The Importance of Natural-Sounding IVR Voice Prompts for Customer Satisfaction

Interactive voice response (IVR) systems play a central role in customer service. An essential part of your omnichannel support offering, they lessen the need for live phone agents, saving businesses considerable money. What’s more, superior IVR voice prompts can make for a better experience for users, significantly increasing customer satisfaction levels. Additionally, IVR systems are highly adept at categorizing calls, ensuring high-value ones are routed to the right departments quickly. 

Worried that your current IVR system isn’t fit for purpose? Below, we’ll take a closer look at how the voices you’re using play a key role in customer perception, which brands excel when it comes to IVR prompts, and how to select the right voice talent for your IVR system. 

The Psychology of Voice and Customer Perception 

The tone you’re using says a lot about your company. In fact, it can dramatically influence consumer behavior during customer interactions. As the saying goes, “It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.” Using the right voice can successfully engage users, creating a sense of trust that translates into happy customers, increased conversions, and long-time loyalty. 

It’s important to consider the emotional aspect of voice in communication. Looking to put your customers at ease as they attempt to resolve a query? Perhaps you’re using IVR to help with customer acquisition. In both instances, a warm and friendly tone will work well. Want your IVR system to accommodate high-value interactions? A confident, authoritative tone is the way forward. A more assured tone will establish your credibility and brand credentials, as well as instill confidence in customers.

Your IVR voice prompts can help cement your identity as a business. As such, they should be closely aligned with your branding and match up with the brand personality you’re looking to establish. This goes beyond simple word choices, with emotional response also playing a vital role in many cases. Provided you’ve chosen well, you’ll create a user-friendly IVR system with clear prompts, making for a well-designed self-service option.

What Do Customers Want and What’s Working for Brands?

According to BLEND’s 2024 Voice CX & IVR Caller Preferences survey, more than 68% of respondents interact with IVR systems at least several times a month. The same survey also found that telephone channels remained the preferred resolution channel for respondents, with around 55% of them claiming to have the most success with them for same-day resolutions. 

What’s more, around 60.3% of respondents claim to be able to distinguish between human and AI-generated voices during IVR interaction, with more than 52% saying they’d prefer to be greeted by a human voice. These findings underline the importance of investing in superior human recordings for your IVR system. That’s not to say that AI voice recordings should be entirely ruled out, but careful testing and expert post-production is required to give AI recordings the human-feel consumers prefer.

BLEND’s 2024 Voice & IVR Corporate Snapshot survey produced similar findings. Contact center professionals from global businesses reported that telephone channels remain the preferred contact point for most customers, with around 70% of them using the telephone over other methods. Brands also reported that securing IVR talent was a priority for them, with around 78% saying that IVR talent was “important” or “very important” to both their brand identity. What’s more, 80% say that investing in voice talent for their phone system has improved the customer experience. 

Tips for Selecting the Right Voice Talent for Your IVR System 

Selecting the right voice talent for your IVR audio goes beyond picking a confident performer 

Below, we’ve singled out some essential tips to remember when choosing the right voice talent for your IVR system. who can deliver audio prompts clearly. You’ll need voice talent that also closely aligns with your brand identity and resonates with your target audience. While clarity is important, you’ll also want a performer who’s warm and engaging. A natural-sounding voice will also help pre-recorded audio segments sound more authentic. 

Male or female voice? 

Historically, women have been the go-to for IVR recordings. In fact, around three-quarters of all IVR voices are female. Making the choice between male and female voices is important as they each create different perceptions. Many people consider male voices to be more forceful, while female voices tend to be considered more soothing. A more soothing voice may be the preference if you’re creating IVR to handle customer complaints, while a more dominant voice may be the way to go if you’re looking to drive conversions and encourage callers to make a purchasing decision. However, when it comes to persuasiveness, male and female voices are relatively level-footed.  

Establish trust

IVR systems are rarely looked upon favorably by customers. Experience with outdated systems means many people start a call with the expectation of becoming frustrated by not being routed to the right department or spending ages before they’re able to speak to a live agent. If you want to avoid your customers hanging up before they reach a resolution, your IVR system needs to establish trust and credibility as quickly as possible. 

High-pitched voices tend to be considered more trustworthy, making female voice talent an obvious choice. Female voices are also typically looked upon as more empathetic, making them a good choice if you’re looking to instill confidence in callers and communicate effectively with them. 

Consider your audience 

People tend to prefer hearing voices that reflect their community. These voices are more relatable, easing frustrations and creating trust. As such, you’ll want to choose a voice that closely reflects your customer demographics. 

Do most of your calls come from men aged 18-40? It makes sense to select a voice actor that falls into this demographic. What’s more, you’ll want to consider the age of your target demographic. If most of your callers are of pensionable age, for example, you’ll want to avoid using a high-pitched speaker as hearing issues could present a problem. 

What about your industry sector? 

Soothing and persuasive voices have their place in many IVR settings, but they’re not always the best choice. Sometimes, a more authoritative and forceful voice is required. Take the financial and banking industries as an example. Customers looking to enquire about account problems, settle balances, and make transfers will generally prefer a voice with an air of authority, making male voices a sound choice. However, voice preferences will vary considerably between sectors, so carrying out some market research ahead of time is a good idea. 

What about the alternatives? 

While hiring voice talent is a good option for your IVR system, it’s not the only solution. In addition to using human actors, text-to-speech (TTS) and AI voices offer a faster and more cost-effective way to update pre-scripted audio. Human voice talent brings a personal touch to recordings, but they’re not as flexible when it comes to quickly updating content. This can be a challenge when you need to refresh information frequently, affecting the customer experience.

AI voices provide a more flexible alternative. While they may not always sound as natural as human voices, they allow for quick updates to scripted messages without requiring new recordings each time. TTS and AI can be especially useful for keeping information up to date or for handling repetitive, standardized interactions, while human voice talent can still be employed for more personal, high-touch points in the customer journey. Combining both approaches ensures you can maintain a balance between personal interaction and efficiency.

Find the best voice talent for your IVR system with BLEND

Investing in support channels is key to improving customer experience and driving conversions. While chatbots, live chat, and email all have their roles, phone support often provides the quickest resolution.

That said, not all phone support is created equal. A poorly designed interactive voice response (IVR) system can frustrate customers, especially when they notice an unnatural or robotic voice. Human-sounding voices are essential for creating a smooth and user-friendly experience.

Choosing the right IVR voice requires a skilled performer who understands tone, inflection, and enunciation. It’s also important to select a voice that feels natural and aligns with your brand persona—whether that means opting for a male or female voice or choosing one that resonates with your target audience.

Further, service-oriented companies like BLEND make sure their IVR voices are recorded, directed in studio, and professionally edited by an audio production partner specialized in IVR and telephony. They’re able to guide and cajole performers to deliver the perfect take for the brand, application, and demographic, and then deliver in a ready-to-use file format unique to the IVR platform.

Ready to elevate your IVR system and boost credibility with callers? BLEND can help.

The world’s largest customer support organizations rely on BLEND to improve their automated phone interactions. We provide friendly, natural-sounding voice personas that make it easy for customers to self-serve, helping contact centers better manage their call volumes and realize a faster ROI on large technology investments.

We work with thousands of voice talents speaking more than 50 languages, making us the go-to all-in-one voice solution for multilingual support and more. Delivering custom-tailored voice solutions for every client, we’ll ensure that content accurately reflects your brand and strikes the right note with customers. Perfect if you’re looking to improve self-service, reduce call abandonment, and see a return on investment more quickly. 

Keen to discover more about how we can help you take your IVR prompts to the next level? Get in touch with the team at BLEND today.

Karen Ford

As BLEND’s Managing Director of Contact Center & IVR Solutions, Karen brings over 20 years in the IVR and audio production industries to help global businesses give their customers the best service experience in their native language.

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