This customer operates the busiest commuter railroad in North America, carrying approximately 200,000 customers each weekday on 947 daily trains. The company is committed to maintaining a transit system that is safe, reliable, and accessible for all, while investing in system-wide improvements to ensure its operations align with its core values of equity, accessibility, sustainability, and cost-consciousness.
The company’s contact center handles over 5,000 calls per day. Many of these calls are handled via their existing Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system, which manages inquiries for detailed point-to-point schedules, fare information, and general information for commuters and occasional travelers. However, many callers were opting for an agent, and the handle time for automated calls was too high at 176 seconds on average. The IVR solution, while front-ending all incoming phone calls, struggled to retain callers in self-service, leading to increased agent workloads and higher operational costs.
In cooperation with the customer, we implemented our technology to conduct A/B trials on over 80,000 phone calls to determine what effect dynamically adjusting the audio playback rate of voice prompts in their IVR would have on voice self-service performance. Existing voice prompts were speed-adjusted in direct relation to individual caller skills. Novice, less-skilled callers heard voice prompts gradually tuned down slower to suit their ability to keep up with the dialog. Expert and more skilled callers were able to achieve their goals in the IVR more quickly, reducing the need to escalate calls to agents.
During the trial, audio playback speed adjustment levels of 100, 110, 114, 117, and 119 percent were used. A playback level of 100 indicates the normal playback rate of the audio, 110 represents 110 percent of normal, and so forth.
In summary, the results indicated:
Callers using speed-adjusted audio had 21.2% more engagement (Conversation Turns) with the IVR over callers using standard audio. They also encountered 15.4% fewer error messages and had to reenter information 15.4% fewer times.
With our technology, this client also increased the self-service rate in their IVR by around 2 percent and reduced the average handle time for voice self-service by a full 26 seconds. Regular commuters (who were familiar with the dialog flow) were able to navigate to the information they needed more quickly, resulting in a better, shorter customer experience. This client realized an ROI of less than six months.
