Your IVR or Auto Attendant system is like the front door of your business – it’s the first thing people see and the first impression callers get. Not only is it the first impression, but a crucial part of your customer experience. When coupled with well-written voice prompts, the system helps callers navigate your phone system and reach an agent efficiently. A poorly constructed phone system can lead to caller frustration and aggravation.
We’ve gathered some popular Auto Attendant script examples to illustrate how a clear and concise script should look. Check out these scripts below and learn what makes them so efficient when communicating with callers.
3 IVR Sample Scripts:
Our first script example will be a Day Greeting. Your Day Greeting is typically used when you have multiple calls and are trying to decrease call volume and navigate calls. The Day Greeting should include the company name, this will confirm to the caller they’ve reached the correct number, most common phone call reasons, and an option to speak with a live person. Day Greetings provide a unified sound, consistent messaging, and help reduce call volume.
Day Greeting Script Example:
Thank you for calling [COMPANY NAME].If you know your party’s extension number, you can enter it at any time. For Sales and Customer Service, press 1. For our employee directory, press 9. Or press 0 to speak with a representative.
Our second Auto Attendant script example is the Main Menu Greeting. We understand the value of a person picking up the phone. On some occasions like inclement weather or a day that person is unavailable to come into the office a Main Menu Greeting is always a great thing to have available. Main Menu Greetings are similar to Day Greetings mentioning the company name and common phone call reasons.
Main Menu Greeting Script Sample:
Hello and thank you for calling [COMPANY NAME]. If you know the extension of the person you wish to reach, please enter it now.To speak with the operator, press 0 at any time. For Sales, press 1. For Technical Support, press 2. For Billing, press 3. For information about our company, press 4. To Repeat this message, press pound.
Our third and final script example is a Night Greeting. Night Greetings are played after hours and don’t give an option to speak with an operator, because no one is in the office. These greetings mention the hours of operation, additional sources for information like the company website, and what should be left on the voicemail. It’s important to let callers know what information should be left on a voicemail in order to return their call. Let callers know when they should expect a call back from someone at the company.
After Hours Greeting Script Example:
Thank you for calling [COMPANY NAME]. To learn more about our products and services visit our website at www.COMPANY.com.Our offices are currently closed. Our business hours are Monday through Friday from 8 am to 7 pm except on major holidays.Please leave a message with your name, contact information, and the nature of your call and someone from the appropriate department will contact you on the next business day. Or, email us at [email protected]
Why these scripts are effective:
Our script department created these IVR script examples to work effectively and efficiently to navigate and inform callers. Here’s why they work:
- Include a greeting with main choices. To keep everything running more efficiently, including the phone system greeting with the main menu choices, as all of the sample scripts above do, is the way to go.
- Use Short Prompts. Instead of saying, “If you would like to speak to a representative from the Sales Department, press 1”, our script writers favor short, simple phrasing such as “For Sales, press 1”. This helps keep your callers focused on the options you’re offering.
- Give Fewer Options. A long list of departments is difficult for callers to navigate. Instead of listing every department, start by listing some general groups and expand generally from there. Remember, customers want to reach an agent as fast as possible. If you provide too many options or menu levels, callers will start hanging up or pressing 0.
- Move the extension to the end. “For Sales, press 1” and “Press 1 for sales” are two ways to say the same thing. But in your phone system, one of these is right and one is wrong. You should always put the extension at the end of your prompt, so callers know what to do. Here’s another way to think about it: In general, callers don’t know which extension they’re looking for, but they know which department they need. The department name is the trigger that should get them to pay attention to a number.
- Press instead of dial. Boy, do our script consultants hate this one. Do you still “dial” numbers on the phone? I hope you don’t, because if you do, you’re still using a rotary phone. While there is some indication that “touch” might be the next term to use, for now, you can stick with “press” and be in the clear.
If you want to improve call navigation and caller efficiency in your phone system, start at the very beginning – your script. Professional recordings don’t just have great sounding voices, but great scripts. Do you have any tips for businesses that want to streamline their customer service? Let us know in the comments.
Updated on 11/12/2017