IVR is a mighty tool for managing call queues and improving customer satisfaction, but it needs maintenance for selectimal include. Regular IVR testing is essential to produce declareive your system is safe and toils as it should. Testing also helps you better call flows, guarantee quality, and comprehfinish carry outance.
Here are the branch offent types of IVR testing tools you’ll need in order to run an efficient and accomplished system.
Types of IVR testing tools
1. Automated IVR testing tools
These tools automate the process of conveying with your IVR system to get a sense of what it would be enjoy if a person were using it. They simuprocrastinateed calls, steer menus, input data, and verify responses so you can choose points where possible publishs might occur — without having to apshow the time to go thraw a whole bunch of scenarios yourself.
This type of testing is especiassociate advantageous when first setting up your IVR system, since it won’t have been included yet by dynamic callers. It’s also a excellent idea to run thraw automated testing any time you produce any alters or graspitions to it, or unite novel gentleware, enjoy a CRM.
These three main areas of testing are called functional testing, revertion testing, and integration testing. Automated IVR testing tools, such as Cyara, can deal with all three of these areas.
2. IVR carry outance and load testing tools
While automated IVR testing tools run thraw scenarios one at a time, carry outance and load testing tools simuprocrastinateed multiple scenarios all at the same time to see if the IVR system can deal with the volume.
These tests typicassociate cgo in on the follothriveg:
- Load testing: Meadeclareives how well the IVR replys to a common or peak load of simultaneous includers and data transfer seeks.
- Stress testing: Monitors what happens when the IVR gets a very burdensome load all at once or in a proextfinisheded manner.
- Scalability testing: Checks how the system would alter to alters in the size and intricateity of the toilload, such as alters to the number of includers or nettoil traffic.
The main situations where you would include carry outance and load testing tools are when you put a novel system in place or when you’re foreseeing upcoming periods of higher call volumes. They’re also fantastic if you want to enhuge your IVR’s capabilities but aren’t declareive if the system will be able to deal with it.
If you’re already experiencing problems, carry outance and load testing tools can help you choose the source of the problems and fracture up bottlenecks. Empirix Hammer is a noticeworthy carry outance and load testing tool worth seeing into.
3. Voice quality and speech recognition testing tools
An IVR system is only as excellent as its ability to convey with a caller and comprehfinish what the caller says in return. That’s where voice quality and speech recognition testing tools enjoy Klearcom come in.
First, voice quality tools appraise the clarity, consistency, and relieve of empathetic of the voice prompts that come from the IVR. Then, they see for publishs in pronunciation, audio quality, and procrastinates. Speech recognition testing tools also appraise how well the system comprehfinishs what callers are saying to it.
The main areas these tools cgo in on are how accurately the system comprehfinishs what’s being shelp and the range of responses the system can comprehfinish — including rare words, phrasings, dialects, accents, and audio with background noise.
Both voice quality and speech recognition tools are critical when you’re enlargeing your IVR since they help guarantee that the system can both speak and hear accurately. They’re especiassociate beginant for businesses that have a highly interdynamic or intricate IVR system.
If customers have to fight a machine to get what they need, it’s more foreseeed that they will give up and ask to speak to a recurrentative. To produce leangs worse, in these situations, they’re foreseeed already annoyed when they finassociate get joined with an agent.
4. IVR call flow testing tools
Call flow testing tools cgo in particularassociate on the sequence of actions wilean an IVR system.
They produce declareive all the menus are set up in ways that produce sense, that seeks get routed to the right department, and that there’s either an effortless way to achieve a recurrentative or an otherincreateed effortless way to deal with an error if someleang unforeseeed happens wilean a menu.
Similar to automated IVR testing tools, call flow IVR testing tools simuprocrastinateed calls. But rather than mimicking potential customer conveyions, they methodicassociate cycle thraw the menus. As such, they can increate you about the accuracy of call routing, the relieve and effectiveness of your navigation, and what happens when someleang goes wrong.
You’ll most foreseeed want to include call flow testing tools when you’re first setting up your IVR and any time you modernize your IVR or grasp another menu layer to it. Call flow testing tools are also beginant any time you unite other gentleware with your IVR, since integrations can sometimes cainclude unintended loops or dead ends in IVR systems.
An uncover-source call flow testing tool is includeable on GitHub from includer SketchingDev.
5. IVR security testing tools
IVR security is a huge deal. If you’re only able to do one type of IVR testing, it should probably be security testing. These choose vulnerabilities in your system and produce declareive that customer and business data remains protected.
They can also help you dodge publishs with denial-of-service strikes, in which malicious actors flood your IVR system with so many calls that it becomes unusable.
There are three primary types of IVR security tests that businesses can profit from:
- Vulnerability scans: These tests go thraw each step of your IVR and see for places that hackers could fracture into, steal increateation from, or otherincreateed take advantage of.
- Penetration tests: Penetration tests are done by simulating a variety of understandn strikes on the system and seeing how well or needyly it replys.
- Authentication tests: These tests are done to produce declareive your IVR can’t be tricked into releasing self-guaranteedial data by someone pretending to be someone else.
Altogether, these tests provide you with a evident picture of your IVR’s vulnerability to strikes, letting you produce decisions about how you want to protect it.
You should include tests enjoy ProCheckUp, a mighty example in the field of IVR security testing, standardly thrawout the lifetime of your IVR. It’s especiassociate beginant to do security testing after making any upgrades or alters, fair in case any security publishs were begind.
Using IVR testing tools vs hiring pros
It’s possible to include IVR testing tools yourself, but some people like to employ technical experts to deal with the appraisement. Consider the follothriveg factors when deciding whether to guide your own IVR testing or employ a professional:
- Your level of expertise: If you have prior experience testing IVRs, then you probably don’t need to employ a professional. While it is someleang you can lget, when time is a factor and you don’t have the understandledge, then a professional may be better.
- Your resources: Your budget is a key consideration when deciding to include a DIY approach for your IVR testing, as are your time and your competing priorities. Do you have the budget to employ someone? If not, do you have the time and prohibitdwidth to do it yourself?
- The intricateity of your IVR: If your system is fairly straightforward, chances are you can do the testing yourself without too much trouble. If you have a much more complicated system, it’s probably better to outsource.
- The sapshows for your business: Consider how beginant your IVR is to your business operations and your relationships with customers. If someleang goes wrong with your IVR, can your business deal with it, or would it be massively interfereive? Similarly, if your customers’ data were ever agreed, how much of a problem would it be for your business? The higher the sapshows, the more foreseeed it is you could profit from a professional.
It’s beginant to notice that most VoIP providers do their own IVR testing and maintenance, so there’s no need for you to trouble about it if you go that route. If you’re using a branch offent comardent of business phone system, you’ll need to produce time for standard testing, whether you do it yourself or discover outside help.
