How to improve public-service phone menus - Bradley Lehman

Everyone has met automated phone systems that have usability problems.

This short video offers strategies to improve those systems.

Good design requires an ear for conversational style and pacing. It takes very careful crafting of phrases, and connecting sentences that build context.

How will the caller react to the guiding questions, on first hearing, looking at nothing on any screen or paper? The VUI/IVR designer must plan the system's conversational style within that perspective.

The real-world example included here isn't one of the worst encountered, by any means. It probably wouldn't make the caller slam the phone down in annoyance. We all know some that do.

The video is a "suggestion box" to spark discussion. I think real-world systems should have a suggestion box (perhaps on the company's web site?) for real users to send improvement ideas to the voice designer.

Written and produced by Bradley Lehman, 9 May 2008.

A drafted sample of the first minute in a Medicare system is at
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bpl/ivr-000.html
with a set of web pages simulating the dialogue.

My speech-recognition example is at
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bpl/vui/vui-000.html

Bradley Lehman,
VUI and IVR designer

(VUI = voice user interface;
IVR = interactive voice response)

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• phone
• menu
• telephone
• prompts
• automated
• telephony
• IVR
• VUI
• voice
• user
• interface
• design
• menus
• lehman

[thebpl]

Another principle:

The system must retain gentle control of the conversation--guiding it toward deliverable features, in efficiently focused service. BUT, at the same time: the caller should get the illusion and feeling of being in charge. The caller initiated the call to get some specific service, or the answer to a question.

A good style makes it clear BY EXAMPLE ALONE that the company genuinely values the caller's own time, attention, and continued business. Carefully craft every word!

[Misanthropy83]

just press a load of numbers at once and confuse it lol

[Splatzone]

Very useful video, thank you!

[mercoid]

Bradley,

Have you considered that there are many companies that deliberately write/design their automated systems to be non-user friendly? Why pay a claim, provide costly service, correct a bill etc., when you can frustrate the hell out of a customer until they figure it's not worth resolving their issue.