IVR Deconstructed

Prepaid companies, regardless of whether they operate in the financial, retail, or electronic space, all require customer service departments.  A large portion of prepaid company’s budgets go into establishing and maintaining highly functioning customer service departments, complete with staff that can address various customers questions.

This can represent a large fiscal burden for many prepaid companies, and typically represents the most costly portion of a prepaid business’s operations.

Prepaid companies can utilize IVR systems to automate calls in order to cut costs while simultaneously improving the customer service experience.  Instead of having to wait for what could end up being a long period of time, customers can simple call in and get most of their issues addressed immediately with the help of an automated system.

Yesterday’s post discussed how prepaid companies can integrate call analytics into their IVR systems through the use of a VoiceXML platform.  There are several additional ways customers can utilize IVR systems to cut costs on customer service operations.

In place call flows have a lot to do with how customers interact with an IVR.  It is useful to understand if and when customers are opting out of a call, and what the most frequent customer service requests are.

This information can help companies place more frequent requests at the beginning of a menu in order to keep per minute call costs down.  Arranging the call flow in the most customer friendly way allows companies different options to cut down on call time, thus freeing up customer service associates to answer more calls, and the company to ultimately pay less in call fees.

Understanding consumer behavior is a fundamental part of any business operations, and this extends to interactive voice response systems as well.  Understanding how customers will ultimately interact with a customer service application can improve both customer relations and customer retention, and is a critical part of the marketing and branding process.

Philadelphia-area law enforcement laid down drug trafficking charges against 27 suspected cocaine dealers and distributors yesterday, according to the Philadelphia Daily News.

Authorities raided 21 drug dens in three counties as part of the bust, confiscating four pounds of cocaine worth about $200,000 along with weapons and over $75,000 in cash.

The amount of the drugs, weapons and cash is a good bit but not staggering by any means compared to some busts. According to NBC News, authorities seized some 22,000 pounds of marijuana in a bust earlier this month near Houston.

The 27 dealers and distributors is a significant number, though. It could represent an entire ring off the streets. A little ways up the road in Albany, New York, authorities just indicted 37 suspects in an East Coast drug ring stretching from Georgia to New York. It’s nothing to sneeze at.

Also significant is the way in which Philadelphia-area law enforcement brought down the ring—the tapping of cell phones.

If you’ve ever seen the HBO series The Wire, you know that cell-phone tapping is a tricky business in which criminals have the upper hand. To get a court-ordered cell-phone tap (without going through Homeland Security), law enforcement officials have to show evidence that a cell number is being used clandestinely.

That takes time. But what doesn’t take time is buying prepaid phones (“burners,” as the criminals call them) and switching to new phones every day or so—not long enough for law enforcement to get evidence and a court-ordered wire tap.

It’s a classic case of taking a good thing and using it for something bad. I use a go phone as a second phone for convenience (check out GoPhone—Prepaid Peace of Mind). They’re great for that purpose. It’s unfortunate that they’re also used for another purpose.

Prepaid debit and credit cards have become exceedingly popular due to the freedom and mobility they allow their customers.  To use a prepaid card, customers simply purchase a card and are then able to add funds online or telephonically.

Financial institutions are launching more and more prepaid cards, and increasingly integrating prepaid options into their banking offerings.  Prepaid cards have seen a huge upsurge of success in the market because anyone is able to purchase these types of cards without an extensive credit check or a surplus of funds.  In addition, there is a finite amount of funds available on these cards and the money has already been provided up front, making it certain that overdrafts will not be a factor.

However, one of the main criticisms of prepaid cards to date has been that they typically charge an excessive amount of fees to use, often times even $1 to $2 dollars on each transaction.  Just today, American Express announced the launch of a reloadable prepaid card that carries with it practically no fees.  There are no activation or maintenance fees associated with this card, and no reload fee when the value is added from a checking account.

This new card is being viewed as a challenge to the prepaid market, as it is one of the first to have drastically reduced overall fees and have no transaction fees.  So how would American Express be able to eliminate all of these fees while still turning a profit?  A large part has to do with reducing overhead costs, which includes integrating with an interactive voice response system.

An IVR system could streamline and consolidate businesses processes for this feeless card division of American Express.  Instead of being required to hire a huge staff of customer service reps, American Express could utilize the services offered by an IVR to route and categorize questions so that only the highest priority questions make it to actual human representatives.

Additionally, companies could integrate useful features into the IVR like check balancing, card recharging, and a rundown off purchase history all telephonically as well.  This could all be run through one system, with different call flows in place that were predicted by which options the customers chose.  IVR could go a long way in helping the prepaid industry reduce fees and further gain in popularity.

Back in the day, gift cards were actual cards—like handwritten amounts and messages on actual paper product.

“Happy B-Day! (You nut.)”

But like everything else, technology has taken over. Whether it’s a retail gift card, phone card, credit card or prepaid anything, it’s technology-based.

The first prepaid card of any kind—electronic, that is—appeared in Italy in 1976. It was a phone card that you could buy at a local convenient store with a prepaid amount already on it. You just slipped the card into a slot on a pay phone instead of using coins.

It worked so well that it took off in Italy and spread in a few short years throughout Europe, the Americas and Asia. Since then, the phone card has undergone several evolutions, beginning with a magnetic strip but then moving on to optical storage and finally microchips.

Phone cards are still in use today across the globe. But they’re not the only prepaid items available. And the prepaid industry is just now really starting to take off.

Personally, I like gift cards—giving or receiving. They’re easy, fun to get, and the perfect gift when you have no idea what to get.

Prepaid phones can also be easy and useful. I’ve got one I use as an extra phone for emergency calls when I’m active outside and don’t want to carry my smartphone, which is a little big for running around with and also too expensive to risk breaking.

Prepaid credit cards are, however, the most interesting prepaid product out there at the moment, I think. And they’re certainly the hottest.

U.S. News and World Report thinks the recession is causing people to be cautious with credit, so prepaid credit cards are on the rise. It makes sense. There was an entire generation of Americans who preferred to stash money under their floors than put it into banks after the Great Depression.

Prepaid credit cards are technically credit cards so they help establish or keep good credit, but they’re much safer for the user.

Although that safety comes at a cost—literally—in the form of higher fees and penalties. Both Kim Kardashian and Russell Simmons have taken flak in the media for their prepaid credit cards—attempts to offer alternatives to bank accounts, at least in the case of Simmons’ RushCard.

But the market is there. According to Forbes, Visa and Mastercard are hoping the prepaid market will help boost transaction numbers to counteract declining fees per transaction (which is a whole other blog…Swipe-Fee Cap Still Alive).

For convenience, nothing beats prepaid—phones, gift cards, credit cards. No account. No bills. Just pay and go.

I have this gophone I got as an extra phone to use when I’m doing something active. It’s small, it’s cheap, and I wouldn’t cry a river if I lost or broke it.

Side note: Ever seen Zoolander? Ben Stiller has this ridiculously small phone that’s like the size of his thumb.

Anyway, my smartphone isn’t very small (compared to Zoolander’s phone), so it doesn’t fit as well into pockets as I’d like. And it costs an arm and a leg, so I’m not all that keen on trashing it while snowboarding or something anyway.

So I got this gophone that I don’t care about wrecking and don’t spend a lot of money on. I buy the bare minimum minutes just to keep it active.

I pay like $25 every three months, which compared to my smartphone plan with data and phone and text is a bargain to say the least. I didn’t even have to give them a billing address; they just used the store’s address.

Another side note: As I was getting the phone I suddenly and ominously realized the attraction of gophones for the less-than-savory characters in our society. Pay with cash, give a fake name, walk out with a totally non-traceable cell phone. But that’s another post.

Anyway, I just make sure the phone stays charged, leave it off most of the time and just keep it handy in case of an emergency mostly.

I’ve only used the thing a couple times—not for emergencies, thankfully and knock on wood—but I still consider it a worthwhile investment. It gives me peace of mind, at the very least.