The Ultimate Guide to IVR Payments

Table of Contents

Click on any chapter title below to scroll directly to the chapter.

Chapter 1. Introduction

As a result of the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic there was a rush for contactless payment methods as never before. The maximum amount for contactless payment was increased by 50% with many shops not accepting cash. According to financial services and information management consultancy Futurist Group, about 38% of consumers now see contactless as a ‘basic need’ feature of payments, up from 30% a year ago. On the other hand, the percentage of consumers saying they don’t need contactless payments has fallen from 41% in March 2019 to 33% in March 2020. With this increase in more card payments, and more transactions being conducted either online or over the phone, the demand for IVR has also increased in contact centres and remote sales operations.

There are plenty of IVR payment services on the market, which makes it tricky to choose the best one for your business. In this article we outline what IVR is, how it works and what to look out for to suit your business.

With the right solution aligned to your organisation’s business systems, you can give your customers a smooth transaction process and great customer experience.

Chapter 2. What is IVR and how it does it work?

Interactive Voice Response Payments (IVR Payments) is a payment method that allows callers to enter their card data via touch tones. It enables customer self-service to:

• make 24/7 payments without any agent involvement
• provide a secure ID to find information
• make payments from anywhere at any time using a telephone.

The second method of authentication is a customer ID number (i.e. invoice or customer reference), entered using touch tones on the telephone into the IVR payments system prior to taking their payment.

IVR payments are perfect for companies which experience seasonal spikes in calls, which would normally involve hiring extra temporary staff or paying costly overtime.

IVR costs five times less than a telephone call – with the right design and technology IVR can produce significant savings. Research from ContactBabel revealed that the average cost of a telephony IVR self-service session is 65p, compared to the cost of a live service telephone call where the mean average was £3.55.

Some IVR solution providers only charge for successfully processed transactions, which keeps prices transparent. It rewards both the third-party provider and its customers on success, keeping an active working relationship focused on service improvements.

IVR payments are far more secure than other traditional methods, which sometimes may include agents noting down credit or debit card details manually. Choosing a cloud IVR service payment solution ensures everything is fully automated and confidential – client data is stored within a secure cloud infrastructure.

Using IVR to accept payments from a trusted third party provider is also an easy way to achieve PCI DSS.

Chapter 3. What are the key features of IVR?

Chapter 4. What are the benefits of IVR?

IVR can help to free agents from boring and repetitive work, reduce staff attrition and improve staff morale. Automated systems allow agents to spend time providing value added services, ensuring better use of their skills, while all the time improving the customer experience (CX).

“We have saved around 46 agent hours every month based on our current call volumes, an improvement that has vastly boosted our productivity.”
Fliss Dale, Director of Collections and Recovery at Exact

Typically IVR card payments are far more secure than the traditional manual handling of customer data. Choosing a cloud IVR solution from a PCI DSS approved provider means that confidential client data is stored securely, taking IVR payments out of scope for PCI DSS requirements.

“At Virgin Holidays, we take client confidentially very seriously and customers can trust us to keep their data safe when paying for tickets, weekend breaks or all-inclusive holidays, online or over the phone. That is why we invested in the latest Interactive Voice Response (IVR) payment solutions from Encoded to give our team and our customers complete peace of mind.”
Jessica Baker, Operations Analyst, Virgin Holidays

Capturing customer data means the latest information can be directed and displayed to agents with the best knowledge and expertise. Queries are resolved faster with greater customer satisfaction, helping to maintain the best possible ratings for those all-important customer feedback surveys.

“Dramatic improvements in efficiency and call flow have boosted agent morale and tangibly enhanced the overall customer experience”
Matthew Cook, Head of Customer Support, Bespoke and Property Services, First Port

IVR means your customer service is available 24x7x365, without any agent involvement. Customers can self-serve and make payments at any time and from anywhere.

“Using Encoded’s innovative technology means we are now open 24 hours a day, giving consumers the round-the-clock service they need to fit in with their busy lifestyles. They can make payments anytime, from anywhere quickly and securely. Last year, over 12,000 IVR payment calls were handled successfully, proof that the service is gaining rapid popularity with our customers.”
Julie Hall, Billing and Income Manager, Anglian Water

With your IVR solution connect to your finance and other critical business systems, your agents always have the latest information to deliver a joined-up customer experience.

“As a very seasonal business, our call volumes fluctuate wildly especially during peak times like Christmas when our calls can rise dramatically from approximately 1,000 to 5,000 per day. Encoded helps to deliver the high level of personal attention our agents deserve by taking care of straightforward payment calls and balance enquiries 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.”
June Potts, Head of Customer Contact, Appreciate Group plc

Chapter 5. A checklist for choosing an IVR payment system

• Customers expect a speedy check-out service without their card details falling into the wrong hands. The latest IVR payment solutions allow contact centre users to enter their debit or credit card data via touch tones any time of day or night, quickly and securely.
• When looking for new technology, rather than choose a vanilla software vendor which may sell you a solution and leave you to it, consider a partner that will work with you throughout the compliance process. Look for a vendor happy to advise and educate while offering solutions that will help your contact centre to comply with the latest PCI DSS or GDPR legislation and the newly introduced Payment Services Directive (PSD2).
• Choose an IVR payment solution that can authenticate callers prior to taking payments either via a unique number like an invoice or customer reference. Then, shortlist those that integrate easily with in-house telephony, accounting and CRM systems. This means agents can deal with more customers and spend less time on taking payments. While customers feel secure in the knowledge that their card details are protected.

• An automated method of payment is perfect for companies which experience seasonal spikes in calls, normally requiring temporary staff of costly overtime. How a provider charges for successfully processed transactions is also important in your selection.
• There are also new advances in IVR, which include text-to-speech options for multiple languages. The choices mean that modern IVR solutions give customers the opportunity to choose between self-service and talking to a live agent. Either way, you can reduce your costs and enhance customer service.

• IVR payments have grown in popularity and importance as a result of the recent COVID-19 pandemic and an increase in the number of people working from home and MOTO (mail order/telephone order payments).
• They can work for both customers and remote-workers as they are accessible from anywhere whether in the office, at home, across time-zones, providers, carriers and telephony systems. Using one single solution, organisations can streamline their critical payment processes by centralising their IVR payments across multiple contact centres and link to multiple CRM systems to enhance customer service.

Measuring the right metrics allows adjustments and changes to be made if the required results are not being achieved:

Successful transactions: for example, the number of customers who begin and complete a self-service transaction without live-agent assistance. When designed well, IVR self-service payments can result in up to 90% of relevant calls being dealt with automatically representing a massive cost saving, an improvement in customer service and a boost for the company’s reputation with its customer.

IVR abandonment rates: usually the most common metric, this reflects the number of customers that that drop out, prior to choosing an option in the IVR system. This number should be very low because customers tend to have the patience to navigate the system in the first instance before giving up. Typically customers do not drop out but instead transfer or “zero-out” to a live agent.

Transfer or Zero-Out rates: this is where a customer will “select zero to speak to an agent”. According to ContactBabel research carried out in 2015, the mean zero-out rate is 18%, however, with the correct set-up of IVR payment systems can reduce this number.

It’s vital to measure and report on the right metrics. Here’s a few questions to consider:

• What are the right key performance indicators (KPI’s)?
• What has your previous experience been?
• How can IVR payments help with PCI DSS* compliance?

Chapter 6. Case studies

Jersey Telecoms

JT (Jersey Telecom) is a government-owned full service global communications provider, with its headquarters located in Jersey.

Founded in 1888, today it employs over 500 people with offices across the Channel Islands and around the world.

JT chose Encoded as a ‘one-stop supplier’ for a suite of solutions that could not only ensure compliance with the latest PCI DSS security standards but also enable them to merge multiple websites and contact centre operations.

“We were impressed with Encoded’s technical and commercial proposals, and their flexibility to meet changes as the project got underway. The team always kept the original project proposal on track for successful completion,” said Tim Peach, Finance Operations Manager, JT.

Exact Mortgage Experts

Exact Mortgage Experts (Exact) was established in 2008 with the aim of providing a one stop solution for Asset Traders, while providing Mortgage Servicing and Asset Management for Banks and Building Societies.

Exact’s contact centre is open from 8am until 8pm, Monday to Friday and from 9am until 12 noon every Saturday. Every caller has the option to make a payment by speaking directly to an agent or via the new self-service automated payment solution from Encoded. Deployed in March 2013, the Encoded IVR system has become immensely popular.

The percentage of payments taken using Encoded has risen from 12% to 50% in the first six months alone. This represents half the total number of calls coming into the contact centre. Prior to Encoded, it took agents on average five minutes to answer a call, take the borrower through security, calculate and then process the payment. The number of agent hours saved has been significant.

The Wine Society

The Wine Society is the world’s oldest member-owned community of wine lovers.

Since 1874 the organisation has been doing business differently, putting members before profit to ensure fairer bottle prices and services for all. Today, more than 180,000 members have access to over 1,400 selected wines from around the world, at everyday low prices throughout the year.

As a member-owned co-operative, and therefore particularly mindful of the need to be as cost-effective as possible, The Wine Society required an all-in-one solution that combined fast, flexible service with blue-chip functionality at a competitive price.

According to Karen Coates, Chief Operations Officer, it was all about; “proportionality, a solution in our price range and in our size range that did the job and was easy to implement.”

First Port Property Management

First Port Property Management is part of Peveral Property Management (PPM) one of the UK’s leading providers of residential property management services.

First Port Property Management implemented a interactive voice response (IVR) solution from Encoded to offer customers a round-the-clock automated payment option when paying service charges, ground rents and other items, such as a new key or security for communal entry doors.

Since implementing the new secure PCI DSS card payment solution, First Port Property management has been able to increase its contact centre opening hours and improved utilisation of existing resources.

Chapter 7. Summary

Using an automated secure payment system in your contact centre.helps you to achieve more by paying less. Accepting credit and debit cards via IVR is a cost effective and secure way of taking payments. It allows customers to make payments quickly and accurately while reducing agent transaction time and improving security both for you and your customers.

Business hours can be extended to provide a round-the-clock response, every day of the year, and seasonal spikes can be managed to take payments which would normally require temporary staff or costly overtime. Seamless integration with existing systems enables personlaised service and can free agent time to allow them to focus on more productive services to add value to customer experience.