Increasing the Usability of Interactive Voice Response Systems: Research and Guidelines for Phone-Based Interfaces

Abstract

Thousands of applications-from airline reservations to zoo schedules-use phonebased interfaces to provide information to callers and to request input. The dramatic increase in the number of these applications has led to wide variability in the quality of the interface design. Most users have no choice but to grudgingly accept these systems; experience with poorly designed phone-based interfaces has led to widespread dissatisfaction. We believe that the lack of published guidelines for interface design for these systems contributes to the variability in quality and thus to user antipathy. In this paper we propose guidelines for construction of phone-based interfaces to interactive voice response systems. These guidelines are a compilation of information from the best of current practices, empirical research where available, and the wisdom of the industry. We see this collection as a starting point for further discussion and standardization that will ultimately lead to optimally usable interactive voice response systems.