The Ultimate Buyer’s Guide on IVR: Top 5 IVR software of 2024

Have you heard that customers prefer to interact with human agents to solve their queries?

Well, this couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, 67% of your customers prefer self-service instead of speaking to a live agent.

This is where IVR comes in. IVR software allows you to provide customer service to your customers without need for a live agent.

Not only does IVR boost customer satisfaction, but it also improves your KPIs and call center operations. IVR is especially effective to help handle large call volume and benefits both your customers and call center agents.

In this article, we will explore what IVR is, its purpose and the 5 best IVR software you should know about.

What is IVR software?

Interactive Voice Response (IVR) software can be defined as a type of automated phone system technology. IVR interacts with your callers to provide them with information by giving them choices via a menu. 

Through IVR software, your callers can access information with the help of a voice response system or telephone keypad. This system is set up with pre-recorded messages. In this way, there’s no need for your customers to speak to a live agent. 

Moreover, a well-designed IVR software system can help you avoid hold time. It does this by allowing customers to perform simple tasks or find specific information all by themselves. 

The Purpose of IVR Software: Why is IVR important?

Typically, IVR system software is used by businesses or contact centers to help with call routing. It does this by routing your inbound calls based on choices made by the callers. Based on these choices, it then determines which department or individual the call line should be connected to.

IVR is also occasionally used for providing information like updates, promotions, instructions, etc. For example, informing callers that their call will be required and then asking if they would like to proceed.

Initially, IVR software was solely used for organizing call queues of call centers. However, IVR systems have certainly come a long way since then. 

Now, IVR software is used for the automation of simple business processes. Alongside this, IVR also provides callers with the option of self-service. These developments in IVR help quickly resolve simple customer queries and save valuable time of call center agents.

5 IVR System Software You Should Know About in 2023

Although appearing a bit challenging, it’s actually fairly simple to set up an IVR system these days. The real challenge is electing the right IVR software tool for your business.

To help you with this, here’s a list of the best IVR software in 2023:

1) NeoDove

NeoDove, India’s leading telecalling CRM platform and dialer, aims to be the ultimate solution for all your telecalling needs. It offers an IVR service integrated with CRM software to elevate your customer experience. 

With NeoDove’s IVR software, you can centralize all your information on one all-in-one platform. With its sticky agent feature, you can effectively route calls and optimize productivity. Efficiently capture, manage and track all your leads and customer information with NeoDove. 

Features of NeoDove

• Auto dialer
• Call recording
• Lead management
• Outbound calling
• Stick agent
• Multiplatform integrations
• Customized scripts
• Campaign management

2) RingCentral

RingCentral is a reliable and secure cloud communication-based platform. Through its multi-level IVR system, RingCentral allows you to create and incorporate flexible IVR menus to handle inbound calls.

Customize your inbound call routing alongside telephone prompts and more. You can empower your business by centralizing all your interactions on one single platform with RingCentral.

Features of RingCentral

• Contact management
• IVR
• Call routing
• Online voice transmission
• Call conferencing
• Voicemail transcription 
• Call Screening
• Alerts/ Notifications

3) Exotel

Exotel is a popular customer engagement platform that aims to provide a high quality customer experience. Exotel’s IVR software allows you to automate greetings, enhance customer experience and route calls efficiently. 

Exotel’s IVR allows you to decide what your customers want to hear with personalization alongside gathering valuable feedback. Effectively manage your customer engagement with Exotel’s omnichannel contact center.

Features of Exotel

• IVR/ Voice recognition
• Automatic call distribution 
• Call Routing
• Call logging
• Call Monitoring
• Reporting/ Analytics
• Campaign management

4) Five9

Five9 is a robust call center software that aims to maximize your team’s productivity. Equipped with visual IVR, Five9 allows your live agents to focus on higher value work. 

The Five9 Intelligent Virtual Agent (IVA) allows you to efficiently deploy self-service support. This enables your business to deliver an engaging experience across both digital and voice channels. 

Alongside IVR, Five9 also provides various helpful features to unify your service channels and optimize management. 

Features of Five9

• IVR
• Scripted responses
• Call recording
• Customer analytics
• Inbound and outbound calling
• Skill-based routing
• Integrations
• Agent desktop

5) Talkdesk

Talkdesk is a cloud call center solution that helps businesses boost customer satisfaction. It allows you to effectively automate every step of your customer’s journey. 

Talkdesk utilizes IVR software to offer a high quality of digital self-service alongside 24/7 customer support. Through its virtual agent feature, it also creates call flows and allows you to customize virtual agent conversational flows. 

Instantly respond to any customer query at any time with Talkdesk.

Features of Talkdesk

• Call center management 
• Automation designer integration 
• Dashboard
• Studio integration
• IVR
• Session monitoring
• Default conversation settings
• Live agent escalation

Also read, 9 Recommended call center software in 2022

Conclusion

Overall, IVR software is the key to improving your customer experience through automation. Not only can you eliminate hold time, but also effectively route calls with the help of IVR.

By providing your customers with the option of self-service, you telecallers can focus on more important tasks. Alongside this, you can also boost customer satisfaction and answer customer queries more quickly.

For all these reasons, it’s worth considering investing in IVR software to optimize customer engagement. Not only are there various systems to choose from, but an effective IVR software can truly grow your business!