Retailers Ditching Automated Phone Menus?
Aug. 25, 2011
A new study released today brings good news for consumers fed up with being forced into the abyss of automated phone menus.
According to the STELLAService study, 21 of the Internet’s top 100 retailers, including Amazon.com, Blue Nile, LL Bean, Nordstrom, and Neiman Marcus, connect callers directly to live representatives, enabling them to avoid the endless maze of music, machines, and menu prompts used by most retailers.
The study also reveals that consumers can count on these 21 retailers for significantly shorter hold times. Overall, retailers that force customers into automated phone menus or IVRs (Interactive Voice Response) keep shoppers on hold for an average of 1 minute and 51 seconds, a 117 percent increase over the average hold time (51 seconds) for retailers that do not use automated phone menus.
Coverage of the study ranged from Yahoo! Finance (garnering more than 1200 comments and 600 Facebook recommendations to date) and Internet Retailer to Time.com and The Consumerist.