What Is Conversational IVR, and How Can It Benefit Your Organization?
Author: Rose de Fremery,Date published: September 24, 2025,Organizations understand customer frustration can grow if they feel they can't get solutions to their problems quickly and efficiently. A traditional way to help steer customers to the right people and resources has been to deploy interactive voice response (IVR) systems. Now conversational IVR (CIVR) offers the opportunity to improve this process by delivering faster, more intuitive customer service while also giving busy agents a break. Here's what business leaders need to know about IVR and CIVR, and how they can use CIVR to improve the customer experience. Interactive voice response, or IVR, is an automated business phone system technology. When a customer calls a customer service line that uses IVR, they hear a prerecorded message that introduces a menu of options for directing their call. From there, the customer can select the most appropriate option using their telephone's keypad. Since IVR systems are so ubiquitous today, nearly everyone who has called a customer service line has interacted with an IVR. Although a can quickly funnel customers to the agents who are best able to help them, sometimes IVR contact center menus come across as inflexible and lacking personal warmth. When a customer can't find the right touch-tone menu option for their call, they may become lost in a complicated, unhelpful menu tree. Faced with a dead end, they may want to talk to a fellow human who they believe can better understand their needs and more efficiently assist them. If the customer can't easily find the right selection for speaking directly with a customer service representative or if they have to endure a lengthy hold time due to high call volume, they may become frustrated. At that point, the caller may perceive that the business doesn't . Rather than waste any more time, the customer may abandon the call and start looking for a competitor who can give them the customer experience they seek. Conversational IVR, or CIVR, leverages the combined power of speech recognition technology and (AI) to solve the customer pain points associated with traditional IVR systems. When a customer calls a customer support line that uses CIVR, they can simply say what they're calling about in their own words instead of waiting until a prerecorded message reads out a lengthy menu of options and instructs them on which number to tap for each issue. The CIVR system then uses to interpret what the customer said, determine their intent and guide them to the appropriate resource. AI enables the CIVR solution to become better at interpreting caller intent over time, improving the use of the automated system and reducing the need for live agents. Unlike the IVR contact center approach, which can only handle simple commands and doesn't allow for a , CIVR can be configured to match phone numbers with customer data, identify callers and provide a personal touch that puts customers at ease. Given that 43% of people say they , conversational IVR is better positioned to meet customer expectations than IVR. CIVR also aligns with recent digital transformation trends toward a more conversational experience. According to Drift's 2021 State of Conversational Marketing report, 58% of respondents to the COVID-19 pandemic. Almost all respondents (99%) perceived their conversational marketing solution as valuable to highly valuable, with 62% finding it highly valuable. CIVR can improve a company's IVR contact center in several ways:,Customers have long since discovered how can make it easier to get quick answers to their questions and solve problems while they're on the go. When calling a customer service line, however, they can still be met with an inflexible, traditional IVR system. Conversational IVR technology allows customers to say what they need in their own words—and then it quickly routes their call to the right resource. Businesses can use CIVR solutions to modernize the IVR contact center, making sure it aligns with customers' increasing expectations for a high-quality omnichannel experience. Discover how Verizon's delivers faster, more intuitive customer service. Call sales,Chat with us,Have us contact you,Get updates,Already have an account?,* Required,The information provided will be used in accordance with our terms set out in our . Please confirm you have read and understood this Notice,Verizon may wish to contact you in the future concerning its products and/or services. If you would like to receive these communications from Verizon, indicate by selecting from the dropdown menu below. Please note that you can unsubscribe or update your preferences at any time. By submitting the form, you are agreeing to receive insights, reports and other information from Verizon and affiliated companies in accordance with our . California residents can view our California Privacy Notice .
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