1. 1 © 2007 Avaya Inc. All rights reserved. Avaya – Proprietary & Confidential. Under NDA When VUI Design Best Practices Aren’t Best For You Session B302 David Martin Solution Architect davidmartin@avaya.com

2. 2 © 2007 Avaya Inc. All rights reserved. Avaya – Proprietary & Confidential. Under NDA Agenda The False Security of Best Practices Case Studies –What was the problem? –How it was or could be solved. The Ultimate “Best Practice” Questions

3. 3 © 2007 Avaya Inc. All rights reserved. Avaya – Proprietary & Confidential. Under NDA What Are We Talking About Here? A variety of Best Practices to choose from –Differing opinions prevail –Whose best practices are best? The technology and/or the best practices aren’t going to necessarily solve your problems …It comes down to your business objectives.

4. 4 © 2007 Avaya Inc. All rights reserved. Avaya – Proprietary & Confidential. Under NDA The False Security of Best Practices “I’ve implemented speech and followed all of the industry best practices… …Nothing can go wrong…right?” “Since we only have 3 options on this menu, am I allowed to add one more?” “We want to allow the caller to opt-out…but can we bury it somewhere?” Best practices should be a catalyst, and not a shield.

5. 5 © 2007 Avaya Inc. All rights reserved. Avaya – Proprietary & Confidential. Under NDA Best Practice #1 – Offer the Option to Talk to a Live Person Industry Perspective –gethuman.com : “The caller must always be able to dial 0 or to say ‘operator’ to queue for a human.” –ROI : Automate the simple stuff so agents can focus on the rest Case Study –U.S. Department of State, Passport Services Office –Allows callers to: Get information on how to apply for a passport Make an appointment at a regional office Get the status of a passport application Other miscellaneous options

6. 6 © 2007 Avaya Inc. All rights reserved. Avaya – Proprietary & Confidential. Under NDA Best Practice #1 – Offer the Option to Talk to a Live Person Problem –Caller experience starts with: “If you require a passport for travel within the next 10 days, you should speak to a customer service representative.” –By pressing 0, you heard… “All of our customer service representatives are busy.” “We apologize for the inconvenience and offer the following alternatives…” –“…call back later…” –“…visit our website…” –“…wait on the line to access our FAQs on passport services”

7. 7 © 2007 Avaya Inc. All rights reserved. Avaya – Proprietary & Confidential. Under NDA Best Practice #1 – Offer the Option to Talk to a Live Person Alternate Solutions –Don’t suggest speaking to an agent? –Staffing –Access to a useful status date –Callback feature Email option was available but no response was ever received

8. 8 © 2007 Avaya Inc. All rights reserved. Avaya – Proprietary & Confidential. Under NDA Best Practice #2 – Limit the Number of Choices to 4 or Fewer Industry Perspective (depending on which psychology study you read) –Short-term memory of approximately 6 words –2 seconds is the duration of the English spoken form of 7 +/- 2 digits (phonological loop) Case Study –City Government Services –Allows city residents to make payments, schedule appointments, and access information

9. 9 © 2007 Avaya Inc. All rights reserved. Avaya – Proprietary & Confidential. Under NDA Best Practice #2 – Limit the Number of Choices to 4 or Fewer Problem –24 options mandated by the Mayor’s Office –Limited budget Directed dialog sold, but not NLSR Alternate Solutions –Identify the 2-3 “big hitters” and put them up front –Linear Programming / Regression Analysis –Max out the telephone keypad, but leverage the mental model of numbered lists

10. 10 © 2007 Avaya Inc. All rights reserved. Avaya – Proprietary & Confidential. Under NDA Best Practice #3 – No More Than 5 Prompts to Complete a Task Industry Perspective –People get lost/frustrated if a process takes too long –Issue of cognitive load –Need for caller to have all of the required information available to begin the process Case Study –City newspaper –Allows callers to access billing information, make a payment, report delivery issues, and temporarily stop delivery

11. 11 © 2007 Avaya Inc. All rights reserved. Avaya – Proprietary & Confidential. Under NDA Problem –The task of temporarily stopping your paper delivery involved 11 prompts –Business costs drove some “unnecessary” prompting Best Practice #3 – No More Than 5 Prompts to Complete a Task Alternate Solutions –Break the mental model of “the process” up into sub-processes Identify the start and end of each sub-process –See the value in partial automation CTI/Screen Pops!!!

12. 12 © 2007 Avaya Inc. All rights reserved. Avaya – Proprietary & Confidential. Under NDA The “Ultimate” Best Practice Define your business objectives up front –Make sure the objectives address how you define customer service –Re-visit them throughout the project to maintain concurrence –Hold yourself and your designer/vendor accountable Make design decisions based on these objectives Leverage those industry “Best Practices” that align with, or support, your objectives –If you’re going to violate a best practice, go for it…but make that conscious decision up front and stand by the results

13. 13 © 2007 Avaya Inc. All rights reserved. Avaya – Proprietary & Confidential. Under NDA