Conversational Tone
