My main advice to companies is to simply program your existing IVR to connect to a human when someone presses 0. You don't need to buy any new equipment for that, and it will win you huge customer loyalty.

Here are some rules for a good IVR system:

1. Let me press 0 (or *0) at any time to be connected to a human. This is crucial for senior citizens, people hard of hearing, people driving a car, and people who are generally frustrated and who do not want to talk to a computer.

2. Recognize me by caller ID (home or mobile) and then let me enter a four digit PIN to authenticate, so you then have my info on file and don't make me type in long account numbers etc.

3. Estimated wait times should always be given.

4. At end of every call, ask me "Please rate this call from 1 (most excellent) to 5 (bummer)".

5. Don't tell me I can have questions answered at your website. I already know that.

Want to know something that is even better than a good IVR system? How about having humans answering phones?

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The IVR Cheat Sheet™ is Copyright 2006 by Paul English.