I recently launched an ask the expert campaign on IVR Surveys, inviting anyone who wanted to participate to submit their questions regarding IVR Surveys. Not surprisingly the most popular question was, How can I increase my survey response rates when using IVR?

I would like share a client story with you that will help answer this question.

I was recently working with a healthcare benefits group, we develop and host about a dozen IVR surveys per year for them. They were experiencing a 10% response rate on a particular project, when the average for projects of this scope is about 30%. They chose IVR specifically because of the demographics they were targeting, and where access to the internet was limited.

The IVR survey invitation was part of a benefits package information kit sent out to 15,000 employees and the package contained about 50 pages. If you have worked in a large organization, or your employer offers you benefits I ’m sure you are familiar with this type of package. Included in the package there was an invitation to participate in an employee survey. The client thought they had this under control. The organization was relying on the results of this survey to tailor changes to the benefits package to the realities faced by employees, and the client wanted to obtain a significant enough sample to make the changes that reflect the needs and wants of the employees.

Needless to say, the 10% response was not what they expected, and certainly was not representative of their employee base; therefore it was of little use in planning their benefits strategy change. They were very disappointed, I would be.

The first reaction, by the clients project team, was “Our employees don’t use IVR”, and this is why so few responded. Our client called us immediately to ask for our opinion, and what could be done. Of course, as soon I heard where the invitation was inserted; basic marketing 101 told me where the problem was.

Since the client had already invested in developing the survey, and had pre-paid for some transactional services, I suggested that they conduct a small pilot, a mailing to 200 employees. This was a simple post-card invitation, with the survey toll-free number, and access code, plus a compelling reason to call , “We are making changes to your benefits plan, and your opinion is important to us.”

Printing and mailing were cost-effective and the response rate jumped to 65%. Needless to say the client was ecstatic, and the next week, they mailed all 15,000 postcards, achieving a 62% response rate. Applying basic marketing principals to promoting surveys, became part of our clients practice, and escalated the average survey participation rate for employee surveys from 30% to over 50% where IVR access was provided.

The survey invitation was part of a benefits package information kit sent out to 15,000 employees and the package contained about 50 pages. If you have worked in a large organization, or your employer offers you benefits I ’m sure you are familiar with this type of package. Included in the package there was an invitation to participate in an employee survey. The client thought they had this under control. The organization was relying on the results of this survey to tailor changes to the benefits package to the realities faced by employees, and the client wanted to obtain a significant enough sample to make the changes that reflect the needs and wants of the employees.

Needless to say, the 10% response was not what they expected, and certainly was not representative of their employee base; therefore it was of little use in planning their benefits strategy change. They were very disappointed, I would be.

The first reaction, by the clients project team, was “Our employees don ’t use IVR ”, and this is why so few responded. Our client called us immediately to ask for our opinion, and what could be done. Of course, as soon I heard where the invitation was inserted; basic marketing 101 told me where the problem was.

Since the client had already invested in developing the survey, and had pre-paid for some transactional services, I suggested that they conduct a small pilot, a mailing to 200 employees. This was a simple post-card invitation, with the survey toll-free number, and access code, plus a compelling reason to call , “We are making changes to your benefits plan, and your opinion is important to us’

Printing and mailing were cost-effective and the response rate jumped to 65%. Needless to say the client was ecstatic, and the next week, they mailed all 15,000 postcards, achieving a 62% participation rate. Applying basic marketing principals to promoting surveys, became part of our clients practice, and escalated the average survey participation rate for employee surveys from 30% to over 50% where IVR access was provided.

IVR (Interactive Voice Response) has been getting a really bad wrap for poor implementation results, with unfulfilled promises from vendors, and, in efforts to cut costs from handling calls from customers.

There was a time when IVR was perceived an exceptional technology; it played a role where there was a balance between efficiency, customer satisfaction and return on investment. It wasnt all that bad, customers were happy, business managed their costs, and the technology did its job as advertised.

Most of the attention, has been focused on IVRs application in call centers, however IVR plays a significant role in other industry applications, providing both businesses and callers with significant benefits, a positive experience, and return on investment.

For over 30 years, the Algoma Health Unit (AHU) has provided public health services to citizens of the Algoma district. With offices in Blind River, Elliot Lake, Sault Ste. Marie and Wawa, AHU has a large geographical area in which to provide service coverage. Case managers, public health nurses, family support workers, health practitioners and public health inspectors work in these areas servicing a very broad constituency. Like many health organizations across North America, AHU was facing the need to continuously communicate with staff in the district, and have the ability to respond quickly and efficiently to any situation where there could be a potential public health or staff safety risk.

To address the problem, AHU embarked on a process of redesigning their communication and response processes and policies. This initiative resulted in the revision of policies and procedures and the use of automation for employee tracking, communications and response processes.

The new process required an off-hours call center to track and communicate with staff – a manual solution that created operational bottlenecks and increased costs.

After careful review of the manual solution by health unit management, which included consultation with the Health and Safety Committee, a decision was made to evaluate a computerized solution utilizing IVR.

A team, led by Suzanne Irwin, System/Records Manager, examined multiple employee tracking and response requirements. It was important that a staff tracking system did more than just collect data and document safety issues. Immediate alerts, notifications to management and responses to situations where an out-call professional may be in a precarious position, were a priority.

While it was clear that moving from a manual/people intensive system to track staff electronically when responding to potential safety situations was crucial, management felt strongly that attention needed to be paid to the work processes surrounding the solutions as well. Working closely with the Health and Safety Committee plus employees, their input ensured that the solution selection, as well as the timing of implementation, would meet the immediate need to track employees with the ability to respond quickly and efficiently to potential risk situations.

The agency appreciated that with the selected IVR solution there was continuous, open, two-way channel of communication with staff. Information was tracked in real-time, thus eliminating the need for dedicated human resources personnel to manually monitor, and all that was required was the standard issue, field employee mobile phone.

Today, when staff are leaving on a visit request, all they do is pick-up their mobile phone, and in less than 60 seconds they provide key information though a self-service IVR Telephone portal. When they have completed the visit, the practitioner will simply call-in and sign-out, with the option to set the parameters for the next visit. In the event a practitioner forgets to sign-out, the IVR will place an automated reminder call, with the option to postpone the sign-out time. In the event that an employee fails to respond to the reminder call, then the IVR will automatically issue alerts to the field safety coordinators on call.

Program Directors and coordinators can monitor who is in the field and where. Safety officers can review the logs on an historical or real-time basis and assess the effectiveness of safety policies, subsequently making improvements where required, based on objective data.

After the IVR solution was implemented, AHU reduced administrative costs associated with Employee Safety Tracking and Response processes by over 80%. Our IVR solution allows us to manage by exception, eliminate the need for a dispatcher, and eliminate the need for after-hours call center support by 95% – resulting in significant operational savings. reported AHU. With access to field employee information 24/7 over the web or via telephone, Program Directors and safety coordinators can make decisions in real time.

The IVR solutions Embedded Audit Trail and management reporting allows AHU to focus on strategy, ensure compliance, and execute their safety policy.

In addition AHU chose a Software-as-Service Model, which provides AHU operations expertise with no overhead. With no need for additional infrastructure, AHUs IVR implementation and deployment took days not months.

IVR does work, does deliver on its promises, and there is a balance between efficiency, user satisfaction and return on investment. The management of Field Employee Safety and Health Care is just one of many applications Where IVR Does Really Work.