Does your business use an Automated Attendant? An automated attendant is the recorded greeting that answers an increasing number of business telephone calls. It’s part of the dreaded answering systems that make callers wade through countless levels of options to try to get to the right department. We’ve all been through it.
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The idea for the Automated Attendant
The Automated Attendant was developed and first installed on new phone systems in the 1980’s. It was promoted as saving both costs (no need to hire an operator) and time (streamlining calls directly to their desired destination). In practice, the automated attendant did eliminate many telephone operators, but may have accomplished this at the expense of the caller.
The typical automated attendant has a standard greeting…
“Thank you for calling ABC Company. If you know your party’s extension, you may dial it at any time…”
Followed by options from which the caller can choose…
“For sales, press 1
For service press 2
For parts press 3
Or for operator assistance at any time, press 0”
As callers became used to using them, and the option to escape by pressing “0”, this choice was often eliminated. You were stuck at the mercy of the machine.
Then these lists then grew…and grew. And then came the sub-menus, and sub-sub-menus. And automated attendants because a bad joke. Callers were stuck in auto attendant hell, never being able to find the option you wanted.
A better Automated Attendant Experience
Automated Attendants don’t frustrate callers…the people who design the options do.
Here are some simple rules for a better automated attendant experience:
- Remember: your caller is your customer. They’re the reason you’re there. Remember that your motive should be to help your customer…or someone else will.
- Keep each choice brief and professional*
- Minimize the number of choices: do you really need so many?
- Put most popular choices first: that helps callers sooner
- Put choices in numerical order: that’s the way we think
- Give the option first, and then the extension number to press
- You can tell callers that “Our options have recently changed” but only for a few weeks. Don’t leave it on your greeting forever.
- Eliminate options that no one chooses. Offering unused choices just takes up the caller’s time.
- Be sure that callers can make their choice at any time.
- Give your caller an escape route. If you truly want to keep the caller from hitting “0” at any time, at least offer this option at the end of your options list.
*Professional Automated Attendant Recordings
Not many of us want our own voice on our automated attendant recording. A professional voice can help you maintain your brand image and sound like “quality.” For help writing a more efficient automated attendant greeting script, and avoiding the pitfalls, call for free assistance: In New York call (212) 355-6980.
Nationwide call (800) 862-8896. Click here to hear custom recorded greetings and prompts for your automated attendant. And hear how good you can sound!
