Choosing Between IVR Auto Attendant and Phone Operator for Your Business
For any business, good customer service is key. Good customer service stems from a great customer experience and this experience is influenced by the way they’re greeted and treated on the phone. VoIP technology now offers features, like an IVR Auto Attendant, that can now give your customers a consistent and helpful experience. But for our customers still using a phone operator, the IVR Auto Attendant VoIP feature is sometimes approached with hesitation. In this article we’ll discuss the specifics behind each of these options so you can choose the one thats right for your business and your customers, too.
IVR Auto Attendant
An IVR Auto Attendant is an extremely popular VoIP telephony feature. With this feature, you’re able to record a greeting for your callers to hear, supply them with personalized prompts that helps connect them with the correct recipient and even provide them with relevant business information.
The cost of an IVR Auto Attendant is dependent on your VoIP or Cloud PBX provider. Some providers offer the feature as an add on for a monthly fee or it could be included as part of your service automatically. This feature is more cost effective than a phone operator because the average price is just a few dollars a month.
Like we mentioned above, an IVR Auto Attendant can be completely customized with recordings and prompts. This allows you to inform and transfer your callers without long wait times you may experience with a phone operator.
Phone Operator
A phone operator is an employee who is responsible for answering and routing phone calls. Depending on their call volume, a business may hire an employee for this specific job or it may be just part of another employee's position like a receptionist.
The cost of a phone operator is based on salary of the employee that is hired to do the job. Because of that, this option is more costly than the monthly fee of an IVR Auto Attendant.
A phone operator allows your customers to talk to a live person when they call. While an IVR Auto Attendant can be completely customized, it can't have a back and forth conversation with a caller like a phone operator could. However, unlike an IVR Auto Attendant that can automatically transfer calls, callers talking with a phone operator may experience longer wait and hold times.
IVR Auto Attendant vs phone operator; which is right for your business? Every business has their own individual needs so the decision between these two options should be closely evaluated so you make the best decision.
