“This call may be monitored or recorded for quality and training purposes. For English, please press 1…”

A phone tree (also called an Interactive Voice-Response [IVR] system) generally consists of prerecorded audio messages that are presented when someone calls a business or organization. In most cases, callers select a number on the phone keypad associated with the recorded option most closely related to their question. In an increasing number of cases, callers can also summarize their question in a short word or phrase that the system will try to recognize in order to connect them with useful information.

Aren’t phones a dying method of requesting help? In one research study, we found that users trying to complete tasks online reached out for help in 64% of cases. Of those who reached out for help, 60% decided to do so over the phone (instead of email, online chat, or social media).

Reasons why people contacted customer service over the phone largely fell into four major categories:

• There was a service problem where an online interaction with the organization did not go as the user expected.
• Users ran into a roadblock (such as an error) which stopped them from continuing a task.
• There was missing or confusing information that users could not figure out on their own.
• Users perceived a task to be too complex to complete online and preferred to speak with an actual person.

We hope that every organization is striving to make its website as usable and informative as possible. However, many users will inevitably have questions that require a little extra help. An essential part of a good omnichannel experience includes positive interactions when a user is struggling and cannot succeed on their own.

The 4 Phone-Tree Dilemmas

These days, most organizations have so many users with so many of the same questions that it has become necessary to triage callers before they are connected to a live person. This is understandable given the time and cost required for employees to speak on the phone with hundreds (or thousands) of struggling people each day. Only very small organizations or those that still prioritize personal contact above all else can afford to immediately respond to every customer. While it may be efficient for the organization, a phone tree does not guarantee a positive experience for the caller. In fact, ask anyone you know about their most recent experience calling customer service and you will see what we mean.

The following 4 dilemmas describe some of the challenges with designing a positive phone-tree experience:

1. Nobody Seems to Want to Take Responsibility

Phone trees are older than the web. Early on, the phone was the easiest method for interacting with an organization. However, websites have become a much more convenient interaction channel to accomplish tasks for most users. Because the web is such a ubiquitous tool, there is little need for organizations to try and raise awareness of it by referring callers back to their websites.

With some exceptions, most callers have already visited an organization’s website or app by the time they call. They have either already attempted to answer their own question online or their question arose while the user was completing an online task. Many users call only as a last resort because the interaction cost of making a phone call is much higher than simply searching for an answer on the web.

Ironically, many phone trees immediately direct users to a website or app with phrases such as Our agents do not have access to any more availability or information than what you see online or on our app” (recreation.gov) or Most requests can be done quicker and cheaper [sic] online. You can [make changes to your flight information] directly on our website. It's also quick and easy to book online or through our app (easyjet.com). While these statements may be true, they create a frustrating cycle as the experience on the website forces users to call the organization for help and the phone tree tells them they should return to the website.

2. Callers and Organizations Have Conflicting Goals

When was the last time you called an organization just to see what useful information the phone tree would provide? If you are like most people, you call only when you want to speak with a live person who can understand your problem and help you resolve it. The caller’s goal is to speak with a real person; therefore, the many layers of a phone tree can feel like a maze of obstacles separating the caller from their objective.

Many of these mazes are not accidental. Any organization that can resolve a caller’s issue without paying an employee to interact with that caller will save a significant amount of money over time. The organization’s goal is to avoid speaking with the caller and thus, directly conflicts with the caller’s goal.

3. People Call Because They Have No Other Option

When users don’t think a webpage is interesting or helpful, they generally leave and visit another website — often that of a competitor. However, customers who call for help are not browsing and, in most cases, cannot simply call a different organization to resolve their question (especially if there is only one organization that provides that service). People generally call because they need to resolve a question that they can’t figure out in any other way — calling is their last option for help. To some extent, they are trapped.

Because users highly value autonomy, they are likely to become frustrated and dissatisfied when they feel trapped — particularly if their phone-tree experience is confusing or difficult.

4. Relying on Your Hearing Is a Handicap

According to Stolovitch and Keeps (2011), an estimated 83% of the information humans take in is through the eyes and only 11% is through the ears. Information is much harder to process, remember, and understand when people don’t have anything to look at. The reason why most people self-identify as “visual learners” is that human brains benefit greatly from visual aids (a phenomenon well documented by the picture-superiority effect). Interactions without visual elements — such as speaking on the phone or with an intelligent voice assistant — feel more abstract and put excessive strain on users’ working memory.

One of the great benefits of a graphical user interface (GUI) is direct manipulation, which allows people to visually reference information relevant to their task rather than having to memorize it. GUIs also give users direct access to information by allowing them to attend only to those parts of the interface that are relevant to their task. In contrast, like screen readers, phone trees present information sequentially — forcing people to listen to all available options (and remember at least some of them) in order to pick the correct one. In summary, callers are deprived of all visual aids and must memorize at least some of the information presented to select the right option.

16 Recommendations for Improving Phone Trees

To better understand the usability of phone trees, we did an expert review of phone trees from 22 organizations (listed at the end of this article).

The resulting recommendations will help user-experience designers improve phone trees for organizations of any size in any industry. These recommendations can be used as a checklist because they are based on the 10 usability heuristics.

1. Provide language options first. If callers have the option to select their language, they should be given this choice immediately. Don’t force callers to listen through lengthy messages in a language they don’t understand because they might think that there are no other language options available (usability heuristic #7 — flexibility and efficiency of use).

2. Help callers capture detailed information. Phone trees commonly present callers with detailed and specific information such as web addresses, dates, email addresses, names, and phone numbers that are almost impossible to remember perfectly after you’ve heard them once — especially when multiple pieces of detailed information are presented in rapid succession and the caller is not paying close attention (usability heuristic #5 — error prevention). There are multiple ways to help callers in this scenario:

• Warn callers with phrases such as We would like to provide you with some other resources such as contact emails, phone numbers, and websites. You might want to grab a pen so you are ready to write them down if they seem useful.
• Present technical information twice as slowly as a normal speaking rate. Callers trying to remember or capture information such as a phone number will be very grateful. Alternatively, consider presenting difficult technical information that is relevant to most callers twice in a row by default.
• Provide an option to repeat technical information such as To repeat this information, please press 1.
• Provide options for contact information in the phone tree, such as For the customer-support email address, press 1. For the phone numbers of related departments, press 2. For related pages on our website, press 3 so that callers are prepared for the information when it is rattled off.
• Give the caller the option to receive a text message with this technical information written out.

3. Only share web addresses related to specific questions or topics. Because so many callers will have already attempted to solve their own problem on the website before calling, it is annoying and unhelpful to direct them to the homepage of the organization’s website. A web address is helpful only if the corresponding page directly relates to a topic the caller has indicated is relevant. However, be cautious of long URLs that will be difficult to remember or write down.

4. Use consistent terms and controls. The two most common caller tasks in a phone tree (other than making selections from a menu) are to undo the most recent selection and to repeat the choice options. The same keypad options should perform these two functions throughout the entire phone tree and the labels used for these functions should also be consistent throughout the design (usability heuristic #4 — consistency and standards).

While there is no official standard describing which keypad options should provide which functions in a phone tree, the controls and functions you choose for making keypad selections should be consistent with those in similar industries, to the extent possible. Common patterns include:

• Using “#” for undoing a choice and moving back a level in the hierarchy or submitting information the caller has entered

• Using “*” for repeating the menu options
• Automatically repeating the menu options if the caller does not make a selection right away
• Directly connecting to a live representative if the caller lets the menu options play through three times (rather than hanging up on the caller as Marriott Hotels does)
• Presenting menu options beginning with the number “1”
• Presenting menu options starting from the most frequently selected one down to the least frequently selected one
• Allowing callers to request to speak with a live representative by pressing “0”

5. Always allow callers to undo selections. Even the most attentive users occasionally change their minds and make mistakes. This is particularly true of callers in phone trees who are functioning “blindly” as they explore different menu options and try to find useful information. It is extremely frustrating and time-consuming to have to start over if the caller makes a wrong choice. Undoing a selection (usability heuristic #3 — user control and freedom) should be available at every point in the phone tree.

6. Allow users to make a menu selection immediately. Some repeat callers already know which menu option (or sequence of menu options) will take them where they want to go. Allowing users to make these selections in rapid succession helps expert users move quickly without slowing down novices (usability heuristic #7 — flexibility and efficiency of use). Too many phone trees force users to listen to the end of each recorded menu before registering any selections on the phone keypad.

7. Use unique language for each menu option. Making options as distinct as possible will increase the information scent for callers as they try to determine which options are most closely related to their question. Using similar words or phrases in multiple menu options makes these options hard to differentiate — especially when the terminology is unfamiliar to the caller. Limit the number of choices in each menu and submenu to 4–5 and ensure that the choices are distinct enough.

8. Provide an alternative to verbalizing questions. Some phone trees begin by asking the user to phrase their question in natural language: To get you to the right representative, in a few words, tell me why you're calling today (Fidelity Investments). While this method is not inherently flawed, it can be difficult for callers to know which vocabulary will be recognized by the system in a useful way. Always provide an alternative navigation method — such as listening to menu options and making a selection. The difference between these methods is comparable to the value of providing meaningful navigation items in addition to the search bar on a website. Both search and good navigation items have their place.

9. Provide useful information outside of operating hours. It is understandable that not all organizations take calls 24/7. For organizations who have long periods without anyone answering the phones (such as overnight), there should still be useful information provided in a recording for callers (usability heuristic #9 — error recovery). Some basic information to consider presenting includes:

• Operating hours, and when the organization will begin taking calls again
• Any specific pages on the website that address frequently asked questions
• Who to contact in an emergency (this is more important for some industries than others)

10. Be concise. We know that users appreciate concise content on the web because they want to quickly accomplish tasks. This preference for brevity transfers to sequential, robotic, prerecorded audio in a phone tree. Trapped callers do not want to listen to advertisements, promotions, or wordy messages that ramble on about things that are irrelevant and prevent them from accomplishing their current task (usability heuristic #8 — aesthetic and minimalist design).

11. Provide brief feedback confirming callers’ actions. When callers make a selection in a phone tree, they need clear feedback confirming that they made the choice they meant to or that their choice was registered by the system. Callers often make selections while the recording is mid-sentence and it can be confusing if the phone immediately launches into another set of menu items. At the least, provide an auditory cue that the system registered the caller’s selection. The best feedback will confirm that a choice was made and state what it was (usability heuristic #1 — visibility of system status). The following are a few ways in which this feedback could be presented:

• A brief pause or subtle tone following the keypad selection before the next information is presented
• Stating the number that was pressed following a keypad selection
• Checking with the caller to see if a verbal selection was registered correctly (e.g., You are interested in investing, is that correct?)

12. Give callers time to search for information. Many phone trees require callers to provide some type of identifying information (e.g., the IRS needs a Social Security number, Delta requests a SkyMiles number, UPS needs a tracking number). Many callers will not have this information on hand when it is requested, so they will appreciate the ability to go locate the information and return to the call without having to start over (usability heuristic #5 — error prevention). Two methods help callers:

• Make callers aware of the specific information they will need to provide. This can be done at the beginning of a phone tree, or while the caller is on hold.

• Allow callers to pause the phone tree, go search for information, and resume the call later.

13. Give an example of the type of information callers should provide. While most callers know what a Social Security number or phone number is, less familiar numbers might be more difficult to confidently identify. Helping callers recognize the unfamiliar information they will need can speed up interactions.

14. Front-load menu options with task-related information. There are two components to each menu option in a phone tree: the information that option offers, and the number the caller should press to select it. The information offered by an option should always be presented first, followed by the selection number. This way, the caller can first determine whether the option is relevant to their question, then decide whether to remember the number they would need to press. If the number is presented first, the caller must hold the selection number in their working memory while listening to the related information to decide whether to continue remembering that number — another challenge of the fully auditory environment. This subtle difference makes things easier for the caller.
15. Record a real human speaking rather than using a robot voice (usability heuristics #2 — match between the system and the real world). Don’t forget that most callers want to speak with a live person. Users expect higher levels of authenticity from organizations than ever before. It is more personable and approachable to use a real person’s voice — particularly for larger organizations which tend to seem inherently distant and impersonal. It takes very little extra time for someone to record themselves reading the script.
16. Provide regular status updates while on hold. Nearing the end of many phone trees, callers finally find themselves on hold as they wait for the next available representative. While being on hold is not part of a traditional phone tree, providing regular updates informing callers of how many minutes their estimated hold time will be, and of their place in line can drastically improve this experience (usability heuristic #1 — visibility of system status). However, it becomes annoying to interrupt callers too frequently to provide these updates (especially if they are not changing quickly). It is also unnecessary to repeat meaningless statements such as Thank you for holding. Your call is important to us. A good frequency for updates is about every 1.5 to 2 minutes. Alternatively, consider offering to let callers save their place in line and call them back when it is their turn to speak with a representative.

Conclusion

The usability of a phone tree relies on the same basic heuristics as a user interface. While phone trees have inherent limitations, making them as usable as possible will help callers more pleasantly and efficiently accomplish their tasks. Consider doing some basic usability testing with callers by giving them tasks and having them talk out loud as they navigate the phone tree. This type of testing is guaranteed to yield far better insights for improvement than asking callers to “stay on the line for a brief survey after the call has ended.”

References

Stolovitch, H. D., & Keeps, E. J. (2011). Telling ain't training. American Society for Training and Development.

List of Organizations

The phone trees of the following organizations were analyzed to create the recommendations in this article.