The feeling of panic was inescapable.
My bank left a message on my voicemail, letting me know that some odd charges from Europe had been attempted on my credit card.
Hyperventilating, I couldn’t read their callback number I scrawled down, and then scrambled to find my reading glasses to read the number on the back of my card. Breathe, I reminded myself. It will all turn out fine.
I got on the bank’s IVR. Then the *real* Hell began.
My bank’s “Virtual Assistant” answered the call -- an overly perky thirty-something man who sounds just so willing and capable of helping me. He even promises a shortcut to a solution: “In a few words, tell me what you’re calling about!”
I warble: “Unknown credit card charges.”
A Loaded pause.
“OK”, he replies, “you’re calling about your credit card. Great. You can say things like: ‘check my balance’ or ‘when is my due date?’ So go ahead and tell me why you’re calling.”
‘UNKNOWN. CREDIT. CARD. CHARGES.”
Another pause.
“Perfect. I’ll get you to an agent. In the meantime, please say or enter your credit card number.”
As rapidly and as clearly as possible – because I’m envisioning a modest yacht being charged to my card while we’re futzing around with formalities – I say the number. Then, he says:
“Great. Now tell me the two digit month and two digit year of the expiry date. For example, if the expiry is January, 2026, say ‘oh one two six.”
After that was a series of prompts in which he explains that he doesn’t understand my input (he doesn’t know this, but I speak for a living) and I repeat it with ever-increasing anxiety and a boosting of volume. No amount of shrieking “AGENT! AGENT!” was going to get me actual live help until the Virtual Assistant (dubbed by me “Virtual Ass” ever after) deemed me ready for that.
By that time, easily fifteen minutes had transpired.
Now, how is that system of automation “helping” anyone in a dire situation?
I know it was implemented to be a “first line” of service to make sure the caller is sent to the right “specialist”, but is this bot – with no sense of urgency, no feeling of empathy, and with a determination to put me though all sorts of preliminary steps – which take up critical time – really, actually a good idea when someone is fearful of thieves charging up a fortune?
In a short answer: no.
In every industry where there is critical failure: network-critical technical support, mental health crisis lines, emergency evacuation prompts – and yes, even a credit card compromise – it is crucial that an outward-facing IVR is fast, urgent, and sincere in their understanding of the situation. The minute the caller feels at odds with the phone system – as though it’s a time-wasting obstacle working against them rather than a help – it’s a useless feature that needs to be re-evaluated and modified to be truly responsive in a crisis – whatever that crisis may be.
Of course, I’m going to advise that your IVR is as fast as possible. I’m always an advocate for speed in an IVR – a slow, meandering system of prompts is barely tolerable when placing a florist order – and excruciating when encountering it during a desperate time. Get the caller though the IVR as absolutely quickly as possible. No time for formalities like “please listen to all of our options before making a selection”. Make it concise, economical, urgent, and brief. Show the caller that you’re taking this situation as seriously as they are.
Next, Triage your prompts. Make sure that the most urgent, the most frequently used, and most important prompts are front stacked at the top of the call flow. Start the messaging by acknowledging why the caller is there (in the case of my credit card breach, a dedicated IVR which says something to the effect of: “You have reached the cardholder fraud department. Please listen to the following three choices before transferring to immediate live help….” ) and order those top three choices by the most likely choices first, or the most urgent.
I’m going to implore you to not waste time by verifying account numbers, pins or identities at this point. I have found that these necessary steps can be better handled by the live agent. It became the trend to get some preliminary information before the live call takes place; all you need to do is to get yourself into the IVR of a large entity, where they want to get the initial information gathering out of the way, that you realize that the agent will likely ask you the very same information. It’s not timesaving or even in the interest of security to ask for it ahead of time – in fact, the opposite is true.
When building an IVR for a critical/emergency feature, make sure that the IVR understands the severity of the issue, promises not to waste the caller’s time, vows to render a solution sooner than later, and beyond everything else, the messaging needs to be on the caller’s side, and committed to making them “whole” again.