The attached study looks at customer perceptions of IVRs and other various methods of customer service. The following are its key findings: • While new technological platforms such as social media and tablet computing are by now familiar to consumers, the telephone remains the preferred method for customer service. • Most customers still prefer speaking with live customer service representatives, although an overwhelming majority are convinced that CSRs are either failing to get better or are getting worse. • Customers expect automated telephone service systems to improve, and are inclined to punish companies for failing to comply.

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Customer Perceptions of
Interactive Voice Response Systems
Liel Leibovitz
Visiting Assistant Professor of Communications
New York University
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31!Hayward!Street!
Franklin,!MA!02135!
Phone:!(317)!810!@!4108!
Fax:!(508)!570!@!4750!
E@Mail:!dfox@interactions.net!
Web:!www.interactions.net!

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Executive Summary
The attached study looks at customer perceptions of IVRs and other various methods of customer
service. The following are its key findings:
• While new technological platforms such as social media and tablet computing are by now
familiar to consumers, the telephone remains the preferred method for customer service.
• Most customers still prefer speaking with live customer service representatives, although an
overwhelming majority are convinced that CSRs are either failing to get better or are getting
worse.
• Customers expect automated telephone service systems to improve, and are inclined to
punish companies for failing to comply.
For this study, 2,104 respondents completed a 19-question questionnaire about general attitudes
towards IVRs and other various methods of customer service. The final question was open-ended,
allowing respondents to express their opinions about IVRs. The key findings are as follows:
• 73.4% said it was either somewhat important or very important for a company to have a great
automated telephone service system.
• 78.9% said that they would either probably or definitely avoid giving future business to a
company that has a poor automated telephone service system.
• 73% said that they had shared their frustrations with difficult automated telephone service
systems with the company, with family and friends, and on blogs or social media.
In conclusion, the study clearly shows deep levels of customer dissatisfaction with IVRs. At the same
time, however, the study also shows that customers are beginning to become accustomed to IVRs,
and expect them to improve dramatically. Superior IVR technology could likely continue and build on
these allowances and further corporate goodwill and customer satisfaction.
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Holding the Line:
Interactive Voice Response Systems and Consumer Attitudes
Liel Leibovitz
Visiting Assistant Professor of Communications
New York University
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Introduction
The purpose of the following research was to provide the most comprehensive study to date of
consumer perceptions and preferences of customer service methods and technologies, with an
emphasis on Interactive Voice Response systems, or IVRs.
Methodology
In order to empirically test consumer attitudes towards IVRs as contrasted with alternative methods of
customer service, an online questionnaire was designed and disseminated.
Data Collection
A sample of adult American residents was collected between March and April of 2012. Subjects were
approached exclusively online via several distinct and divergent platforms, including social networking
sites, forums, and dedicated emails. A quota sampling technique was applied to guarantee a gender
and age balance roughly reflective of the general adult U.S. population. A total of 2,104 completed
questionnaires were returned by the due date. The average age of respondents was 43 and the
sample skewed slightly female (1,064 to 1,027 males). Most respondents resided in large
metropolitan areas, and the Midwest was somewhat favored.
Questionnaire
The questionnaire began with a question identifying whether or not respondents were familiar with
IVRs, although no specific industry or technological platform were singled out. Only respondents who
answered positively were prompted to complete the rest of the survey.
After a few brief demographic questions concerning gender, age, and geographic location, the
questionnaire consisted of 14 questions displaying different coding scales, from five-point items to
true/false statements to multiple-choice questions. Each question was designed to address a different
variable, including, in sequence, respondent’s knowledge about technology in general; awareness of
and experience with different methods and technologies of customer service; likelihood of using
different methods and technologies of customer service in the future; perceptions pertaining to
different methods and technologies of customer service and their ease of use; respondent’s
satisfaction with various customer service methods and technologies; perceptions pertaining to
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various customer service methods and technologies improving or
deteriorating; ideal uses for IVRs; preferences pertaining to touch-tone systems versus speech-based
systems; preferences pertaining to various potential uses for IVRs; the importance of a business
offering a great IVR; implications of poor IVR service on respondent’s future likelihood of giving a
company more business; specific expectations from IVRs; and likely responses in an event of a poor
IVR experience. A final, open- ended question asked respondents what they would have improved in
IVRs, given the chance.
Results
Prior to examining any specific attitudes towards IVRs, the questionnaire’s first two questions sought
to examine respondents overall level of comfort with technology. Asked to define themselves in
regards to adopting new technologies, respondents answered as follows: 25.8% (540) responded “I
am typically he first to own the newest technology products;” 49.7% (1,042) responded “I typically
wait until prices start coming down and I know the product works well before buying new technology
products;” 19.5% (409) responded “By the time I purchase a new technology product, many people
already own it and the price has dropped enough for me to be interested;” and 4.2% (87) responded
“I never buy new technologies. I’ll wait for a device or software to become essential before spending
money on it.”
Fig. 1: Which of the following statements best describes your attitudes towards
purchasing new technology products?
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Similar results occurred when respondents were asked to describe their knowledge of technology in
general: 44.3% (926) responded “I am considered tech-savvy and people come to me for advice
before buying products;” 46.5% (971) responded “I am not tech-savvy but know enough to make
sound decisions for myself;” 8.3% (173) responded “I don’t know much about technology and usually
ask others for advice before making a purchase;” and 0.9% (19) had no opinion.
Fig. 2: Which of the following statements best describes your knowledge about
technology in general?
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Next, the survey focused on respondents’ perceptions of various methods and technologies of
customer service. When asked which of the following methods they’ve used in the past 12 months to
access customer service assistance from a company, respondents answered as follows:
Used Not used, but aware I Not used and not
could use aware I could use
Over the phone with a
80.7% (1,681)
customer service 18.2% (379) 1.1% (22)
representative
Over the phone using
an automate system
70% (1,452) 26.8% (556) 3.2% (66)
without talking to a
customer service rep
A mobile site or app 49.3% (1,018) 12.3% (254)
38.3% (791)
80.3% (1,661) 17.5% (362) 2.2% (46)
A site using a PC
A site using a tablet 28.6% (590) 60% (1,237) 11.4% (235)
Texts or SMS using
30.7% (633) 49.1% (1,010) 20.2% (416)
phone
Social media 39.4% (812) 45.6% (940) 15.1% (311)
78.7% (1,627) 19.1% (395) 2.2% (45)
Email
Chat on company’s 51.9% (1,065) 39.6% (812)
8.5% (175)
website
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Results were similar when respondents were asked which methods and technologies they intend to
use in the next 12 months, ranking them on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being very unlikely and 5 very
likely:
1 2 3 4 5
Phone with
9.2% (190) 4.9% (102) 14.6% (302) 19.4% (401) 52% (1,076)
CSR
Phone with
12.2% (252) 20.1% (416)
IVR 10.5% (217) 21.4% (442) 35.8% (741)
Mobile site or
24.5% (505) 23.8% (491)
app 14.5% (299) 16.2% (334) 20.9% (430)
Site using a
8.6% (176) 15.1% (311)
PC 5.8% (119) 25.2% (519) 45.3% (933)
Site using
30.8% (635) 21.4% (440)
tablet 16% (329) 14.9% (307) 16.9% (349)
Phone using
31.4% (644) 19.6% (403)
texts or SMS 17.9% (367) 13.3% (274) 17.8% (366)
Social media 29.5% (608) 18.7% (386)
15.4% (318) 14.5% (299) 21.8% (448)
Email 9.7% (199) 14.3% (293)
6% (123) 22.6% (464) 47.4% (972)
Chat on site 16.9% (348) 20.5% (421)
11.2% (231) 20.9% (429) 30.5% (626)
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Next, the survey asked respondents to rank methods and technologies of customer service according
to their ease of use:
Fig. 3: Based on your experience or opinion, how easy to use are each of these
methods of accessing customer service? Please use a scale of 1 to 5, where 5 is
extremely easy and 1 is extremely difficult.
As the above chart shows, the methods deemed easiest to use were email (45.3%); CSR (44%); and
a website (39.6%). Social media were deemed least easy to use (14.7%), followed by IVRs (12.6%).
Similar results recurred when respondents were asked to rate their own experience with customer
service methods and technologies on a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being very unsatisfied and 5 very satisfied. If
inexperienced with a particular method or technology, respondents were prompted to select the “Not
Familiar” option:
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Fig. 4: On a scale of 1 to 5, please rate the following according to your
satisfaction for customer service, 5 being very satisfied and 1 being very
unsatisfied. If you are not familiar with the technology, choose “Not Familiar.”
The following question asked whether customer service methods and technologies were getting
better, worse, or remaining the same. When asked about web-based sites and self- support functions,
69.9% of respondents (1,446) said they were doing better, 6.9% (143) said that they were getting
worse, and 23.2% (481) thought them unchanged. Similarly, 61.2% (1,264) thought chat-based
customer care to be getting better, 9.1% (187) to be getting worse, and 29.7% (613) to be
unchanged. Results were more evenly spread when it came to IVRs: 31.1% (643) said they were
getting better, 35.6% (737) said they were getting worse, and 33.3% (688) said they didn’t change.
Curiously nearly identical sentiments prevailed when asked about live customer service
representatives: 37.2% (767) said they were getting better, 28.8% (594) said they were getting worse,
and 34.1% (703) said they remained unchanged.
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Next were several questions examining respondents’ usage of and expectations from IVRs. When
asked, 66.5% (1,373) responded that they use IVRs simply to get to a customer service
representative, while 33.5% (693) said that they use IVRs to get assistance and answers with
speaking to a customer service representative. When asked about their particular preferences, 66.8%
(1,382) said they preferred touch-tone systems, 17.8% (369) said they preferred speech-based
systems, and 15.4% (318) said that they had no preference. These results were supported in the next
question: 70.1% (1,448) said that they preferred touch-tone systems, 16.4% (339) said that they
preferred voice-based systems that prompted them to use a small number of pre-selected keywords,
and 13.5% (280) said that they preferred natural language voice-based systems that recognized
complete sentences. Finally, respondents reported that if given the choice, 40% (826) would prefer to
skip any interaction with an IVR and instead directly reach a customer service representative, while
37.3% (771) said they would use an IVR to direct them to a customer service representative and
22.7% (468) said they would use an IVR to get support without speaking to a representative.
The survey’s last set of questions focused on the consequences of having poor IVRs. When asked
how important was a company having a great IVR, on a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being not at all important
and 5 very important, respondents answered as follows:
1
2 3 4 5
5.7% (116)
5.5% (111) 15.4% (312) 25.8% (523) 47.6
When asked how they might respond to a company with a bad IVR, 11.5% (238) said they would not
give it any future business, 67.4 % (1,393) said they would try to avoid giving it business, 19% (393)
said they would probably continue to give it business, and 2.1% (44) said they would definitely give it
business.
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Queried what specific traits they valued about IVRs, and asked to rank functions on a scale of 1 to 5,
respondents answered as follows:
1 2 3 4 5
System’s
ability to 3% (62) 20.2% (416) 62.8% (1,295)
3.5% (73) 10.4% (215)
understand
you
Ability to use
touch- tone
2.2% (46) 3.8% (79) 13.8% (285) 25.8% (531) 54.4% (1,121)
commands as
well as voice
Easy and
2.1% (44) 2.2% (46) 10.2% (209) 24.3% (501) 61.1% (1,258)
logical menus
Not having to
repeat 2.4% (49) 3.1% (63) 12% (247) 25% (514) 57.5% (1,180)
information
Easily reach a
1.9% (40) 2.6% (53) 8.2% (168) 33.9% (693) 73.1% (1,503)
CSR if needed
Short prompts
before entering 2.6% (53) 4.2% (85) 20% (408) 33.9% (693) 39.4% (804)
info
System having
non- robotic 7.4% (150) 9.5% (193) 29.3% (597) 25.9% (527)
28% (570)
voice
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Finally, when asked how they’ve dealt with difficult IVRs, 35% (722) said they described the
experience to family members and friends, 29.8% (614) told the company in question, 27% (556) did
nothing, and 8.2% (169) described the experience on a social media platform.
The survey’s final question was an open-ended prompt asking respondents what they would
recommend to improve IVRs. Nearly 83% said they’d like to be given the option of effortlessly
reaching a live CSR at any point in their interaction, many adding that the representative ought to
speak fluent English and be familiar with local commercial culture; 9% proposed clearer menu
options; 7% asked for all information provided during the interaction to be stored and transferred to a
CSR should the need arise without being repeated; and the remaining 1% asked for better, non-
robotic voice quality.
Biases Related to Age, Gender, and Familiarity with Technology
No major discrepancies were recorded when filtering the results for gender differences. Women in
general were slightly fonder of nascent methods such as social media platforms than men.
In terms of the correlation between age and using various methods and technologies, young
respondents were less likely to have spoken to customer service representatives, with only 71.9
percent responding that they had used the method as opposed to a range of 81-83.7 percent in older
respondents. The same is true for IVRs, with 61.8 percent of the youngest respondents having used
them, as opposed to 72.7 percent of respondents 26- 35, 73.2 percent of respondents 36-50, and
67.8 percent of respondents 51-65. In respondents 66 and older, the number drops considerably, to
25 percent. Younger respondents were much more likely to use social media, with 51.9 percent of
respondents as opposed to 34.5 percent of respondents 36-50 and 27.3 percent of respondents 51-
65. The same also held for intent to use new technologies, with 27.5 percent of respondents 18-25
stating a strong intention to use IVRs, as opposed to 39.7 percent of respondents 36-50, and 37.9
percent of respondents 18-25 stating a strong intention to use CSRs, as opposed to 55.9 percent of
respondents 36-50. Satisfaction levels, however, remained uninfluenced by age.
In terms of the correlations between familiarity with technology in general and using various customer
service methods and technologies, early adopters tended to use more technologies—86.9 percent,
for example, used CSRs, as opposed to only 77.8 percent of respondents who identified themselves
as reticent about technology, and 78 percent used IVRs as opposed to 64.3 percent of respondents
who identified themselves as reticent about technology. The same pattern was true pertaining to
perceptions of ease of use, with 28.5 percent of early adopters stating that IVRs were extremely easy
to use, as opposed to only 18.5 percent of respondents who identified themselves as reticent about
technology. As was the case with age, satisfaction levels remained uninfluenced by level of familiarity
with technology.
Another factor uninfluenced by age, gender, or level of familiarity with technology had to do with the
importance of companies having strong IVRs and the negative implications of failing to do so:
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respondents across the board overwhelmingly stated that having a good IVR system was extremely
important, and that a lack of one would result in refusal to give the company future business.
Conclusion
All of the above presents a curious portrait of a market in flux. Despite the rapid ascendance of social
networks, tablet computing, and similar technological innovations, the lion’s share of respondents still
appear to overwhelmingly prefer more established methods of customer service. And while
satisfaction with websites remains constant or growing, phone-based services are still perceived as
the primary method of customer
service, both in terms of actual usage and in terms of overall satisfaction. Here, however, we see a
curious divide, reflected in the replies to the question pertaining to perceived improvement or
deterioration in the quality of a particular method. Despite the fact that CSRs were generally
perceived as among the most preferred methods, an overwhelming majority of respondents replied
that they were either getting worse or staying the same. And despite IVRs ranking lower in overall
satisfaction, respondents’ opinions were roughly divided on the question of whether these services
were getting better, worse, or stagnating. This, I believe, supports the existence of a dissonance of
sorts: With the telephone still irreplaceable as a primary mode of customer care, and with the quality
of live-person service deteriorating due to outsourcing, consumers continue to embrace phone-based
services, including IVRs, but vie for particular improvements. From responses to the final, open-
ended question, we learn that consumers expect phone-based customer service systems to improve
on both the quality of human resources and the ease-of-use of automated systems, providing the
option to speak to a live representative at any time, easily navigable menus, and efficient use of
information provided by the customer. This, I believe, also serves to explain the preference for touch-
tone systems over speech-based systems: With most IVRs reluctant to provide easy access to live
representatives should the need arise, consumers perceive of touch tone systems as more user-
friendly, providing, as they do, the opportunity to press “0” at any point in the conversation and
circumvent the IVR experience. Based on the open-ended responses, there’s ample reason to
believe that a better-designed IVR, allowing for easy and immediate access to live representatives
should the need arise, would change that preference and favor speech-based systems.
Hanging on the Telephone: Customer Perceptions of Interactive Voice Response Systems