Voice prompts are a vital part of any survey users create on the Plum Voice IVR platform. On the front end, prompts are what users will hear while being walked through a survey. It is important to be as clear and consistent as possible, so that users minimally have to repeat instructions or directions. It is important for survey authors to be consistent in the wording of prompts. This can be achieved by using the same phrasing and structure throughout the call script. For menu prompts, there should be no more than five options so that users can successfully retain all information. The wording of each menu option should be consistent. Instructional prompts are prompts that ask the caller to do something. Instructional prompts should be clear and concise, and should preferably not exceed twenty seconds. Descriptive prompts are prompts that provide information to the caller. These prompts have no maximum length. It is important for users to consider how they would like the system to respond if a caller enters an invalid or no response. Plum recommends prompting the caller a second and third time. If an invalid response is entered again after a third prompt, the caller would be transferred to an operator or the call would simply end. Plum also recommends that users apply DTMF standards. The star key is reserved for the caller’s access to the main menu, 0 is reserved for the callers to speak with an operator, the pound sign is reserved as a terminating character for any multi-digit entry, and the keypad can be used to spell out names.
